She's FIVE!!!!

I find myself saying this every year....how can she be "blank" years old?  I also find myself telling Benji, or thinking to myself, "Five years (whatever Laney's age is) ago, I was...." It's hard to believe our little girl is five!  And boy is she proud to be five!  She jumped out of the car yesterday to go to school and said, "I'm FIVE!" to Mrs. Joray.  She also was hoping she was as big as Kendall at school, now that she's five.  (Kendall is already 5, so I guess she thinks she grew over night)

We had the best day ever with Laney and Max!  I always take the kids' birthday's off, but this year, we were lucky enough to have Daddy join us!!  He said he was going to try to do that also every year.  We started off the morning with our traditional pancake birthday breakfast, then opened some awesome gifts from Mommy, Daddy, and Max!

Once we all got ready, we loaded up the car and headed to Greenwood for the day!

We had a lot on our agenda for the day....shopping, Build A Bear, lunch, Monkey Joe's, and Target (per Laney's request!)

Laney and Max both built their stuffed animal at Build A Bear....both chose to make dogs.  Laney named her dog Woof Woof and Max named his Reese (as in the Reese cup!).  It's much better than his original idea for his dog, which was "Turkey" 

After Build A Bear, shopping, and lunch, we headed up to Monkey Joe's for the kids to burn some energy!  I can't say it enough....I love that place!  The kids love it even more!

I wish I could go down that slide!

Seeing that huge smile on her face all day made my entire week!  Notice the sticker on her shirt that says she's five! 

We ended the fun day at Chili's (Laney's request).  Grammy and Pappy joined us for dinner to celebrate the big birthday girl!  On a side note, we always go to El Nopal for birthday dinners, but Laney did not want to go there this year because, and I quote, "Victor isn't there anymore"  

Happy 5th Birthday Laney DeeAnn!  

Party Time!

Let's party, Doc McStuffins style!!  

Laney had her 5th (WOW) birthday party at Simply Pottery in Columbus.  She invited a friend from school and her closest buddies that she sees on a regular basis.  We were limited this year on amount of people, so it was a tough decision for her. ;)

The kids had some cake 

watched her open all of her gifts

and painted some cool pieces!

As you can see in the above picture, she is beyond excited about being FIVE!!

(more birthday pics to come...stay tuned)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love was in the air this morning with the Reinhart clan!  

The kids were fired up to see they received valentine's from Mommy & Daddy!  

A lot of people don't really care for the holiday....as for me, I love it!  Benji and I don't go all out and celebrate, but I love the holiday for kids!  The school valentines were always my favorite thing to do!

trying to do a heart with her hands ;) 

Helping Laney do her valentines for school was a week long project.  I learned last year to start early instead of the day before the party.  Having a 4 (ALMOST 5!) year old write every.single.name PLUS her name takes time (and patience from this Mommy....throw in a glass of wine, and I was good to go!).  Eighteen valentines to write out, plus to for the teachers....whew!  

As far as Max goes, he couldn't get enough of the candy this morning!  I think before Laney was even finished opening her gifts, he had already consumed 4 Reese mini  cups.  Needless to say, the candy soon got put up for a bit! Speaking of candy, I'm a candy lover.  I will say I've cut back TONS compared to when I was in high school and college.  But grabbing a couple pieces here and there is too easy to do!

We hope everyone has a fun and loving Valentine's Day!  

XOXO