Six

A few weeks ago we celebrated J’s sixth birthday. Over and over again. It truly was the birthday that would never end. But by the time you throw a family party, celebrate the “birth day” proper, and then host a kid party, it ends up being a weeks worth of partying. Here’s a little recap of birthday week…

Baby J & I picked up some balloons for the family party, which was held a couple of days before the big day. * By the way, J chose beef dip for her dinner this year…yes!!!

Daddy convinced J that Angel food cake was the cake to ask for. So I made one for the party using this recipe, and I think it turned out okay! Not sure that I will go racing to make another one soon, given that it calls for 12 egg whites, but it was fun to learn something new.

Being the birthday girl means doing this pose a lot. I guess it does feel like you are the star of the show, if only for a few days…

And our big six year old has had to share the stage a lot with this little turkey, but she’s welcomed her new role as a big sister whole heartedly, and we are so proud of her for that.

Crazy to think that we’ve now celebrated five birthdays in our little apartment – and the first celebration she was still in diapers!

Cupcake Boss.

This one is from J’s actual birthday (Jan 18) – it was a Monday so it was a school day. I considered keeping her home, but it’s pretty fun to go to school on your birthday when you are little. I dropped off 24 sprinkled vanilla cupcakes and she passed them out to her class, then afterwards she got to stand up in front of the class while they sang to her. At lunchtime, baby J and I picked up the birthday girl and took her for a slice of pizza 🙂

Birthday evening was mellow. Daddy brought home a fish tank wrapped in pink gift wrap (she got two guppies & two ghost shrimp for her birthday), we Skyped with Nana & Grandpa and then ate tacos… and more cupcakes.

And finally, the following Saturday, we hosted a kid party. We’d asked J what she would like to do and she chose to host an almost identical party to the year before. She wanted to have her friends over, craft some party hats, head out for some lunch, and then decorate cupcakes. So that is exactly what we did.

J wanted just a handful of friends, even though we told her she could have six (based on her age) – but she decided to keep it tight-knit, which made me think, wow, you are so mature!

In keeping with the fish theme on the chalkboard that started at the family party (in anticipation of the fish that would be coming to live with us) the girls added some finned friends to the board.

I couldn’t resist bringing one of these home!

Off to lunch…

We asked Jules if she wanted to go to Red Robin, thinking that would be the kid-friendly thing to do. But in true city-kid style, she chose Japanese. Hahaha!

The one below cracks me up. SO much attitude – which, by the way, seems like a hallmark of six (wink)

Pardon the expression, buuuuut…CUTENESS OVERLOAD!

You would not believe how much candy children can fit onto one tiny cupcake. It’s a little crazy!

Keep going! You have exposed icing.

Thought we’d amp up the party by serving some champagne….kidding! It’s sparkling juice, because we figured that the sugar in the cupcakes was not nearly enough. Apologies, parents!

And that wraps up the birthday festivities…except for the following day when I let J run around outdoors with her deflating six ballon…which, by the way, is a great way to have complete strangers wish you happy birthday if you are looking for a little extra birthday love. ha ha.

That’s a wrap! It’s amazing how quickly babies turn into big kids. It feels like yesterday that we were rocking, and singing and potty training…then just like that – Six. This year is going to keep me on my toes, I can tell already. Keep being awesome, J!

A look back at past birthdays… five, four, three, two, one. Wow.