The Cromwell Clan: Happy 5th Birthday!

I can't believe Julia turns 5 today! She will be starting a new chapter in her life and I can't wait to see how she will grow and change. Exciting times!

About a week ago, she kept asking me how many days until her birthday and then the count down began. When she woke up everyday she would tell everybody how many more days it was until her birthday. So yes, she is very excited to celebrate her birthday and turn 5. We also told her we were going to go to Lagoon on her birthday and she was so excited about it. Every time she saw a commercial she would say, "I'm going there on my birthday."

Helping me make her favorite noodles

Because she was going be gone having fun all day on her birthday we still wanted to have a little party. She picked out her favorite curly noodles for dinner along with Rhodes rolls. Her theme this year was tricky. She kept going back and forth from horses to rainbows but finally picked something. She has been watching a lot of Kung Fu Panda lately and LOVES tigress. Julia loves to pretend she is a tiger and runs around the house on all fours pretending to be tigress. I have even caught her talking to her pretend tiger pet while playing. So we decided on a tiger birthday party. They don't sell Tigress separate from the Kung Fu Panda stuff so we just decided to do tiger colors for the decorations. Let's just say it's putting us all in the Halloween spirit. Anyway, Sunday night we had the family come over for cupcakes and presents. It was so fun and the cupcakes were a hit. I just didn't want to do a big huge cake this year and cupcakes were simple and easy. I did make the tiger toppers so we could get more of the tiger theme incorporated into the party. Its not easy to find 'tiger' items at the stores so we had to be creative.

Her tiger party decorations

Happy Birthday!

Making a wish and blowing out her candle

She had this surprised/happy face in a lot of
the pictures we took. She loved everything she opened!

Her unicorn stompeez slippers!

Her princess barbies

Enjoying the cupcakes

A happy 5 year old

One last surprise gift!

The pink camera she wanted!

The next morning we headed off to Lagoon. Everybody was excited to go. We met up with gma and gpa Cromwell for breakfast before the big day. And Julia got to open up her presents they brought for her.

Julia was able to go on a lot of rides and she was super happy. She even got to go on some of the bigger roller coaster rides. After a few though she did say she felt sick to her stomach. So we slowed down a bit. She even got to go on some rides with little brother Christian. I was surprised he did so well. Going with Julia helped him out and made him feel more comfortable. He loved the rides that had a steering wheel.

To say the least it was hot and humid. So we ventured over the Rattlesnake Rapids and decided to get wet. We only had 4 of us in the raft so we could maneuver out of the way of most of the water if we didn't want to get soaked. Going through the last waterfall we all got wet but Julia took the biggest hit and got soaked! We ate lunch out in the sun to try and get dry.

Soaked to the bone

After lunch we walked around Pioneer Village so we could get Christian to try and fall asleep and thankfully he did. While he was asleep we got some ice cream for dessert. It was really yummy and hit the spot!

All tuckered out

Enjoying some yummy ice cream

Julia was so excited to see some actual tigers at Lagoon. Her birthday theme being tigers and all, she was happy to get a picture with a real one. We also got to see a bunch more tigers as we rode the train. They had both orange and a few white tigers. I think Christians favorite ride of the day was the train. Every time he heard the whistle blow he would say 'choo-choo' and put his arm up in the air like he was blowing the whistle. He loved to see all the animals as we rode by.

Picture with the tiger. Its hard to see but he's there.

Riding the choo-choo

I think Layne and I both agreed that our least favorite ride was the sky chairs. We both had Christian with us which made us a little nervous anyway. But the worst part was when they had to stop the ride twice and we just sat and sat there. I was starting to get a little panicky. And Christian was getting antsy. So needless to say we did not ride that one back to where we started. We walked back. We went on a few more rides with Julia. Layne actually took Julia on some go-carts and when she got off she told me she had fallen asleep on the ride. Layne said she was pretty nestled in and just took a snooze. Well, Julia wanted to go play in the water again and gma and gpa took the kids to the water pad while Layne and I hit a ride. When we got there to see the kids they were having a blast. Christian was soaked and just running all over the place. It was his chance to cool off and stretch his legs a little bit. Next we had to say goodbye to gma and gpa. We were said to see them go but so happy they could come and celebrate the day with us. Julia wanted to hit the bummer cars for her next ride. It was funny to watch her. She did her very best to avoid getting hit. She just drove around the whole ride in a big circle and missed mostly everybody!

