Build-A-Birthday

This year for K's birthday we gave her the option of having a party or going to Build-A-Bear Workshop. Along with Build-A-Bear, we told her she could have some special time with Mom and Dad, and that we would still give her other presents throughout the day. She chose option #2 and ended up calling it her "Day of Surprises."

Her special day started out with a surprise favorite breakfast: pancakes topped with strawberries and whipped cream arranged like a happy face. We all sang happy birthday to Kaydree bright and early and let her blow out her 5 candle... Next up K opened some new things to wear to school. She has been wanting rainboots ever since she saw an episode of Caillou splashing around in them, so she finally got some. She also got a new lunchbox for school and a cute new shirt from Grandma. I stayed up super late the night before making cupcakes for her to take to playgroup and she opened a couple packs of silly bands to pass out to her friends. Here she is all ready for school...

Next Kaydree opened a new Barbie movie from Grandma and she watched it right away. Afterwards she opened a few packages of stickers that I bought for her along with a huge poster board to color and decorate. She spent days on that poster and it turned out to be one of her very favorite gifts. Here she is with the finished product...

A while ago after watching a couple of episodes of "Toddlers and Tiaras" with me, and being the dress-up-loving drama queen that she is, Kaydree decided that she wanted to pursue a career in pageants. Yep, some kids aspire to be doctors and lawyers...my kid wants to be a beauty queen. (I guess it's my own fault for getting sucked into that reality tv trainwreck and letting her watch too - what was I thinking?). Anyway, since that whole idea didn't go over too well with me and Ry, I got the idea to let her dress up and have her very own photoshoot for her birthday...hey, it's the closest thing to a pageant she is ever going to get in this family and the only way I could get around squashing her little 5 year old dreams completely.
First, she opened some tinker bell bubble bath that she has had her eye on for a while but that I am too practical to buy for no reason. With her bubble bath in hand and a new zebra loofah, Kaydree got another wish come true - I let her take a soak in my big tub all by herself (another thing I am too practical to do for no reason - bathtime is usually a pretty quick deal around here). She was SO excited...

Next, she got all ready in her new tutu (which I bought from my friend Lisa's website: http://www.priceless-design.com) and a matching K shirt that I whipped up while she was at school. Her photoshoot was pretty fun and the pictures turned out cute too...
Finally it was time for Build-A-Bear. We had never been there before and I could see why people like it so much, Ryan and I thought it was pretty fun and Kaydree loved it!
So here's the newest member of our family: Sparkles Lily Anderson...And voila: with little time or preparation and for less cost then a party, there you have Kaydree's best birthday ever!