One of those moments

So, Sara turned 5 a week ago. Had the big party, dinosaur cake carved and decorated by Mom, the she-bang. There are lots of those pictures, and I should probably post some soon. But these are my favorites, not because I didn't look at my settings and completely over-exposed them, but for what they represent.

Before we planned Sara's party we asked her if she would like to help other people (or animals) rather than receive gifts for herself. Sara's birthday is at the end of a very long and dense cycle of birthdays in her group of classmates, and a couple of other friends and their families decided to pay-it-forward. To Sara's credit, we barely had raised the question, and she said yes. A few hours later, as I was putting her to bed, Sara looked up at me and asked "Could we donate my presents to the Ronald McDonald House?" We had not even discussed and detailed possibilities yet, we were just proud she entertained the idea so easily, not that we were surprised, just proud. So, Sara came up with Ronald McDonald House on her own. She had asked questions about the place after leaving some money in the donation boxes at McDonald's and it clearly stuck with her.

For her birthday, rather than accept gifts from her friends, we merely let it be known that Sara would be making donations of books, toys, snacks to RMCD. And her friends and their families helped her out on her birthday. (lest you worry about the joy of being a 5-yr old, her type A parents, grandparents, and godparents took very good care of her, as usual) So, this afternoon, we picked Sara up from preschool early and went down to the local RMCD to make her donation. Two large boxes and a little extra to boot. While we were there they asked if she would like a tour (Yes), and the short or long one (Long). She (and her parents tag along parents) got to see the various rooms for activities, outdoor gardens (apparently among all the RMCD's the local one is referred to as the Garden House, and with very good reason), the double kitchens, a guest room, and even a handicap accessible treehouse. She was very curious and excited to see everything.

We aren't quite ready for her to be growing up so fast like this, but watching her be herself and trying to take care of others (and have fun at the same time) makes it easier to handle. As an aside: at her birthday party, a couple of her buddies had post-nap shyness/grumpiness and didn't feel up to participating that much, but Sara did her best (unprompted) to try to make them comfortable and to get them involved...

Anyway, here are a couple of pics from today.