So the girl had a birthday — six years old now, if you can believe it! We have lots of cousins with summer birthdays so we sort of partied all summer and are only just now coming down from the frosting-induced sugar high. Jacqui wanted a Hello Kitty themed birthday so we started it off with what else? A Hello Kitty cake. (Which of course, she could not resist poking with her little six-year-old fingers.)
Next stop for the summer birthday party extravaganza was a combined birthday zoo trip with the cousins on my side of the family. So we took a road trip and met up at the zoo. The kids all had a blast — especially with the dino-themed section of the zoo. Jacqui’s cousins live near the zoo and have season passes and were sooooo cute playing tour guide and showing Jacqui and Kyle around! Jacqui adores them and hung on every word.
We finished off the day with a Barbecue and cake and presents at my brother’s house. The kids decorated the living room when we got there and they proclaimed it the ‘Best Party Ever’! I agree — it was a super fun day. Days like this always make us wish we lived closer to family.
The next day was a combined birthday swim party and barbecue with the cousins on Ken’s side of the family. Again, the kids had a blast! And as you can see, Jacqui takes her cake eating very seriously!
A few weeks later it was Jacqui’s actual birthday. Since we had already met up with everyone for birthdays we just decided to let Jacqui plan the day. She wanted a “picnic lunch and dinner with lotsa Hello Kitty decorations then lets ALL GO TA CHUCKEECHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!!!” Well, OK then… We decorated the living room in Hello Kitty finery…
Then we turned the coffee table into a kiddo sized picnic table for the day. Simple, but she was delighted!
She got to choose whatever she wanted to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lunch was hot dogs and beans — her choice…
Then she went outside and played for a while — jump-roped (if you can call it that), played on the swing, ran around chasing bugs and other important six-year-old stuff.
I have NO explanation for this photo. You’ll just have to watch the video at the end of this post. ‘Nuff said.
Then it was off to CHUCKEEEEEEECHEEEEEEEEEEEZ!!! Only, itsy bitsy problem … the REAL Chuck E Cheese wasn’t there. Jacqui was quite perturbed that he forgot about her birthday. I did talk her into posing with the mechanical one, but you can tell how happy she was about that. “Moooooommm!” She wailed, “He’s my friend! How COULD he fer-get MY birthday?!!? This is a ‘zaster!” We spent ten minutes talking her down from the “disaster” ledge and then she ran off to play on the swirly slide.
Then suddenly the Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theatre was a fun place to be again and it was all smiles from there. Well … until we told her it was time to go home …
But we reminded her presents were waiting for her at home. She cheered right up!
And look who got a new camera of her very own! Nothing like having a six-year-old wake you up each morning shooting video of you. I soooo hope she’s not planning a documentary or something.
Happy Birthday Sweetheart! May all your parent-approved wishes come true!