Red's 6th Birthday Beach Party

The last week has been INSANE---thus, why I have been missing in action on my blog.  First up, Red turned 6!  Yay!  I lucked out because she wanted a backyard beach party for her birthday.  Last Saturday we had a bunch of little girls and Tom Thumb on hand for playing in the sand,

swinging on the rope swing,

eating cake,

and running in the sprinklers!

Everybody got flower leis, hibiscus garland crowns, and a bubbles with a balloon attached as favors.  Tom Thumb had a pool cake made of Jello for his 1st birthday a few years back and Red wanted the same thing for her cake except a beach instead of a pool.  Here is a close up of the finished product complete with brown sugar sand, the Jello ocean, a Fruit Roll up and pretzels volleyball net, Fruit Roll up towels, gummy Lifesaver life preservers for my multi cultural Teddy Graham people, and gumball beach balls.  The only problem I didn't foresee was a gaggle of girls yelling at me as I cut the cake --- "I WANT THE VOLLEYBALL NET!  GIMME A GUMBALL!"  Oy!  The Cobbler said next time I should have back ups of all the novelty decorations on the cake.

Thanks to all of Red's friends who made it a great time!

Red's birthday present from the Cobbler and I was getting her ears pierced.  I wasn't allowed to get mine done as a kid until I was 10, but I always thought that was a little bit unnecessarily strict.  It's not like it's a tattoo or anything!  Here she is before:

And here's the after shot:

She looked a bit choked up for a minute and said, "I'm fine.  I'm NOT going to cry."  Once the girl who pierced her ears cleaned them and gave her the mirror, Red did a little happy dance, and then said they felt great.  She's told everyone since then that they felt like a shot in the ear at the time but feel fine now.

After making breakfast for my parents and the Cobbler on Father's Day, my mom, the kids and I hit the road and made the 4 1/2 hour trip up to my parents' cottage in northern Michigan.  Even though the weather was a little unpredictable and rainy most of the time we were there, the kids loved it as usual.  Red and Tom Thumb read some books together up in their room in the attic---

and my older sister Lisa came over with my nieces and nephew one night.  Lots of Tinkertoy/Magnatile fun was had by all.

Since we returned yesterday we've been busy making a mummy as part of our Story of the World study!  Watch for a post on that soon. :-)