Going on a bear hunt...

Our little social butterfly was devastated when she found out that she could not invite her friends to her 5th birthday party.  Since she had a big birthday blowout last year - this year is a family party.  I tried to explain that to her.  She understood.  Then asked if she invited less of her family members, could she invite her friends.  Yep.  5 yrs old and too smart for her own good. :)

Trying to make it fun for her, without going all out, we decided to go with a bear theme.  You know, since she's Hannah Bear and all.  The idea slowly evolved to "Going on a bear hunt". 

Trace stayed true to tradition and decorated the night before:

We thought it would be fun to put streamers on her door, so when she got up in the morning, she would have to break through them.  However, our fun little idea backfired.  She woke up at 3am with a fever and cough and kind of freaked out because she couldn't get out of her room.  Oops.

I am not feeling all too hot at this point in the pregnancy - and even though I had all these grand plans to make an awesome homemade cake and decorations...it just didn't work out that way.  My only contribution that was somewhat handmade were these little bears:

They fit perfectly on Hannah's cheesecake.  She requested a strawberry cake.  Strawberry Cheesecake was close enough.  Thank you Costco.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

This just cracks me up.  And exactly what was she so happy about getting?

A toothbrush.

From the dollar store.

A bow and arrow set from the movie Brave.  It was to assist her on her "bear hunt".

Such a ham.

Target shooting.

Our next stop on our bear hunt?  Black Black Bear Diner, duh.

Not that we planned it this way, be we happened to show up at just the right time.  There was a clown making balloon animals - and I have to say, I was impressed.  And since it was our birthday blitz weekend celebration dinner - we let the birthday kids pick out one animal each:

Hannah chose a mermaid.

And Luke chose a monkey (big surprise there).

The almost-birthday boy...being cute.

Our final stop on this hunting expedition?...

Build-a-Bear Workshop!  

Hannah has been begging me to take her there.  She had a blast.  They lady who was working there was so sweet and made it a really fun experience.  We even let Hannah pick out an outfit for her bear.  You guessed it.  She picked out Merida's dress from Brave.  Oh and she named the bear Merida Bearida.  :)  My favorite piece of the outfit?  The red wig - it even has slots cut out for the bear's ears.  Genius. 

I think her birthday was a success.  She didn't ask if she could invite her friends - not even once.

Happy 5th Birthday Hannah Bear!  We love you :)