a birthday for miss ribbons

Leah's birthday was a bit more low key this year than it has been in the past. She's had at least one party with lots of friends each year, so this time we decided to party just the 3.5 of us. 

She was on winter break, so we had the day to ourselves and decided to head up to Tuck to have lunch with dad in the cafeteria. You would have thought Leah was a celebrity walking through the halls with all the people who knew her and wanted to talk to her! 

{I know Ryan is blurry in this picture, but I love the way Leah is looking at him.}

As we ventured through Hanover on our way back to the car, we stopped by the enormous snow cupcake the Dartmouth students decided to build in Leah's honor this year. That was nice of them, wasn't it!? 

And then we got to drive our beloved Larry through a car wash, which Leah thoroughly enjoyed. So did Larry. 

Leah requested chicken curry and orange juice for dinner, so I obliged. And we all gobbled it right up. 

After Ryan's birthday and Valentine's Day the week before, we're often caked out by the 22nd. This year, we happened to be caked, caked/cupcaked, cookied, and eclaired out. So, in an effort to avoid baking one more thing, I jokingly asked Leah if she would like a watermelon for a cake instead. The eye contact she gave me immediately after my inquiry made me laugh out loud. Apparently my sarcastic comment was taken seriously. So, watermelon cake it was. And I have to admit, not being a cake girl myself, it was pretty delicious. 

The highlight for me was when we lit the candle and asked Leah to blow it out. I hinted to Ryan to help her, but before he could, Leah did this big huff and blew the candle out herself! Seriously. All by herself. I nearly cried.

We helped her open some presents thanks to some incredible generosity from family and friends and just enjoyed our quiet night as a family. It was a perfect way to celebrate five years with our miss ribbons.