Now We Are Six

... or at least Ellie is.

After hemming and hawing, I decided to have actually have a "friends party" this year. We kept it small and low-key. Initially, Ellie requested a Zebra Party, but after a brief discussion about the narrowness of such a theme, she acquiesced and we went with a jungle theme (plus savannah animals). We had jungle twister, which entailed everyone playing twister in their costumes , feed the monkey bean bag toss, and pin the tail on the zebra. It was all good fun, and was followed by zebra cookies (black and white cookies - a NYC favorite).


The family party was fun, and even lower key. We had a birthday dinner of beef stroganoff (Ellie's choice), birthday brownies (as Ellie has declared she does not like cake), and gifts. All the gifts seemed to be a big hit this year! Grandma & Granddad Anderson sent caterpillars so the kids can watch them hatch, and some legos, and Grandma & Grandpa Hart sent some clothes, a game and a very cool book written by LaRayne for Ellie to illustrate. Nico, Alex and I got her some books, some necklace materials, and some face paint (which has been used everyday since). Ellie was delighted with everything!!

Happy Birthday Ellie!!


Ellie and Nico showing off their face paint











Ellie was very impressed with my artistry here... aren't you?






Nico unfortunately lost his dessert privilege for the evening since he ate none of his dinner. However, since it was Ellie's birthday, I thought a slight reprieve was due and shared my birthday brownie and ice cream with him.






Ellie reading her book from Grandma Hart.