Jenna is Six Years Old

Jenna turned six at the beginning of November.

She had a Halloween-themed party with her friends on the actual day, four days after Halloween.

The girls were very excited, of course. So we had to find things to occupy them before the guests arrived. Here are Kate and Jenna working on a sign for the candy buffet.

The guests were invited to come in their Halloween costumes

which made everything feel like a huge dress-up playdate.

Incidentally, this is the only outdoor photograph because the weather was somewhat inhospitable. 

We started the afternoon together with lunch,

followed by cake.

Note that the cake was not especially Halloweeny. Jenna has been asking for this Tangled cake forever, so we obliged.

Then Jenna opened her gifts and read her cards.

The rest of the party was games and crafts.

We played Halloween Bingo,

pulled apart a pumpkin pie pinata

and hunted for glow bracelets in our basement. Do you see the glow bracelets?

Maybe with the lights off?

Then we gathered around the candy buffet to fill little boxes with treats.

When the guests had gone home, we spent some time enjoying Jenna's new gifts

before proceeding to Part II of the birthday celebration - a pool party at the local Holiday Inn!

We played a complicated game of Get The Ball Over To My Side Of The Pool.

Jenna, being the birthday girl, was given special height privileges.

When everyone got into dry clothes again, it was time for dinner. Jenna picked her favorite chicken restaurant meal, to go.

We think it's safe to say that Jenna had a good day!

The next day, we finished up with Part III - opening gifts from family near and far, including 

A new dance leotard from Grandma Mae,

art supplies from Grandpa Desmond (thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!), 

a doll from her sisters,

wings from her parents

and a cuddle at the end of a very full and fabulous birthday weekend.

We are so blessed to have you, Jenna! You are funny and smart and an amazing reader. You draw the most delightful princesses and mermaids, complete with lipstick and eyelashes. You are inseparable from Bearaby (whose full name is Icingcakes Fluffluffs Bearaby) and Mom's hair. You still hide her scrunchies and hair ties. You are fiercely loyal to your friends and love your sisters with all your heart. You are kind, gentle, patient, thoughtful and do the sweetest things for your family. You write the best notes and stories. You put on wonderful dance recitals (with refreshments and programs) and dance with your soul. You adore music and are a lyric sponge. Your favorite songs are Brandon Heath's Jesus in Disguise and anything by Tobymac. You can impersonate anybody. You make the best movies on your little pink videocamera, especially of cooking shows. You love school and playdates. You make gorgeous cards and artwork. You adore dressing up, Barbies, frosting cookies, baking cupcakes, rainbows, markers and watching shows about how things are made. We can't begin to tell you how much we've enjoyed these six years of being your family. Thank you for being ours. We love you to bits! 

Halloween 2012

Here are photos from Halloween, of the girls in costume.

The girls went trick-or-treating with our neighbor, 

who is also Emily's classmate.

They set out while it was still light out

and returned when night had fallen.

Jack O'Lanterns

So.... after the weekend away for Thanksgiving, 

we are back home and I am catching up on posts.

Sometime in October, we went to our favorite pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins.

Here are the girls with their pumpkins. Note that Kate's pumpkin is on the ground and that she is actually posing with my acorn squash instead.

A couple of days later, when the weather was nicer, we processed our pumpkins.

First, we washed and dried them.

Next, we beheaded them, sort of,

and cleaned out the innards. Emily used a plastic bag over her hand.

Then we carved them. And by "we", I really mean "I". The girls, however, designed the faces.

Some of us also wrote intimidating text on our pumpkins.

When it got dark, we put battery-operated tea-lights in the pumpkins and turned them into lanterns.