Like every year, Annabel woke up to balloons covering her bedroom floor:

birthday balloons

We moved out to the couch to open presents, where she very nicely let her brother help her rip open the paper.

opening birthday presents

birthday breakfast candles

She’s never had school on her birthday, and she was SO excited to be the special kid for the day. She picked out her outfit, told me how to do her hair, and practically skipped the entire way to school.

before school
She told me, “I feel very six-y today.” 

We invited her best friend over after school, and I took them for mani/pedis, fed them cupcakes, and watched them put on a bunch of “shows.”

getting mani pedis

Annie’s dinner request was to go to a local teppanyaki restaurant, so we met my parents and aunt there (Mike’s parents were having a special FIFTIETH! wedding anniversary dinner!). Annabel was in her element:

birthday dinner

After stuffing ourselves, we all went back to our house where Annabel opened a few more presents and, of course, had ice cream cake.

birthday cake!

Annabel was such a good big sister on her birthday. Her brother just could NOT handle not getting to open presents or blow out candles. Instead of being like, “It’s MY birthday, sorry,” she let him open some of her presents, and even suggested re-lighting her birthday candles so he could blow them out. I was so proud of her.

The end of a birthday is always hard, but luckily for Annabel the next day was her birthday party so she was actually excited to go to sleep.

I can’t believe she’s already six. My Facebook Memories reminded me of the absolute flood of messages of love and congratulations we received in the days following her birth, which made me emotional. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was watching her yawn on my hospital bed, and now she’s giggling over nail polish with her best friend. It goes fast, but it’s so wonderful.