Fi is 6! And more happenings.

We are habitually behind schedule here, but we are making a triumphant comeback with this post! Fiona turned 6, and she had a wonderful birthday. She chose to wear a dress that she loves, that was mine when I was a child - and that my mom sewed for me. It is amazing to me that it is still in such good condition and that she enjoys wearing it. The crappy hat I bought at target that wouldn't stay on will not be around so long....
We had about 12 kids come celebrate - all of whom were 'old' friends for Fi - moms group friends she has had her whole life and a couple neighbors were the majority. At her school, most people invite the entire class or at a minimum all the girls and we thought that would get a bit large - so we chose to just have the school celebration that they do with all the kids and for the home party not invite anyone from her class. Fi wanted to have a home party with games, we did telephone, put the sticker on Fi (instead of tail on the donkey) and above you see the ending of the pinata. It was great fun.
For a super special treat Anreeeew and family drove up and were able to spend a couple days with us and celebrate Fi's bday too. More pics of that next time. But what an amazing treat for all of us and especially Fi. Her cousins were able to come too - and they played hard.
Here her uncle K is using the pliers to pretend he is going to yank out a loose tooth. Fi was all for it.
Family pic on the bday party day.
Fiona detailed her every desire of the cake design and we ordered it together. This is becoming a tradition - I can't make them but I can help her order her dream cake...
Gabe is in love with P - it seems to be a a family trend. He will run up to her and hug her around the knees - squeeling in delight. Too cute.
Dog pile on cousin Chris!
Bday balloons were a big part of the festivities - I probably could have gotten away with just leaving out the balloons and calling it a day!
We also celebrated one of Fi's dearest and longest friends Ashley's bday - which was at build a bear at the mall! They are about 1 week apart - so we always celebrate the two bdays very close together.
We also were thrilled to get a visit from our dear friends Brian and Pamela! And we hosted a baby shower for them - the baby boy is due in about a week! It was wonderful to see them and get a chance to hang out. She is a fitness guru and is one of the cutest preggers I have ever seen. Brian is maintaining his pregnancy weight very well too :-).
Kind of for fun, and kind of for personal motivation I have become trained in teaching Pilates. I am still continuing with my training, but I am teaching about 1x / week at our local YMCA. One of the classes that I took was Anatomy in Clay - where we built the majority of the muscles from clay and put them on our little model. Above you see my guy from the back. We only built one side and it took 3 days.... ugh. Learned quite a bit tho.
St. Patricks day - Fi wore a bunch of green and let me do her hair (for once) with lots of little green things. I loved it.
Fi in the fire station truck.
We took the Daisies to the fire station and it was so fun. It was also super educational. We still have homework that we have to do from it - but it was a wonderful trip. We specifically went to one of our local firehouses that happens to have 3 female firefighters on the staff.

That is a good update for now - next update will be a bit faster then it has been...

Hope you are all doing well!