Our favorite big sister turned SIX and we were so happy to celebrate her. This year has been a big one - she wrapped up her time at Cathedral House, moved in to a new house, got a new baby, and started Kindergarten. In the blink of an eye, this baby turned into a big girl who went from diapers and dress-up to getting herself dressed in her school uniform and showing off the stories she has written!
Olivia continues to have such a range to her personality - big and little, brave and timid, outgoing and shy, sweet and angry. Matt and I like to say that 95% of the time, she is the model of perfection. She's funny, smart and sweet. She has a good imagination and loves to play. She is a kind friend and socially adept. At the same time, she is 5 and has moments of pure anger and defiance. She can argue with the best of them, has sass for days, and when she is really mad, she is not afraid to resort to a kick or a punch!
She is reading great. At this point she can pick up any book and read it. We are working on really paying attention to what she is reading instead of just flying through the words. She also continues to work on math with daddy (who she calls a math "quiz"). She knows most of her basic multiplication and this is her FAVORITE party trick. Anytime anyone asks her about school, she is quick to demonstrate the multiplication tables. Its all memorization at this point and maybe even a little embarrassing, but honestly, having a girl who loves math and thinks she is good at it is not something I hate.
As can be seen in the presents below, dolls still reign supreme with Olivia. This year she got a "big" American Girl Doll. She did a "design your own doll." It did not arrive in time for her birthday because it takes 6 weeks to make it and she AGONIZED over each decision (see separate post on this). So most of her "quiet time" is spent with the baby dolls. She lines them up and plays school or restaurant or some other activity with them. Beyond that, art is the other big favorite. Matt and I have boxes and boxes of art work and books and cards she has made us. If she ever gets in trouble and gets sent upstairs for a time out, we usually will hear "I'm dropping an envelope down for you" a few minutes later. Most of the time they say something along the lines of "Dear Mommy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ____. I love you. XOXO, Olivia." However, every now and then we will get one that says "Dear Mommy, you better watch out. You will be sorry. XOXO, Olivia." So.....
She has also been into cooking lately and getting more into the nitty gritty of it - reading recipes, measuring ingredients, etc. I am hopeful that cooking will be something that bonds us as she grows.
We celebrated her birthday a few days early because Matt was going to be out of town on her actual birthday.
Once again, American Girl dominated the presents
On her actual birthday, she woke up to a few more presents and we had kolaches for breakfast.
And she had a special day at school. We were greeted with a birthday sign when we drove up.
Then, Eric and I were able to go to at lunchtime and bring her a special lunch (she requested Raising Cane's) and cookies for her friends (butterflies for the girls and baseballs for the boys).
That evening, my parents joined us for a birthday dinner. She is on a big nachos kick now, so she chose Lupe!
The next weekend, we had her parties. Of course she needed her hair done that morning.
Once they found out it was her birthday, they really took care of her - pink glitter, blush and pink lipgloss. She was LOVING the attention.
First up was a paint party at Mad Potter with her friends. The kids were VERY focused on their art. The party was literally silent for about 30 straight minutes with only the parents chatting, as the kids painted.
With all the changes around her, I was so happy to give her a party with her CHES and family friends that feel warm and safe to her (and me!).
Speaking of feeling warm and safe - the fact that 2 of my best friends were there with THEIR daughters who my Olivia just happens to love and adore?!!
The desserts were very important to her this year. She had very specific ideas about a chocolate cake, with chocolate glitter frosting...
And this is how the party ended - all her guests in one big pile of sugar and love on the floor.
And then we did a little get together with the family back at the house.
First up, she opened all her presents. She is a lucky and loved, spoiled little girl.
And we had Carrabbas cater dinner. For dessert, Uncle Drew helped me make her a Pink Princess Punch
And then we had the second dessert of the day - a chocolate chip cookie cake!
This year we missed Yazzie because she was in Iowa but we were so lucky to have Drew and Jenny down from Nashville to help celebrate our girl.
And of course Popo, Tutu, Mimi, Grandpa, Naz and Tyler were there
At the end of the party, Olivia showed off what she worked on in school that week. During "free time" at school that week, Olivia and her new friend Charlotte apparently "wrote a story." Its called "Friends" and it is a legitimate story. It has 6 pages and its about 2 friends who are in the same class and one gets hurt. The other friend helps her and then they both go to class. It has illustrations and sentences and my completely biased self basically declared her a genius the minute I saw it. I talked to her teacher a little about it and she told me how she really encouraged the book obviously because of the acacdemic aspect of it, but also because Olivia really stepped out of her comfort zone to do this with someone new and they were both SO proud of it. On Friday, Olivia and her friend presented it to the class for their weekly "Show and Teach" session and then sweet Mrs. Hayden made a copy of the book so that both Olivia and Charlotte could take it home to show their families.
At the end of her party, Olivia did a reading of the book. It was precious and perfect. She started out by warning everyone that the original version had color pictures but there is this thing called a "copy machine" and it only made the book in black and white. ;)
And that's a wrap on her 6th birthday. I was exhausted by Sunday but I hope this sweet little gift of a daughter knows how loved she is and how lucky I feel to be her biggest fan.
