This past Saturday, February 18, my firstborn turned 6. Wow. I vividly remember the day of her birth. Hard to believe my IttyB is now 6! Rather than have a party with lots of other people, we celebrated the entire day as a family. One of those "family parties" I mentioned in an earlier post. 

The Birthday Girl, feeding her cat, Ingrid. Looking quite dashing in her brother's robe, hat and footie pjs. Happy Birthday, beautiful!

Lunch at Chick-Fil-A!

And an afternoon at the Zoo! The weather was chilly, but still good for zoo-going. There weren't that many people and yet, the animals still made appearances for us. 

A Daddy-Dorien moment among the monkeys and iguanas.

I got my hair blown out for your birthday, Brooklyn! Whatcha think??

There was an exhibit of little monkeys that seriously thought Dorien was an exhibit. For some reason, several of these monkeys kept running up to the glass and trying to touch Dorien. He was mesmerized. 

And this ferocious fella was feeling it. He was pacing rapidly back and forth on this cliff, looking as if he was seriously considering jumping across to the next animal exhibit. 

Look at the intensity of that stare. This guy was seriously focused. Gorgeous, scary and focused. In the exhibit  that he was focused so intently on, a zookeeper was trying to coax these two bird creatures into their caves for the night. I'm not sure if the tiger had the zookeeper or the birds in his sight. I was very glad to be well away from him.

I have got to get out of here!

Farmer A

Tiny-headed B Scarecrow

Farmer Me and my little sunflowers!

This random little set up fascinated August. Kyle and I were bewildered when he walked up to the stuffed gentlemen and punched him in the arm! I think he wanted to confirm his suspicion that it wasn't a real person. He then circled the station several times and tried to remove the iron skillet. Hm. It was a strange little tableau.

Kyle and B. I love how hilarious Brooklyn's tiny head looks on the neck of the woman!

Mommy and August!

One of the coolest things we experienced was at the giraffe house. First of all, they were penned in eating their food, and probably also because it was cold. And our viewing window hit them at eye level. Or thereabouts. And while we stood observing, the Momma Giraffe stopped eating and came over to say Hello! We put our hands on the glass and she nuzzled up against our hands. It was so amazing. 

We had a real moment there with the sweet giraffe.

Dorien peeks into the lion's den. It was dinner-time for all the animals and they knew it. If you look past Dorien to the left, you'll see a female lion standing on a ramp waiting at a little door. This must be where their food appeared because she kept hitting the door with her paw. It was pretty impressive. When her knocking didn't bring results, the male lion got up and gave it some harder knocks. Meal-time is an interesting time to observe at a zoo, we discovered.

August said he was tired of walking.

The penguin exhibit. Seriously cool. I love penguins. And you know you always wonder if the animals find us humans as fascinating as we find them? Well, I can confirm that this is the case for penguins. They spent as much time pausing in front of us and just staring us down as we did staring at them. 

Penguin bonding.

Having a moment. 

Upon arrival back at home, Brooklyn got to open her presents from us. And she was thrilled to receive a Ballerina Barbie!

And just giddy/exuberant/beside herself to get a Princess Barbie and its gorgeous white princess horse!

Since our celebration was strictly limited to our immediate party of 5, the remainder of my family surprised Brooklyn with a birthday carol sung at our front door. I was cooking Brooklyn's requested birthday meal - meatballs and mashed potatoes  - when I heard a knock and then extremely boisterous singing. She was very happy to be sung to!

For the final birthday element - vanilla cupcakes with pink icing and candy hearts. My assistants did the placement of decorations.

And a little tasting and cheesing.

Nice work, guys.

All in all, it was a packed birthday. And I think she felt super-special from the moment she woke up to the time her head hit the pillow that night.

How blessed we are to have this amazing girl. She thrills me daily and makes me so proud to be her mother.