A Tale of Two Birthdays

So, to begin this post, I would like to first remind you of this post from one year ago. Remember Joanna's 5th birthday party? I remember that blizzard like it was yesterday. It threatened to ruin the party, but we prevailed! It was a birthday party blizzard for the ages. Well, fast forward to yesterday and I am pleased to report that not only was there no blizzard...we had the exact opposite! There was sunshine! There was swimming! There were croc-clad feet! I even actually wore CUTE shoes that were not boots - rain or snow!! In January, people. Let's pause and let that absorb into our souls for a moment.

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It's been an amazing January in terms of weather, and I could not be happier about it. I am hoping that February and March continue with this trend. I am such an Alaska party pooper, but I'm fine with that. :)

Anyway, back to the birthday. Our weekend started out on Saturday with dinner out with 3 of Joanna's little friends from school. We got gussied up in our finest and made the journey into town to a restaurant called Henry's. We had tons of fun, and the girls (and Nate!) dined on corn dogs, french fries, ice cream and root beer. I had to laugh when the waitress brought out the 5 bottles of Henry's (naturally) root beer and all 5 pairs of eyes lit up as she set one in front of each of them. One of Joanna's friends said "Oh, WOW! I don't think my parents will let me drink THAT!" I assured her that it was parent approved. :)

Unfortunately, when Jake went to take a picture of the fun, the camera battery went dead, so I got NO PICTURES of dinner! I was (am) bummed.

So, on Sunday morning we got up and opened presents. Then I frosted the cupcakes. Around 2:00 we headed over to the pool and had a GREAT time swimming with her classmates for an hour! It was a very fun, simple party! We came home and Audrey came over to help me pin and baste Faith Olive's quilt, but I'll make a seperate post about that.

All in all, it was a very fun weekend and I told Joanna yesterday morning that she makes my world a better place. :) Happy birthday, sweet girl!!