Half a Decade

Gorgeous Gabriella Daphna has been in our lives now for FIVE years. We have been parents for FIVE years. Woah. Gabi may have been born tiny, but she hasn't been small since. She is a full head taller than her same-aged peers. At her well check, she measured 3' 10" (98%!) and weighed 56.44 lbs (98%!).

At 5, Gabi can sound out words and blend them together to read, enjoys listening to sounds in words to spell and write down letters, and loves asking questions to learn all that she can. She has expressed that she wants to be a "mommy scientist" when she grows up. She is incredibly creative and artistic and can sit at the craft table forever coloring, creating, designing, cutting, taping, and decorating. 

Gabi is quite the leader (aka bossy and controlling), very active, and LOVES her brothers. She is stubborn, dramatic, and independent. She continues to challenge us as parents, and we are incredibly grateful every day that she is in our home and our family! We are so proud of the little girl that she is and can't wait to see the big girl she becomes.

We started celebrating a few days early at school with some treats for her classmates!

ready to sing with her friends!

Both younger brothers were there in support:

Perhaps one brother got more out of the occasion than another:

Cohen cuddles with the birthday princess:

Birthday fun continued the entire weekend, starting with a "birthday challah" with tons of sprinkles! (And of course, lots of special family was there with us too. Sweet big cousin Ethan and baby Shayna will have to represent.)

By Saturday, Team Cohan had arrived from Houston. We opened up a couple of presents (just to keep the party going) and had an indoor pool party (unpictured).

girls time!

pop snap beads from Gigi

On Saturday evening, we honored this crafty creator with a painting party! We had cousins, friends, food, and lots of fun!

The children were given a choice of cute animals to paint. (The first picture illustrates how well everyone was listening to the teacher's instructions...except for one child...)

Everyone gets focused on the task at hand:


Time for Cohen classic cupcake cones!

This went much better than last year.

Gabi and Julia have been school besties since Gabi started 2 years ago. They're pretty darn cute together.

We were so grateful that many friends came out to celebrate with Gabi too!

Charlotte

"friend" Jacob

Graham

Siddhant and Shreya

Nora

Lorelei

cousin Jacob

Joey enjoyed himself!

Mira chose not to paint and be the baby cousin whisperer instead.

Group hug before we call it a night! It was such a fun party.

After a day full of pool and painting fun, cousins bath was in order!

The next morning was January 28th, Gabi's ACTUAL birthday. We started the morning by opening more exciting gifts. Here are a couple highlights:

new doll from Grandma and Grandpa, so far named "Scarlett"

soccer player jewelry box from Aunt Mandy, Uncle Mitch, Noah, and Sam

It turns out we were invited to another friend's birthday party that morning, so it was a great excuse to visit the Thinkery! Baby helper Mira was back in action.

Of course, this is what my birthday girl chose to do with her time: art and cleaning

My sweet sweet boys:

After some well-earned birthday rest, Gabi was gifted some super cool (and loud) remote control cars from Nana and Zayde!

The official lyrics are: "ONE TWO THREE FOUR- Bang bang bang; catch me if you can. If you get me started, we could have a party."

My label maker may have taken some abuse that afternoon...

Mira worked really hard on this beautiful piece of art the entire weekend!

Before Houston cousins needed to depart, we snuck in one more birthday treat: ice cream cake!

As we did on her 4th birthday, Gabi got treated to a movie theater date. This year, big Ethan was deemed old enough to join! Ethan enjoyed his very FIRST big theater experience watching Ferdinand and comparing it to one of our favorite books at home.

Clingy momma's boy Spencer was confused when he was stuck with babysitters Nana and Zayde who helpfully assisted the movie-going experience.

Happy 5th Birthday to the beautiful and beyond special girl who teaches us patience and love every day!

PS: If you're wondering where Daddy was in the last half of the pictures (you probably weren't), he flew to Florida to spend some days with Grandma and Grandpa while Grandpa was recovering from a recent surgery.