Caroline is Five!

Five days before Christmas, our sweet Caroline turned five. A whole hand!

PC: Stacy Parmarter Photography

We don't do big birthday parties every year for our kids because 1. it's too expensive, 2. we have a lot of kids, 3. I personally prefer small gatherings. 

When we do have a party I try to make them extra special and memorable by having their favorite people and their favorite foods. We have chosen special years for parties; so far it has been 1st birthday, fifth birthday, and 10th birthday. I guess we'll have to figure out what year beyond 10 to celebrate, maybe 13 and 16. 

For Caroline's fifth birthday she knew just what she wanted. She wanted her favorite people (family, of course) but also her friend, Eliana (who happens to be her 3rd cousin), Matteo (who happens to be her cousin), and her friend Caden (who happens to be Matteo's nephew). Everyone would come and make Gingerbread Houses.

Friends!

Carrie's Gingerbread House

She wanted her favorite foods. My sweet Caroline loves spicy foods. She wanted Jalapeño Chips, Chili (which she calls "cold". Get it? Chilly = Cold), chocolate cake with white icing, purple roses (Rose is her middle name and purple is her favorite color) with writing that says "Happy 5th Birthday Caroline Rose". There were some other assorted foods that she enjoys, like spicy cheese, regular cheddar, crackers and things like that. 

Love Shady Maple's bakery at Fergies!

Caroline is genuinely the sweetest child I have had the joy of raising. Not that my other kids aren't sweet, but do you know how some people are so nice you feel like they can't possibly be genuine? Then you get to know them better and you realize that, while they aren't perfect, they are truly super super super nice. That's Caroline. She wanted our word for the year to be "Niceness". 

Isn't this the sweetest face?

Her generous nature is what has forged the deep bond she shares with Ruthie. When Ruthie came home from China I joked that they were like hens, and it took about a month for them to establish their pecking order. Ruth came out on top. But in all seriousness, I think it took Ruth about a month to realize that Caroline isn't going to fight her and they settled into an easy rhythm of love and friendship. They do occasionally have their spats but they make up with alarming speed. They can be fighting like cats and dogs, screaming and crying, then three minutes later they are holding hands and dancing. 

Snow Bunnies

Caroline started life a tiny newborn, 4 pounds 14 ounces, had a collapsed lung at two days old and spent a total of ten days in the NICU. She has rarely been sick since she came home from the hospital, with the exception of needing tubes in her ears last year (which worked wonders for her hearing!). She still isn't very big for a 5-year-old, just 31 pounds, but size isn't everything. 

Cutest overbite

 When asked, Caroline says she loves: music, Ruthie, babies, chocolate, rice, chocolate milk, bubble gum, catching butterflies, zinnias (which she pronounces zingias), the time when we can grow zinnias, riding my bike, baby bunnies, sledding, eating ice pops outside, Chinese food, swimming lessons, and playing in the bath.

These girls LOVE to wear matching outfits. They would dress alike everyday if they had enough matching clothes.

Caroline does not like: horses, goats, bees, big dogs, at night when I think a tarantula is going to come up the wall and bite me, lima beans, tuna noodle casserole, and fire ants.

When Carrie gets older she wants to be a mom to eleven kids. Because Annie is eleven and eleven is a big number. 

We can't imagine our lives without Carrie in it. She is really smart and excited to start Kindergarten in the fall. She is already starting to read on her own and I know that she will do great with a little bit more structure than what we have done for her early years of learning. She prays everyday for her little sister still in China. Like I said, a sweetheart. 

Happy (belated) fifth birthday, Caroline Rose! We love you!