Our baby turned 6

I can't believe my baby is 6. That's so old:) I know we always say this, but it really does just seem like yesterday when I was holding her as a baby and dreaming about what it would be like when the girls were 6 and 7. For some reason in my mind 6 is a turning point in their lives. They are able to do so much more for themselves at this age. It is great and awful at the same time. You want them to grow up when they are acting like babies and shouldn't be, but then you want them to stay young because they are just so darn cute and sweet! All I can do is try to cherish every moment because the time is flying by.

Here are the girls early on Arianna's birthday. She loved that huge stuffed horse she got grandmother Gail.


Arianna's birthday was on the 9th but we had the party on Valentine's Day. So we had 3 different birthday celebrations this year. First Mimi (my mom) came to town the week before the 9th. She spent a few nights and showered her with love and gifts and attention while she was here. Then we had the real birthday last Monday. She opened a few presents, had cake, and all her favorite meals (waffles, tofu dogs, and bean quesadillas). Here she is on her 6th birthday.

Her big party was on Saturday at our house. The party was great. There were 16 or so kids here and all the parents. The kids decorated valentine bags, decorated cupcakes, played dress up, then hit the pinata. Grandaddy William and Anna came from Charlotte and our friends from Chapel Hill came down too. It was so nice of everyone to make the trip to celebrate with the birthday girl.
Anna and William (aunt and grandaddy)
Here they are decorating cupcakes in their costumes.
Here they are waiting in line for a hit at the pinata

Making pinatas has become a tradition for Kruidenier parties. We started out buying them for the birthdays when they were young. As the girls got old enough to help we learned how to make them ourselves. The first few we made were just balloon shaped with crape paper decorations. This year Arianna really wanted a dolphin pinata. So I found a design online and we started working on it 3 weeks in advance. It's not a very difficult process but it is time consuming. You have to allow time for each layer of paper-mache to dry. So for this design we used 2 balloons for the body, a cup for the nose and cardboard for the fins and tail. This is another great project for the family. I loved being creative with the shape and design. The girls loved getting their hands dirty in the flour/water glue! We were all very proud of the finished product.