Leah's Birthday

Leah's birthday is just too darn close to Thanskgiving and here where Russian employed people don't have Thursday off it seems to always interfere with Leah's birthday celebration.  I didn't get any pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner, but we had the Petersons and another family over for dinner.  We had a clogged up sink, broken dishwasher (related) and the plumber smashed Leah's finger in the door.  But we got it all worked out and had a good dinner followed by a good party in the Embassy community room.
We had a Tea Party theme.

 The girls (and one boy) threw sugar cubes into a tea cup.

 They played Duck Duck Goose.

 And a game where you pass a present around and each person gets to unwrap one layer - one smaller package inside each one until you get to the main present.  It was a bunch of "pearl" necklaces for the girls.

 Then because games always go faster than I think and we weren't at a house with toys to play in, I hit a small lull.  Luckily, Shari came to my rescue and sang a bunch of songs with the kids.  They loved it.

 Then down came Levin (he was escorting our other guests back at the house) with the pinata.

 Then we had cupcakes and ice cream.  Leah was so worried she wouldn't be able to eat her cupcake with her hurt finger, but she did just fine.

 Then Leah opened her presents.  everyone was so excited to see her open their present.

 Leah's friend Elena.

 The one and only boy.  We didn't even let Oliver come so he could play with Bruce's brothers back at the house.  But Bruce always claims he's going to marry Leah and he is in her primary class and the rest of the class was invited, and his family just ate Thanksgiving dinner with us so it felt like he needed to come.  He's a cute boy.

 Later that night Leah opened her presents from her family.  This is what she got from Grandma and Grandpa Bagwell - the movie Monsters University.

 She got a Barbie doctor and a Mr. Pencil (for an iPad app for writing letters) oh and a tea set from Mom and Dad.  I forgot to get a picture, but the very next day a box of crafts came from Grandma and Grandpa Flake.

 Leah has wanted to be 5 for as long as she could talk I think.  At least since she was 2.  She has always wanted to go to school and I told her she had to be 5.  So that magic number has always been special.  Too bad she has to wait 8 more months to go, but I knew that could be a problem so I had been prepping her for a little while now that you didn't get to go the day you turned 5.

She is such a fun sweet girl to have around.  She still gets her affection build up where she just has to hug somebody.  I am writing this a month later, but she has gotten so good at sharing and helping me.  If Oliver cries because Leah has something he wants she is pretty good about coming around and giving it to him.  It is probably only adding to his spoiledness, but its hard to tell your daughter, no, don't be nice!  She loves TV and can quote lines from movies and shows and LOVESto practice using them in her life.  Sometimes it adds to her dramatic nature, but it is amazing how well she remembers things she hears.

I LOVE this girl!