It was such a fun day and the kids did great. We are so glad we got to have gma and gpa Cromwell come with us and I know it meant a lot to Julia to have them there.

Riding the sky chairs

Christian getting soaked

Bummer cars

A little bit about Julia and what she likes and dislikes at the moment!

*Favorite color is still pink and purple.
*Favorite foods are curly noodles and pretzels with cheese.
*She loves fruit and apples are her favorite.
*She loves root beer and water. Doesn't like milk or juice so much anymore.
*She loves having her own room in our new house.
*Right now she is into watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Team UmiZoomi, and even Curious George(that's because Christian loves that show.) She still loves to watch signing time and teaching Christian new signs.
*Some of her favorite movies are Mary Poppins, Kung Fu Panda, Annie, and whatever Princess movie she has been watching lately. As of right now its Little Mermaid.
*She still loves to dress up and watch Princess movies.
*Her favorite places to go are Disneyland, gma/gpa Cromwell's house and her cousins house
*She is a great big sister and really does a good job with Christian. I love that she can make him laugh so easily.
*She is brave. She loves to make new friends and is not to shy at talking to new kids and getting to know them.
*She is so stinking smart.(what mom doesn't think there kid is smart?) She has done so good at her reading this summer and continues to amaze me at how much she knows already.
*She LOVES going to both her grandma/grandpa's house to visit and play.
*Her favorite things to do are dance, color/paint, swim, playing with cousins. We love to turn on the radio in the kitchen and just dance and sing to the music.
*Julia is silly and funny. She has some pretty funny faces she makes and is always wanting me to watch her do silly little dance moves she makes up. She is always keeping us laughing.
*She is sensitive. She doesn't like to be laughed at. We have to remind her that sometimes we are laughing because of something you did or said that was funny, we aren't laughing at you. She also doesn't like to be embarrassed in front of others and usually will hide her face and run away or start to cry.
*She is dramatic. I really hope this mellows about before she is a teenager. I just remind myself that she is a girl and she is trying to deal with all her new emotions.
*Julia has the best smile. I love to take her picture. She will always pose and smile when you ask her to.
*She is a perfectionist, just like her mom! She has to have everything perfect. She has to read her books perfectly, or do her school work perfectly the 1st time. She has to have her room or her toys a certain way and gets very upset if you tell her its ok if its not perfect. She will say "It's not ok, it's not perfect." Layne and I do have to remind her that we all make mistakes. Even mom and dad still make mistakes and that we just need to keep trying.
*She loves to swim and be in the water. She loved being able to go to Bear Lake this year and loves to take swimming lessons
*She still doesn't like to have her hair done. It's usually a big chore and a daily morning fight when we have to just brush her hair.

*She likes to wrestle with her dad and grandpa Cromwell. She loves to tease and pretend to be fighting with them. She loves to rough house with Christian too, that is until he grabs onto her hair.

*She is becoming more interested in sports. She loves to watch sports with us and usually asks Layne which team he is cheering for. We hope we can get her involved in something she really likes soon.Layne said she has the perfect personality to play sports because she is a perfectionist and she doesn't like to lose!

*Some of Julia's favorite phrases: seriously, what the, oh my gosh, But I'll never get to or I'll never have one...., no-no Christian.

Julia's next big adventure is starting Kindergarten at the end of the month. She told me she wants to make new friends and learn how to count to 100. She is excited to find out who her teacher will be and where her classroom is. We will get to find out on Friday and she can hardly stand waiting.

Julia we are so glad you are a part of our family.

We love you! Happy 5th Birthday!