Olivia is SIX

I've already mentioned that we didn't really do a party this year.  We went to Great Wolf Lodge instead.  But we still had to have a little celebration on the day of, and Olivia was not short on ideas!

She was going on and on about Moana streamers, and a Moana cake, Moana decorations, a Moana dress, Moana wrapping paper, this and that.  I tried to make her vision come to life as best I could.  One problem was that it was actually really hard to find Moana birthday stuff.  The other problem was that I didn't want to spend a fortune.  She was pleased when she saw it all though, so I think we pulled it off.

I could not find a Moana banner, so we had to go with a generic one.  And there weren't any hanging decorations, so instead we made an ocean on our kitchen walls.  (The lesson here is that I need to not work the night before!  Michael and I were up until about 1 in the morning trying to get it decorated!)

Luckily we could use luau stuff where Moana stuff was lacking.  We had 4 fun cups and 4 leis for the family.

She was surprised and thrilled.  I ran and picked up donuts for breakfast.

There was no Moana wrapping paper to be found, so we had to improvise.  And I had to make sure that they had bows.  She was very disturbed when Logan's birthday gifts didn't have bows. ;)

(Those gifts are from us, Logan, and her Grandma P.  She also got lots of cards with money.  That money is safely in her piggy bank for now.)

Her birthday was on a Friday, and Michael couldn't take off work because of other people on summer vacation.  But he could go in an hour late.  So he enjoyed breakfast with us, and was there for gift opening.

She got a few Lil' Woodzeez sets to go with the bakery and ice cream shop she already had.

She also got a lot of things for her Emily doll (Target version of American Girl.)  She also got a big Frozen castle lego set that she really wanted.  

After gifts, Michael went to work, and we spent the whole morning getting toys out of packages and playing with her new kitchen and all the food for Emily.

We decided we would make her cake together.  I'll be honest, we end up throwing about half a cake away each birthday.  We just aren't big cake eaters.  We just kind of do it out of tradition.  But I didn't want to buy some big fancy cake just for the 4 of us and then throw it out.  I'd rather throw out half of a $1.50 box. :)

Olivia actually mentioned maybe doing something different next year instead of cake.  Which I said was a great idea.  But at this point it's all about the theme and the character and that's just easier to create on a cake.

Our finished product!

When Michael came home we all headed to dinner.  Olivia said, "On my birthday, I'm the queen, of course.  And I declare we go to Cheddar's for cheese curds."  No one had any doubt there.

We came back, sang to her, and had some cake!

Then she spent the rest of her night working on her Lego set.  It took them a few days to get the whole thing built.

I think she had a pretty good day.  I can't believe she's 6!