Raegan turns FIVE!!!

Well, once again Raegan's birthday was a 1-2 week affair :-).  Her actual birthday was while we were in Greece so we let her open all her gifts except the ones from Ron and I the day before we left. She loved all her gifts - Rapunzel, Barbie, cute clothes, and a Leapster game.

 Gramma and Grampa sent a little something for Wyatt as well that he was quite excited about.

Her actual birthday was in Greece and we gave her a little something there. She had a special day of playing on the beach with us and her friends she made while there. We went to dinner with a Norwegian family we met with a little girl her age who also gave her a little gift. It was very sweet!

When we returned from Greece Raegan opened up her gifts from Ron and I - here she is opening them (in a new cute birthday outfit). We gave her a Strawberry shortcake beauty parlor set and a Breyer horse and rider set, since she has been interested in horses more and more lately.

Raegan has been talking about turning 5 and her 5th birthday party since last summer I think - and she's been consistent the whole year about wanting a mermaid party.  She invited 13 kids - 11 came - a mix of boys and girls from her class at school -we expanded the theme to be mermaid and pirates. Fortunately the weather was sunny about low 70s so a perfect day to keep all the kids entertained outside.

We organized a treasure hunt where all the kids worked together to find puzzle pieces hidden around the backyard which they had to put together to form the "map" to where the hidden treasure was. They really enjoyed this one, until they found the treasure and didn't like the treasure candy at all. I felt bad, I couldn't find anything like chocolate coins you can find in the states, so I had to settle for black licorice coins (they love licorice here). I don't think one of the kids liked those - they all spit them out!!

 

We had water balloons, kids can go through 75 balloons really quickly!

 The birthday girl

Snack time

 

Then we made shell necklaces from shells we had collected at various beaches. Ron drilled holes in them so we could put them on string with beads. There were pirate eye patches for the boys or anyone else who didn't want to make a shell necklace.

Cake time - I'm so mad I didn't get a good picture of this cake before we cut into it - it was really cute.

And here is singing happy birthday with a twist at the end.

 **In progress, technical difficulties uploading video**

 

Raegan wanted to eat the mermaid's head and she promised Wyatt the crab.

 It was a little creepy how she carried the mermaid's head around on her fork before eating it!

 

We also had a the baby pool set up for "fishing" and the trampoline was a hit and the only thing we really had to referee.

Time to open presents. Wyatt thought it was his birthday and opened Raegan's prized biggest gift for her. She took it well :-)

 

 

 I was a bit nervous about hosting our first real kids birthday party at our house, but it all turned out well! The kids were really sweet and listened and seemed happy with all the entertanment. We got very lucky with the fantastic weather!