Miss Anna's 6th Birthday Celebrations . . .

Anna's fancy birthday picnic!

Anna just had her friend birthday party this week. . . she was waiting for her good friend Kate to come back from a family trip.  All the waiting was worth it .  .  .   .  

Anna read the book, Goldilicious, back in February-ish.  She loved the book, and would look at one particular page for hours.  It was of the little girl, and her imaginary unicorn, having a fancy picnic in the woods.  My mom thought it would be a fun idea for her birthday party this year.  Here's how it turned out . . .

Presque Isle Gazebo.  Notice all the "fancy" decorations . . . tissue paper pompoms (easy and inexpensive!), butterflies and dragon flies my mom found at the dollar store, left over decorations and tulle from Auntie Ashley wedding! 

  

Yummy, fancy food (including a real tea pot to pour their juice).  Beautiful scenery.  Lovely, breezy weather. 

Blowing out the candles.  (Anna and Ben-Ben loved helping frost and sprinkle the cupcakes with me.) 

Dancing . . . we played a freeze dancing game that all the little girls loved! 

A treasure hunt, with cute little clues on pink paper attached to sticks. 

Finding the fancy treasure box, with their gift bags. 

Time for presents!

Such sweet gifts from her little friends!

These two were lucky to be invited.  Anna wanted only girls, but we convinced her to let her brothers come.  :)  Ben-Ben was dancing for joy!  :)

After all the fun, we walked them over to the park and the kiddies got out more energy while waiting for their parents to arrive. 

And a few adorable shots of Caleb swinging.  He loves it. 

I can't believe my baby girl is six!  I love her so much.  She is my sweetest, silliest, most helpful girl.  I am one lucky momma.

The Actual Day of Anna's Birth . . . August 4th.  She requested a pizza party;  specifically that we make our own pizza's.  It was fun.  And simple.  And delish. 

Proud of their creations.

Relaxed and fun family birthday party . . . with my parent's too, since we are living in their house right now.  :)

That day, Anna opened up the present from Ethan and I.  I was so excited about it, especially the deal I got.  It's the green "fairy" costume.  Someone had already given Anna some Tinkerbell looking slippers, and this just went with it perfectly.  Also, Anna's other wings had recently broken.  This will look really cute with one of her ballet leotard's underneath.  Anyway . . . Anna also opened the little present Benjamin picked out for her, one from Great Gramma LaJoice, and one from Grama and Grampa Jones.  (We celebrated with the Rayhorns on the Saturday following this.)  Ben-Ben put on his knight outfit just because . . . and then proceeded to attack his daddy.  He's such a boy sometimes.  hehe. 

Anna's Hospital Stay . . .

Okay, one last thing to add to this incredibly long post:  Between Anna's actual birthday, and her party, she had an overnight hospital stay.  So sad!  She had a kidney infection the end of July, her first one.  Then she got another one a week after the antibiotics were done.  So, they wanted to do some heavy duty antibiotics through an IV, and monitor her for a bit.  They also did an ultrasound of her kidneys, which looked infected.  Today she had another test done to see how the whole Urinary Tract is working, and everything looked good.  So, she just needs to drink plenty of fluids, follow some specific hygiene tips, and make sure she doesn't "hold it."  Oh, and cranberry juice.  Hopefully she never gets another one!  All the poking and prodding was so sad for a momma to watch!  Anna was so brave, and such a little sweetness.  And, in the 24 hours she was in the hospital, she had so many visitors, gifts, and treats. . . . it made the whole thing a little easier for her.  :)