Lucy's 6th Birthday

We celebrated Lucy's 6th birthday at the end of April.  Lucy had her birthday activities and menu planned out weeks in advance so on the day of her birthday, we definitely had a schedule to follow!

Lucy was excited to open her presents as soon as she came downstairs in the morning, and seemed to be quite pleased with her Friends Lego Hair Salon set, her tadpoles that were to arrive in the mail any day, a dress, a garden stepping stone kit, the book that the Mary Poppins movie was based on, and a dress she had been wanting.

She built the Lego set that day, which kept her happy and out of trouble.

 Another favorite gift she received was a cat stuffed animal from Emma.

These cat stuffed animals have enormous eyes and I can't tell if the kids like them because it provides encouragement for begging, or if the eyes seem nice and familiar to them, since my kids are always looking at us with big, begging eyes.  In the below picture, both Lucy and her stuffed animal are asking for more ice cream without saying a single word.

For breakfast on Lucy's birthday she requested waffles and bacon.  Afterwards, she planned to have free time to play with her new presents, and then we all went to the park for a picnic of our favorite sub shop.  Here are the girls below, enjoying time on the playground after our picnic.

I iced and decorated Lucy's birthday cake while Will took the girls to dance class in the afternoon.  Lucy enjoyed her classmates rendition of Happy Birthday, and when they came home, I had a meal of mac and cheese ready and waiting.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a vanilla and strawberry cake, coupled with a side of vanilla and strawberry trifle as the first attempt at her cake came out of the pan in a multitude of crumbly pieces.  The second attempt I decided not to take any risks, so I baked it in a glass dish worthy of presenting it in.  Future Lucy would like me to add that she ended up throwing up the cake in the middle of the night, so despite my efforts of having a food-dye free cake (Lucy is allergic to petroleum based additives) to avoid any tummy upset on her part later, I neglected to read the ingredients on the whipping cream I used and sure enough, there was an offending additive in it.  Poor girl.  Needless to say, with a double batch of cake and no birthday girl to eat it, the baker ate a lot of cake that week.

 To end the day, we read the Day Lucy was Born book and measured her height on our growth stick.

It was a great day, and amazing to Will and I that our rainbow baby is now six.  Six years ago Lucy brought joy back to Will and I.  Luke promised us that we would have a healthy baby girl named Lucy, and not a day goes by where we are not thankful for her in our lives.  Lucy knows exactly what she wants, and isn't afraid to ask for it.  She refuses to settle for anything less than her dreams and she is extremely conscious of following the rules and making sure her sisters are safe.  She has an amazing eye for design and thrives on arranging spaces and items into the most unique and beautiful combinations.  She is becoming less shy when interacting with adults, and has even told me that I have embarrassed her in social settings (this is more fun that I thought it would be!).  Each of my children have taught me so much, and Lucy is no exception.  She has taught me that respect and understanding will build a relationship so much stronger than control and that each of us arrive on this earth with our own unique personalities, plans, and innate wisdom.  Lucy, we love you ever so much, and are so happy that you chose us to be your parents!