laurelai's sixth birthday.

Laurelai's birthday party was a couple of weekends ago now (how the time flies!), so I thought it's about time to tell you about it!

First of all, she turned six, so I think it goes without saying that it was Hello Kitty-themed.  (I'm not sure where she has even seen Hello Kitty, but she's seriously obsessed.  Anytime anyone leaves our house - Todd, myself, strangers - she pleads for us to "honk and say, 'Bye, Hello Kitty!'"  So when Todd walks to work in the morning, he has to make the hand gesture for honking and mouth, "Bye, Hello Kitty."  It's a whole thing.)

As usual, we served tacos at the party, because they feed a lot of people (my parents came down for the shindig) and who doesn't like tacos?

As pictured above, she chose a donut cake for dessert.

Penelope spent the morning working on making her some maple fudge.  They'd seen the recipe in Farm Anatomy months ago, and it has been a plan long in the making.

Two things about maple fudge: first, it was weirdly difficult to make.  I figured since it only had four ingredients, it should be easy enough, but it involved a candy thermometer and like twenty minutes of cooking, followed by an hour and a half of cooling, followed by a half an hour of stirring until our biceps turned to dust, followed by four hours in the fridge.  It was a major undertaking.  Second, it turns out Laurelai doesn't like maple fudge.

Luckily, she does like presents.

She got a quilt set for the new bed we're putting in her room.  Which, if you know me at all, has turned into a mini room makeover, because once I get the decorating ball rolling, I just can't stop it.  It's physics, that's all.  Pure physics.

She specifically requested ballerina clothes, and my parents came through.  After presents, I dug out my old pointe shoes and we danced together for a bit.  Laurelai says that her biggest dream is for us to form a mother-daughter ballet troupe when she's a grownup, and spend our days dancing together.  However, it would appear I have some work to do to make that dream happen, as I am most definitely no longer in ballerina shape.  My ankles hurt for like three days after her party.  So she may just have to be the headliner, and I make a token appearance gracefully waving a rose in the background.

The kids made her all kinds of amazing gifts, like this little cutout of the family that Finneas created...

...and this paper doll from Atticus.

We are so in love with our little six-year-old!  She is funny and adorable and pocket-sized.  She loves playing with Barbies and dancing ballet.  She doesn't seem to require food or sleep, so I'm pretty sure her body sustains itself on oxygen and rainbows.  She tells the funniest jokes with no punchline.  (Last night's joke was, "Someone asked me, 'how big is a car?'  So I was lookin' online, and I found a Beetle.  And I was lookin' online, and I found a Smart Car.  And I was lookin' online, and I found a Mustang.  And I was lookin' online, and I found a regular van.  And I was lookin' online, and I found a pickup.  And I was lookin' online, and I found a Kraken.  And I was lookin' online, and I found a MONSTER TRUCK! And I said, Monsters have trucks?"  Bah-dum-cha.)  She loves school, and is quickly learning to read.  She draws the most adorable pictures of people, including melt-your-heart pictures of Jesus.  She is a prayer warrior.  She loves praying any opportunity she gets, and will beg to pray and sing over any siblings who are being laid down to sleep (including every single time Juniper goes down for a nap throughout the day).

Our little Lolo is such a gift to us, a constant ray of sunshine with a beautiful smile and kind words ready for everyone.  She is salty sweetness that makes getting out of bed in the morning worth it.  We just wouldn't be the same without her!