nina is 6!








Olivia loved her donut so much that she decided to feed some to her baby doll too.


This little girl is growing up much too quickly.
Where'd my fat little baby Nina go?
I honestly can't believe she is 6 years old!

I asked if she thought it would be fun to do a pajama party, and of course she was super excited about that. Since we don't really do sleepovers, we had everyone come in the morning dressed in their pj's. All her little friends were off track too so it worked out perfectly, even though it was a Thursday.

I was going to make sleep masks for each of the girls, but get this...when I went to JoAnn's to get all the fabric, lo and behold, I stumbled upon a bin of pink satin sleep masks on sale in the very back of the store. I just about clicked my heels right then and there because they were only 50 cents! That saved me a ton of time and money. Then I bought some craft foam stickers so the girls could decorate their sleep masks when they came to the party.

My sister Erika came and helped me run the little manicure station, then we had a rousing game of Bingo, woo! Actually it was a pretty quiet crowd. Erika and I were laughing about how serious and quiet everyone was being. Next came presents, Hannah read the Charlie and Lola book, "I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go To Bed," and then came the towering donut cake! Does it get any easier than that? Sheesh, I used to go crazy with birthday parties when Ben and Hannah were little. We'd invite 25 kids and I'd spend weeks planning and preparing. Then I realized that the kids really don't care if you go over the top. They just love to have their cute little friends over all at once, open a few presents, and eat a bunch of sugar. Simple! So yes, I have drastically simplified over the years.

I simplified so much that after they were done with their donuts and orange juice, we still had 45 minutes of partying to do, and I was totally unprepared, haha! So we cranked up the tunes and played freeze dance, did a few rounds of "hot pillow," played more Bingo, and did Simon Says. They loved it! And they didn't know the difference, right? They all got to "fish" for their goodie bag before they left, and Nina was a happy girl.

That night we went out for smoothies, watched Dennis the Menace {funniest movie of all time} and had popcorn downstairs.

Happy birthday Nina! I love you!