She's Six!

Monday was a major huge important day for Strawberry.  She turned 6!  It was an entire weekend full of fun and excitement.  On Saturday, we spent the morning at the park and cruising the driveway in the Barbie Jeep.  Then we had an Avatar marathon (season 3 is so intense!)  Sunday we had the big birthday party (Luke had school Monday evening).  It was just a family party, but was lots of fun.  We had a pinata and twirly straws and everything.  She got Littlest Pet Shop pets, Barbie princesses, art supplies, Hello Kitty slippers, a princess dress, and some fun games.  Not bad (thank you everyone).  

To celebrate her actual birthday, first we took cupcakes to her class.  Her teacher pointed out that she is over a year younger than a few of her classmates and is the youngest by a couple of months, but that she is definitely "holding her own."  She said, "It's a good thing she's so smart."  Something a parent loves to hear.  She really is doing well and loves to learn.  She has gotten much better at reading already and loves to tell me all about matter and solids, liquids, and gasses, or whatever else they happen to have learned.  "Did you know that??"  They don't do near as many art projects as in kindergarten, which is too bad because that was her very favorite part.  And there is definitely more drama going on with the other girls (definitely one of the most frustrating parts of parenting--why can't they all be as nice and sweet as my kid?)  But she really loves school.  She has discovered the joy of jump-rope.  Since school started, she has gone from getting her feet tied up with every jump to making it through the little song, the alphabet, and lots of numbers.  It is crazy how much she has changed since she first started kindergarten.  

That afternoon, we had a girl's night out.  We went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner where they have all these huge animatronic jungle animals.  We got to sit next to the elephants.  The girls were a little panicky at first, but were able to calm down and enjoy their meal.  Then we went outfit and shoe shopping.  I got myself talked into buying some Dead Sea products after the salesman gave me a hand massage (this stuff is amazing!  My skin hasn't felt like this since I was 10.)  Finally, we sat down and had some nice gelato (chocolate and mango).  

It was a really fun weekend for Strawberry.  I love making big deals about birthdays.  Poor Apple got a little bit upset when we took down all the decorations.  "My birthday now!"  One nice thing about her being this age is that we can do the exact same things for her as we did for Strawberry and she will be totally ecstatic.  We could probably even use the same pinata.  :)  Thank you to everyone for help making this the best birthday ever for our little girl.