Winnie is 6!

This energetic kid turned 6 this year, just a month after starting kindergarten. We had family over to celebrate with us on her actual birthday this year (Thursday, October 4).

Drinking juice with her monster face straw during dinner. We had watermelon, bread sticks, pizza and Caesar salad.

Opening her Elsa and Anna jewelry box from Grandma and Grandpa Scott. 

Andrea taking pictures of Winnie while Miriam holds up two presents (the doll Winnie got from her parents and the money she got from Grandpa Dennis), Seth and Analee watch, and Oakley checks something else out. (?) 

Bennet, Winnie and Miriam checking out a clue. Analee made a treasure hunt with clues as a birthday present. The treasure was a bag of caramels. 

Winnie reacts to opening a caramel. 

Winnie with a mouth full of caramel. Winnie received a Starfire Barbie and a My Girl doll from Seth and me; a box of bracelets, a necklace, a puzzle and other odds and ends from Miriam; a personalized trading card and treasure hunt from Analee; and money hidden in a headless mermaid from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis.

 Winnie beating her piñata. It had been hanging up quite nicely, but the duct tape handle ripped. So Seth pitched the piñata for a few people to hit it, then Winnie waled away on it (and broke the suckers in it)

Miriam, Analee and Winnie find their goody bags in the wreckage of the piñata while Andrea checks out the pictures Rebekah took and Seth puts the bat away. 

Winnie with her Hatchimal birthday cake. She also wore her Hatchimals shirt (and underwear ... shhh!) and made a Hatchimal piñata. Analee helped Andrea make the cake and fondant. Winnie wanted a cake that was both chocolate and vanilla, so we swirled the two batters together.

 Analee lighting candles on the cake while Andrea videotapes and Bennet and Grandma Susan watch.

There was no school on Winnie's birthday (the principal of another elementary school in our district had died in an accident the weekend before, and his funeral was on her birthday), so I got to go to her class the day before and share some pictures and information about Winnie. The kids loved the pictures of the family, our dog and hamster. One girl though the picture of Winnie at the White House (when we visited Aunt Rachel's family in Virginia when Winnie was 6 months old) was Winnie at a temple.

Winnie loves dancing and tumbling, reading books and playing outside. She will often ask if she can play in Peach's yard, and then I won't see her for an hour or more while she makes up her own little games. She is a great helper around the house and keeps up with her older sisters extremely well for being pint-sized.

Winnie eating a birthday ice cream cup with her kindergarten classmates.