5-year old birthday party.

Hi Lauren.

It was your birthday a few weeks ago. we had the party on March 31st, even though your actual birthday was March 5. We had the party in Santa Cruz. This is a picture of the cake you had.

A few weeks before your birthday, we were talking about what kind of cake you wanted. We talked about Barbie cakes, and Dora the Explorer cakes, and Ariel cakes . Then, one night while you and I were going out for sushi (your favorite dinner) in San Mateo, we walked past a bakery and you saw a blue cake in the window, that was square, shaped like a present, with flowers on it and a blue ribbon that crossed in the middle. And you fell in love with this cake.

I kept worrying that you would want a pink cake, since pink is usually your favorite color (although you will say that they are all your favoorite colors, except black and brown). But you kept saying that you liked blue and you wanted a blue cake. I went back to the store a few times to order the cake in time for your birthday, but they always seemed to be closed. I thought it was because I was going after work, and maybe it was the kind of bakery that was only open in the mornings. So, one day I left work at 12:00 and drove over to the bakery. It was closed. "Oh no!", I thought. "What am I going to do?"

I went over to another bakery that I knew made pretty cakes and talked to them. I told them that my favorite girl in the whole world was turning 5 years old, and that she wanted a blue cake that was square, shaped like a present, with flowers on it and a blue ribbon that crossed in the middle (since that's exactly what you said you wanted). After much discussion with the lady at the counter who took the cake orders, and the lady in the back who made the cakes, and the other man at the counter, we had drawn a picture of the cake and they decided that they could make it in time for me to pick up on the way to Santa Cruz for the party.

But I got worried, so I went to the first bakery and took a picture of the cake. I showed the picture to the lady behind the counter who took the cake orders, and the lady in the back who made the cakes, and even to the other man behind the counter.

Now I felt like they would make a good cake, just they way you wanted it, square, shaped like a present, with flowers on it and a blue ribbon that crossed in the middle. And, that's just what they did.

We had a fun time at your party. You had a lot of friends there, and we played pin the tail on the donkey, and we blew bubbles on the porch. Your birthday present from me was a tree house that you puit together with people, and two wolves, and a trap door, and a hammock, and a rope ladder and some god treasure that you could hide in a treasure chest. You and I put it together (you had already made a dollhouse that was sort of like it, so you knew how) and we played with it. We also had some cake. It was a very fun birthday.

I love you,

Daddy.