Jane is 5

Our Jane turned 5 at the end of September and she was so excited! The anticipation of your birthday when you are young is so much fun! We kept things simple this year and met up with family in San Francisco. Golden Gate Park has a wonderful children's park, complete with a carousel, cement slides, awesome playgrounds and large open fields. And yes, we caved and bought Jane an American Girl Doll. I thought we could hold out a few more years but it was the ONLY thing she talked about for weeks. She read the magazine night and day and was very specific about which doll she wanted. Alas, Isabelle has joined our home and Jane could not be more pleased (Cate not so much but more on that later). After we ate cupcakes we let the kids play a little more and then flew kites out in the field. Mimi gave Jane and awesome kite and it was very fun and easy to use.

Jane you are thoughtful, kind, spunky, inquisitive and beautiful! We love you and are so grateful you are a part of our family. Your sisters look up to you so much and you are so good with them. We look forward to watching you learn and grow even more over the next year!

Here are a few pictures from our afternoon in San Francisco. It was a perfect day!

On Sunday, Jane's actual birthday, we invited two families from Jane's class to join us for a BBQ. She is in a pre-K class and all of the kids have fall birthdays. Between the three kiddos they was a birthday on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Here is the entire crew, siblings included.

  Jane's classmates are on either side of her, Conor (left), Noah (right)

 Love this photo bomb, we kind of planned it. :)