Katie turns 6!

On 23 December Katie turned 6! We can hardly believe how big she is getting. Sometimes it seems we have a grown up girl suddenly before our eyes. She is growing in thoughtfulness and responsibility. She has music in her bones and is always singing and making up songs, usually praise songs to God. It is so fun to see her personality and talents develop!





We started off the festivities early, with Katie's birthday party on 12 December. She wanted a puppy party this year and I have to say it was one of the easiest, most fun parties!! Of course, Mimi & Poppi helped quite a bit with the party planning, sending us gobs of supplies from TX. It was a great theme as well since half the party guests were boys - I think they liked puppies more than princesses :-).

The party began with each guest receiving their own puppy ears and tail so they could get into the theme. They enjoyed showing us how they panted and wagged their tails too. Some were reluctant... but eventually all were changed into puppies for a couple of hours!

We played Musical Puppies (like musical chairs with stuffed puppies instead of chairs), Pin the Paw on the Puppy, Dance Freeze to puppy music - they were all big hits! Each guest also got to paint bone and puppy ornaments to hang on their Christmas trees. We ate bone shaped sandwiches and paw print cupcakes. I felt like I was misrepresenting myself to the parents who stayed for the party - I do NOT do parties like this!! (i.e. all themed and creative) But with a few minutes of searching on the internet I found so many easy and fun activities! So hooray for my 10 minutes of Martha Stewart glory :-) I would highly recommend this party theme!










Katie enjoyed the day of her birthday as well. I think she gets more excited about her birthday than Christmas! :-) When she was a little baby, I was concerned about being sure that the 2 are always separate; basically that her birthday doesn't get lost in Christmas. But for her, her birthday is totally connected to Christmas - it's all just one big happy celebration :-). Jason & I snuck into Katie's room the night before to decorate with balloons and streamers so she would wake up to a fun surprise. What I didn't count on was that she would wake up so early that it would still be too dark to see the decorations :-). When she went back into her room and turned the light on she was suitably impressed :-).

On her birthday, Katie enjoyed opening presents and riding her new bike. We finished the day with a "movie night" by watching Snow White, complete with popcorn and pizza - one of her favorite things right now!

Happy Birthday to our sweet girl!!