Madeline's 5th Birthday

This past weekend, we celebrated Madeline's 5th birthday.  She wanted to invite a few friends for a pottery painting party, so that is what we did ;)

I still can not believe that my baby girl is going to turn 5 this week!  wow...time is going way too fast!

As I was getting everything prepared and packed in  the car to go to the party, I was reflecting on her birthday party's in previous years.  It was hard for me not to tear up a little bit...I got to thinking about how thankful I am that her daddy is here this year for her birthday.  How grateful I am that deployment ended when it did.  So many people do not realize how much our soldiers miss out on.  They miss so much: birth's and birthday's, anniversaries, holidays, first day of school, graduations, and so many milestones.  I was thinking about Madeline's parties in the past and realized her daddy has only been able to be at every other birthday...He was here for 1st birthday, deployed for 2nd, home for 3rd, deployed for 4th, and fortunately home for 5th...so every other year...here's to hoping we can break this cycle before 6...

So, on a lighter note....
here are some pictures from Madeline's party:
the food table:

The polka dot cake made by my precious friend Wendy:

Madeline and Meme:

big brother Jack waiting to paint his airplane:

Madeline and Sadie:

Chase and Madeline (these 2 are so funny together!):

helping my birthday girl carry her paint:

Madeline chose to paint Cinderella:

working hard to paint her just right:

birthday girl giving mommy bunny ears...silly kid!:

blowing out her candle:

love this look of pure excitement!:

daddy got to be the photographer of the party so we got a picture when we got home ;)  This little girl loves her daddy!:

Madeline really enjoyed her party, she loved getting to paint with her friends, and I loved how easy the party was...we will definitely be doing this again!