Well almost anyway. Officially it's not Bethany's 5th birthday till the 22nd December, but this year as she still has no actual idea of when her real birthday is, we celebrated it yesterday - on the 14th.
The morning started early as we guessed it would. Bethany's pure excitement showed as she walked into the front room and was greeted by a pile of pressies which had been sent from her friends and family back in the UK, and of course a few from mammy and daddy too.
A mass of wrapping paper and cards followed, some of the most wonderful gifts emerged from underneath. Grandad stole the show though with his sheep presents! We thank you all so very much our lovely friends and family! 
The rest of the day was spent playing with Bethany's new toys and getting prepared for the party. We had bought Bethany a beautiful flowing party dress yet instead she chose to rock chick it up instead, suiting her new image perfectly!
The party was held at The Short Straw Cafe. One of our most favourite places to go, rolling hills set this beautiful venue which is made from straw so magnificently. It has a wonderful flow through the cafe out to an area at the back which has been set up for children and adults to enjoy in tranquility. We hired a side room which has double opening doors that went through to a grass area with tables and chairs, the staff were utterly fantastic, helping in any way possible, this is a 5* place that is for sure!
Inside there was a lovely little table with 21 places set for all of Bethany's friends. The entertainment arrived in the form of a Fairy and she proceeded to face paint and entertain the children.
As with any plans involving lots of people there is always something guaranteed to go wrong. On the morning we received a call saying that the Fairy lady we had booked was unable to do our show. Of course a moment of panic set in but luckily they were able to find a replacement. The show provided by the replacement was excellent but sadly it wasn't anything that we had organised with the other lady, and so the show didn't pan out the way we hoped. However it was still excellent and it seemed like the children hadn't noticed. They all went home happy but empty handed though as the Fairy didn't bring the party bags as promised either! Ooops!
Out came the stunning ice-cream cake that we had ordered from Wendy's and it was as delicious as it looked, all the children loved the cake (and the adults too!).
The weather was perfect, the venue stunning, and having all of Bethany's friends (and our friends) around made it such a magical day. Thank you all for sharing such a special day with us.
After we had said our goodbyes it was back home for another round of opening presents, this time from her party friends. The presents were all so wonderfully perfect, every single one of them was literally perfect, Bethany not knowing what to do first!
However one in particular stood out which I felt I just had to mention. Alina is one of the most amazing women I know, she has so much going on and yet she still found time to paint a portrait of Bethany. Standing ovation deserved - honestly we are in awe - thank you so very much! 
Also along winning the Wonderful Women Award is Catherine Cattanach who took some photos at the party. Ever the amazing talent and despite me telling her to 'take some time off' she just couldn't help herself, but we are so grateful, I mean just view these and you will see just how amazing she is. 
Bethany's 5th Birthday - Photos by Catherine Cattanach
A late night was had yesterday but it didn't matter after such an amazing day. Even though we know Bethany isn't actually 5 yet I still had a tear as I watched her open her presents. So much has happened since she was born and we have achieved so much, suddenly from no-where she is now 5, scary stuff.
Our little girl is growing, faster than we really want her to, but it's happening and we are embracing it. It never gets any easier to be apart from our parents, our family and our friends, but to know they still think of us means the world.
Happy Birthday little lady.
5 years old and ready to conquer the universe - go get em' sweetie.
Mammy and Daddy love you xxx
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| Bethany's 5th Birthday |
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