Raelin's Birthday

Raelin's birthday was yesterday (the 13th) and she turned 5!! She's been so excited for her birthday. We gave her a calendar so she could cross off the days until the big day. As most of you know, I always have my kids choose what kind of birthday they want and I make a cake to follow their theme. Actually, usually the cake is all that there is to go with the theme, but this year Raelin decided on a Tyrannosaurus Rex birthday and Brice found a bunch of dinosaur stuff at the dollar store. I found some more dino stuff at other places and we had lots of decorations! It was so much fun!The cake was hard to make because she wanted cheesecake. That gave me very little room to work with and I don't usually frost cheesecakes, so we improvised. I used a bunch of different kinds of chips (chocolate, peanut butter, and white chocolate) and some mini M&M's to make a dinosaur head. I should have used all mini M&M's--it would have turned out better with smaller chocolate pieces, but you live and learn. At least it tasted good!

When Raelin and I were working on her birthday menu, I asked her what she wanted for dinner. She said, "Cereal. The kind that's little black balls that Tia likes." She meant Coco Puffs. I told her that she could have that for dinner but that I wasn't going to serve that for everyone because they would probably prefer something a little nicer. I asked her what she thought about a roast in the crock pot or something. She said, "Chicken." I said, "You want a chicken dish made in the crock pot?" She said, "No, I want to eat a chicken leg. A big, big, BIG chicken leg!" and held up her hands about a foot apart. I said, "Oh, you want a TURKEY leg," remembering the Thanksgiving we had when my dad plunked a big turkey leg on her plate to see what she'd do. (Her eyes got really big and she was so excited!) She replied, "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" So turkey and the rest of the traditional Thanksgiving fixin's it is. I just made the turkey and asked family that was coming to bring the rest, which sure made my life easier! Thanks, guys! We had a wonderful feast (all the food was REALLY good!) and Raelin was really happy with her turkey legs (yes, that's plural).
After dinner we tried to digest a little before attempting to squeeze in some cheesecake by opening presents. Raelin got some wonderful gifts and she has had a great time playing with them today. She was even given stewardship of Uncle Liam and Angel's kitty, Motors, until they have a place of their own (they're moving back to California)! Poor kitty hasn't gotten a moment's peace since she arrived. Here's Raelin's reaction to Motors being presented to her:
Raelin sure loves animals! I wonder where she gets that from...

Could it be from her daddy?
Or her mommy?Or maybe Tia and Toby? (their dog even made it to the party!)Or Uncle Jesse?
Okay, this will take forever to find all the pictures I'd need for this list, plus I don't have pictures of everyone's animals, so I'll just list the rest of Raelin's relatives who have animals: William and Angel have a dog and some cats, Aurora and JC have dogs and cats, Mimi and Papa have a dog and a snake, and even Melissa has convinced Wes (who hates animals) to let the kids have cats. My parents don't like animals really, but even they have a dog and horses. So, you see, she was destined to be surrounded by animals. My parents have a hard time understanding our animal mentality, but eventually they'll learn. I told my mom the other day that I was going to get a new dog for my graduation present in April and she punched my shoulder said, "Why don't you finish having KIDS first?" Sorry, Mom, we're just going to have animals. We love them and we will always have them around. And they make Raelin happy. She really wanted a puppy, but for now the stuffed one from Uncle Jesse will have to do. At any rate, Raelin's birthday was a TON of fun and thanks to everyone who contributed to dinner and who gave Raelin such wonderful and thoughtful gifts! And a big happy birthday to our five year old girl, Raelin!