Anna Is 6

Earlier this week Anna celebrated her 6th birthday. 

Last night as I was putting this post together I scrolled back through my Anna archives here on the blog. Talk about a walk down memory lane. One of the reasons I love having a blog is that it is absolutely a digital visual scrapbook. Many of the stories I've written about Anna have been translated into scrapbook pages but there are some that haven't been yet. It was awesome to be able to go back through and look at those images and read those stories. Such a gift to myself. 

Anna, you are so rad.  

Happy. Funny. Full of life. Currently loving gymnastics and Barbies and playdates and make-up and music and learning how to read. You are a total morning person - happy to get up and greet the day and get on to the point where you get to see your friends. You like to go places and do things and dance and sing and play. 

You are one of the greatest gifts of my life.

Around here we do birthdays pretty simply with three main traditions: 

1. Streamers around the table which appear on the birthday morning (because they are so close - just a couple weeks apart - we usually keep Simon's up until it's time to change to Anna's).
2. Balloons. The number of balloons = the number of years. 
3. Family dinner. Either at the restaurant of their choice or at home. 

And presents of course. 

This year Anna had requested family dinner at Red Robin. Unfortunately she ended up with a pretty severe ear infection and we spent a couple hours at Urgent Care in the morning. So not fun any time but on your birthday it's that much worse. She was super bummed to not be able to go to school where they do a pretty darn great job celebrating birthdays (the kids all make cards for the birthday child - she got hers today and they are so sweet and fun). 

The adorable hair clip she chose to wear to Urgent Care is from Pippylou.com. I ordered her this skirt for her birhtday which she seemed to really like and the sweet owner had included the hair clip as a special gift. 

We got her started on some meds and decided that staying home for dinner was probably a better idea. 

Chris and Tiffany brought dinner over, including the awesome box of Mac & Cheese that she requested for her birthday dinner (totally what she would have ordered at Red Robin). We got a Dairy Queen birthday cake (the best) - she asked for the one with cheeries on top. Katie and Peter came over to celebrate too - because they are family. 

Anna was tired but she was happy. 

At her request we all played the Disney Princess Enchanted Cupcake Party Game which was actually decently fun. The cupcakes are especially cute and she had additional fun just making up things to play with those outside the game itself. I'd recommend it if you are looking for a game for 4-6 year olds. 

Last night when I was putting her to bed I said, "Hey Anna, guess what? I really enjoy being with you." She smiled and said, "Thank you." 

It's just that simple. I'm so thankful you are a part of my life Anna. I'm thankful that I get to know you and watch you grow and be here to cheer you along the way. You are awesome. Love you my sweet not-so-much-a-baby-anymore-girl.