Madie's Birthday Party

Madie turned six the other day. Six! In our family we do birthday parties with friends every other year, and this was Madie's first since starting school, so she had a whole big group of friends to invite. She was so excited. Especially since she's been attending friends' parties for a year. When we started talking about it, she knew exactly what she wanted. That's what I like--it was the easiest birthday party I've ever planned, and since I have thrown every single birthday party she's ever had at a playground, that's really saying something. 

Filling the piñata.

Madie is loving butterflies right now, and wanted a butterfly piñata and cake. Of course, the only butterfly piñatas I could find were on Etsy for $30+ and I just hate spending that much on something they're just beating apart anyway. I don't mind making piñatas but I had only ever done round ones--you know, you cover a balloon with papier mache, then pop it and fill it with candy and paint it? Honestly though, this one was pretty easy; the hardest thing about it was figuring out how to do it. Once I had determined it, it's just a matter of stapling things together and papier mache-ing it all. And it was fun to do with the kids. I'm not really an art-project mum. I mean, I love when my kids are artistic--Madie is, especially--but I don't like going through the hassle of getting out paints, and glue, and paper, etc. It was nice though to work on this together. 

One kid informed me, "ha! That does not look like a butterfly." I smiled and said, "Well, the important thing is it's full of candy." The other important thing is that Madie loved it. She loves monarchs above all, because she can recognize them generally. I would have gotten a picture of it hanging, but I was busy handing out goodie bags before it busted.

The cake was a cinch. Seriously, easiest cake I've ever made. And I loved that Madie knew exactly what she wanted. It was to be a lemon cake with strawberry and raspberry meringue frosting and filling in the shape of a butterfly. 

Did you know if you cut a round cake in half and cute a wedge out of each straight edge, you can get a butterfly? Well, now you do. 

Did you know berry meringue is the absolute easiest frosting to make? And did you know it makes enough frosting to fill and frost roughly 100 cakes? And because it is so fluffy it is ultra forgiving on the decorating job? Aaaaand did you know it is lightly sweet and the raspberry is especially tasty? 

Great choice, Madie.

Madie waiting for guests to arrive. The day was bright.

Pizza, cake, ice cream, and lemonade. Birthday fare.

Cutting the cake.

For her actual birthday, we took her to Lazy Lobster, where she had been begging to go after having a spoonful of my lobster bisque there a few weeks before.

The past year with Madie has really been a delight for me. She is back to her sweet, fun-loving self. She's starting to try new foods again, which takes a lot of the pain out of meals--it also helps I've just learned how to deal with that better I guess. She tasted some beef for the first time a couple weeks ago and asked, "What is this again?" "Beef," I said. Her shoulders sagged forward and she rolled her eyes up and said reluctantly, "Okay, I like beef." Add to that list chicken, turkey, raspberries, lobster bisque, tomatoes, carrots, and almond butter. Hmmm... how can it be that almost everything she tries she actually ends up liking? It's like a miracle. 

Other tastes of Miss Madie:

She often tells people who she first meets to call her Madeleine now.

She loves rainbows, butterflies, climbing things, and playing piano. She has even started rotating with two other girls in primary (our church's children's organization) to play the prelude music. This was her second week!

She has started singing more. I love this. She used to sing all the time then went through a period of only singing if she thought no one was listening. This has changed this summer. 

I love watching her confidence in her abilities and her self esteem grow. She a mentally and physically strong little girl. It's hard to believe she's only been with us 6 years.