It Begins at age 5

Lilly turned 5 in February. She already had the opportunity to attend a couple of her classmate's birthday parties so I knew that when it was her turn she was going to want to have friends over also. I was not prepared for this stage of life so soon. It seems like just yesterday that we were still making all her decisions for her and she had no will of her own. What happened?
So we scheduled a Saturday to play with her school friends. I was one of those moms who limited the number of girlfriends she was able to ask. This decision was a little difficult for her since she is our little social butterfly. I originally said 4 friends plus her would be great but she "convinced" me that she had to ask 5 of her friends, so she did. Five is was, unfortunately 1 got sick so was unable to attend.

They had so much fun. Just so I remember for future reference, they all came over around 12:30pm. They played for a while and then we did some craft projects. We put together candy necklaces and made bead bracelets. They each received their own goody bag with jewelry, candy and their finished crafts. After the crafts we opened gifts and had ice cream and cupcakes. Then it was playtime again. At 3ish we dropped them all off at their homes.
It was so fun to see Lilly play with her classmates. It's such a different kind of play that I am used to seeing with her brothers and her friends of our friends. Some of the girls did imaginative play while others just chased each other around the house.
We're looking forward in seeing how Lilly develops as she enters Kindergarten with and without some of her preschool friends.