In Which My Baby Turns 5 Years Old....

In the past, we have combined Natalie's birthday with our Sinterklaas celebration, just sneaking an extra gift or two under the tree in Birthday wrapping paper. However, now that she is such a big girl, and all of 5 years old, and in school and everything, we felt it was time to give her a proper birthday celebration...
Here she is this morning, waiting to open her gifts at breakfast (yes, that is Christmas wrap, never mind...)

A unicorn hobby horse! And if you push the button on her ear (her new name is Sparkles) she plays Under the Rainbow and makes clippity cloppity noises. Over and over. And over. Repeat.

All she wanted for her birthday was a new princess dress up dress. If only they were always so easy to please..

Had to try on the new crown with purple jewels!

Going for a ride on Sparkles. They have been pretty much inseparable all day.

In her new finery....

She wanted a pink cake with pink icing. Pink cake was difficult (we settled for rainbow bits), pink icing we could do. Deanna helped decorate, and did a wonderful job! I did the base coat and the lettering, Deanna did the rest...

Candles!

Blowing out the candles...

5 years ago, on the day after Natalie was born (aka my actual due date), London had such a major snowstorm that the city was pretty much shut down. Had I gone into labour that day, we would have likely had to call an ambulance to get to the hospital. Or Daddy would have had to have a crash course :) She was very cooperative to come a day early, so we could spend the storm all snug and warm at home. She's been a fairly cooperative baby ever since. She is growing up too quickly, now in kindergarten two days/week. But she is still my baby, and loves her snuggle time with Mom. Better enjoy it while I can....

Don't you think....

...that this is the cutest Kindergarten class ever?

I may be a titch biased. But I think they're pretty adorable.

They are:

Back Row: Mrs. Janine Janssens (Aide), Emma Lenting (Michelle Blokker's daughter), Josiah Hiemstra, Abigail Bredenhof, Mrs. Erin Pieterman

Front Row: Ethan Pieterman (honorary Thursday student, when his mom teaches), Esther Vermeulen, Natalie Pieterman.

Missing are Mrs. Wendy Vanderheide and Mrs. Shelleen Blokker who are in charge of these monkeys on Tuesdays.

Backyard Visitors

Every winter, we hang a birdfeeder in the back yard. It is so fascinating to watch through the window as our feathered friends empty it in about 2 days! Of course, we have the usual variety of birds... house sparrows, chickadees, dark eyed juncoes, and a few pairs of cardinals. This year, however, word seems to have spread about our backyard buffet, and we've noticed some newcomers!

A few weeks ago, we spotted a red-breasted nuthatch. What a neat bird! It's been back quite regularly.

This morning there was one of these pecking around in the trees back there too.

They all regularly get chased by these pesky critters. I finally found a feeder that they can't get into!