Watch Out World--She's 6!!

( This post was written in January.  Apparently I was waiting to upload pictures but whatever---here it is...9 months later.)

Munchkin turned 6 this month.  I am about 2 weeks late in posting her birthday festivities, but that's what happens when you have 4 kids and no motivation whatsoever.  I am about 73 loads behind in laundry but I did load the dishwasher last night and sweep the floor this morning...TOTALLY PRODUCTIVE!  Anyway, since her birthday fell on a Wednesday, we would have to do her friend party another day.  I was planning on the Saturday before her birthday but that would give me only 2 days to get invites out to her friends before the party.  So we went with the Saturday after--she was less than thrilled with that decision.

 However, we still needed to make her birthday day special.  I had her think about what she wanted to eat.  Told her she could pick every meal!  She picked waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast, chips with chili dip for lunch, and nachos for dinner.  I drug myself out of bed early to make sure the waffles would be ready in time.  She didn't eat hardly any.  For lunch, she ate a bit of chips and dip, but still not much.  For dinner, Hubby got off work a bit early and got the yummiest nachos from Betos (or whatever they changed their name to.) Yeah. She didn't want that kind of nachos!  She wanted just chips and cheese in the microwave!  So hubby and I got lots of nachos!  She did take her friend out for ice cream...with her daddy.  Her friend was going to be out of town for her birthday party and they were both pretty sad about it.  She got a couple of presents early out of necessity.  Like a new YELLOW coat when she couldn't find her regular coat.

Then her birthday party day was finally here.  With lots and lots of, "How many more hours until my party?"  And then, "How many more minutes until my party?"  With her birthday so close after christmas, I was still worn out from all that.  Luckily, I talked her into just paying for a party instead of me having to do lots of work.  And super-luckily, I found a City Deals deal that made it half-off!  So we headed to a frozen yogurt place in town.  They took care of everything.  They gave the kids shirts to color, pictures to color, played a few games, had their mascot come in and hug the kids and pose for pictures, and then the kids got to load up a bowl with whatever flavor frozen yogurt they wanted and whatever toppings.  Most of the kids really loaded them up!!  And most of the kids didn't finish and left looking a little sick!  And they had goody bags for all the kids.  Munchkin got so many presents!  She was in heaven!  We are still working on finding places for all the new things :)

The next day, we had our family members who live close over for cake.  Which meant I had to make a cake!  Munchkin is super into gumballs--you know the little nasty ones?  She got a gumball machine for her birthday last year and did gumball valentines last year too.  So a gumball cake was approved and the hunt for gumballs commenced.  Finally found some at Target!  I searched Pinterest and found a few that didn't look too hard.  I also saw an idea on Pinterest where you use cake pops to make a polkadot cake.  So I borrowed a babypop maker (which I still have to return :\ ) and made all different colored balls and put them into the strawberry cake Munchkin requested.  Then frosting and gumballs over the whole cake.  It turned out pretty good.

Our family brought some of the best presents ever!!  My cousins got her a trophy.  I mean, really--best present ever for a 6 year old! There were whoopie cushions, movies, a track suit and fuzzy socks.  She wore out both whoopie cushions that night!  And with everyone there, almost all of the cake was eaten, with my college-aged brother taking the rest home to his roommates.

So What's new?

The boy earned his black belt after fronting $125 (his half) to take the test.  Now he's mentally checked out of karate, and doesn't even care if he goes ever.  But since our contract goes thru March--boy's going!

Hubby graduated with his MBA--finally, but with one more class to take in the summer.  But now he's officially DONE!!

My grandparents came to visit on their western trek.  It was fun to have everyone over for dinner and games.  More fun to see their fishy jams!

We moved---decided that since we were probably going to be here forever, we might as well put down roots and buy a house.  We bought a house that we really liked but that had room for improvement.  We played games instead of unpacking...Six days after we closed, hubby's work offered him his dream job in Seattle...UGH!

Thumbelina turned nine, and we tried to have a surprise party, but we were at a friends house after a baptism and she saw the secret invite on their fridge.

(In other news, Squirt turned 4 in May and had a Sofia Princess party with her besties before the one moved to Hawaii.

 School started--The boy in 5th grade, Thumbelina in 4th, Munchkin in 1st and Squirt in Preschool

The girls let me cut their hair.  But even now--months later--Squirt asks me, "Is my hair long yet?"

 The boy won a frog at the city carnival--spent tons of money on a cage, food and stuff.  The frog was happy, but didn't like our new place and died.

 And for proof that I am the meanest mom ever---for April fools day, I made the kids Brown E's for dessert.  Squirt kept crying and saying, "You're just joking--this is just paper!"  She was not amused, even when I pulled out the real brownies and let her have one.

 She'll get used to me eventually, right?

Up next, our Halloween post in which I dye my four-year-olds hair black for her costume.  Best mom EVER!!