Bradyn's Birthday Weekend

I know that you aren't going to believe me when I tell you this (because frankly, I still don't believe it myself), but Bradyn turned 5 on Sunday. FIVE!!!! I absolutely cannot believe that we have a five year old living in our house. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting at home officially on maternity leave, bored out of my mind, anxiously awaiting the morning of February 13, 2006 to arrive. I still vividly remember driving myself to the hospital that morning with Kevin videotaping me (I wasn't in labour - what was the big deal?), and while driving by Colony Farms on Lougheed (yes, it's that vivid) listening to Bryan Adams' song "I'm Ready". The lyrics that really struck us were "I'm ready to love you, I'm ready to hold you, as ready as I'm gonna be". There was no way we could ever have known then just how much our lives would be changed forever in a few short hours, and how we could ever love a little person so much.

I'm sorry, you didn't come here for my sappy memories, you want pictures!

Bradyn's birthday weekend started with a special gift from Daddy... tickets to see a live WWE Raw show at the PNE Agrodome on Friday night. Now some of us may not have been so thrilled to get such a gift but believe me, our little Bradybug was buzzing with excitment over the prospect of seeing John Morrison in real life.

Their adventure started with a trip to Subway for dinner. Big deal? As a matter of fact it is, because Bradyn has never eaten a Subway sandwich - her staple is pea-butter & jam sandwiches, but only at school. Although she wasn't too impressed with the turkey sub in the beginning, by the end she told Kevin that she was "getting pretty attached to it".

Anxiously awaiting the start of the show, in the balcony front row.

Although she had a fabulous time, our little munchkin was still only 4, and the main event took place a little too late in the evening for her to hang in there...

After her power nap, she was all smiles for the trek home.

On Saturday afternoon, Grandma and Bradyn had some special bonding time at Build-a-Bear. Grandma is holding 'Nala', the kitty cat Bradyn made a week earlier at Jenna's Valentine's Day Party. Bradyn decided that Nala needed a boyfriend, so she and Grandma built 'Declan' - a fine looking grey tabby cat.

On Saturday night, we had our family celebration of Bradyn's and Grandpa's birthdays. As Uncle Dallas brilliantly pointed out, Grandpa was (and will forever be) '63 + Bradyn'.

On Sunday morning, I was awakened by Bradyn coming to the side of the bed saying "Mommy, it's wake-up time. Am I 5 yet?" Although I said yes, she technically had 49 minutes to go (it was only 7:30 am). She was so excited to start opening presents and get the party started. I still don't know why, but Bradyn decided to put on one of my old dresses. OK, I have to be honest... my heart was melting. This dress was my absolute FAVOURITE when I was a little girl. It was my special Christmas dress and to be honest, I think it was my favourite because it's reminiscent of a Holly Hobbie patchwork dress. Bradyn declared that she was a secret princess. You know.... all princesses go in disguise at some point - Cinderella as a house maid; Sleeping Beauty as Briar Rose in the forest...

I have to say though, it sure was the perfect attire for playing with her new Playmobil pirate ship.

Bradyn wanted to have her birthday party at a local play centre this year, but I convinced her that it would be more fun (not to mention cheaper) to have the party at our house again. After making 5 separate lists of names to be sure she had everyone, she invited 13 of her best friends from school. Many of their parents joined us and we ended up with a total of 25 people in our house at one point on Sunday afternoon. During the first 20 minutes of the party as I watched the kids chasing each other in a line from one room to another then up and down the stairs, screaming the entire time, I wondered what had possessed me to agree to this but honestly, we had a fabulous time.

Since Bradyn lost out on her choice of venue, I agreed to her request for a Princess Tiana cake this year (no 7:30 am cupcake-icing marathon this year).

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Bradyn's second non-negotiable request was to have a pinata (she actually kept calling it a jalapeno for months before the party - too cute). You would think that purchased pinatas would be made of flimsy paper mache - not so! After having each child take 2 separate tries at bashing the thing, I ended up ripping it open and dumping it on the floor. We have lots of video of it, but no pictures, so I re-assembled it Sunday night so we could take this photo. (Is it just me or does Bradyn look really grown up in this picture?)

We took this family self-portrait on Sunday night after everything was all cleaned up. Believe it or not, we were all still smiling after a long, busy day.

I caught a glimpse of my little baby when I went in to check on Bradyn not long after she went to bed. Still clutching her new Rapunzel and Flynn Rider dolls, she was sawing logs.

I have a bad feeling that every year it's going to get harder and harder to accept that our little girl is growing up.