B's SIXTH Birthday!

Our baby is six. That's a big one. The party planning is starting to shift out of our hands, the guest list is less familiar and we found ourselves sounding like "parents" (read: old fogeys) when we kept saying things like "this will be the last year for a big one like this" and "next year something small, okay?"

But she did have a wonderful party, at Rockin' Jump! (the exclamation point is part of the name). Its the party place for all the hip kinders. Like, of course. We were very happy with the mix of friends she invited, from school and ballet and her best friend from her previous school. With her birthday being at the end of the school year, we were really able to see what kinds of kids she has chosen to surround herself with...and the girl has chosen well. Very happy to see that! For being shy and slow to warm up, and oh so serious in class, she doesn't seem to see any distinctions in gender, grade, or any other walk of life that an elementary school kid might encounter and she simply spends her time with those she meshes well with and floats from group to group. And, for being such a "shy" kid (we put that in quotes because we try to emphasize to the children that they may feel shy at times, but it isn't a defining quality trait) she did an absolutely stellar job of making everyone feel included at her party even though a few of the guests didn't know anyone else except for B. We were very proud parents.

It was a rainbow theme birthday. And as usual we decorated at night while B slept; particularly sweet dreams in her new big girl bedding (her main gift). Although, this year it took her forever to fall asleep, worse even that Christmas Eve! She was just so excited. We covered the floor with white balloons (for clouds), used red/orange/yellow/green/blue/purple tulle to cover one of the large windows in the living room, lots of streamers, and T had made a rainbow heart garland from paint chips. Early in the morning, J walked to Starbucks (per the birthday girl's request) and got hot chocolate and an assortment of pastries. She opened gifts from mama, daddy, and brother over breakfast. Then dressed in her special custom birthday outfit (change #1) and rode her bike to school! It happened to be Bike to School Day. It was also the science fair, which J volunteered for, so he spent a lot of time at school that day.

her class is singing a special birthday song to her

part of the class birthday celebration

she fell in love with an outfit on Etsy and when we couldn't find it in her size we had to put it together ourselves; ordered the skirt and leg warmers, T made the shirt

fancy new bedding for sweet dreams