A birthday under the sea--or not. Happy 7th Elise!

Is it a bird? Is it a squirrel? No, it's a
birthday girl!

Elise had a birthday! And the whole household breathed a sigh of relief because we finally, finally, got to celebrate our sweet Elise! We'd all been waiting to do so since June-ish, and most of all Elise.

Elise has long wanted nothing more than to go to the beach. And while the moving trucks were packing up one house to haul to the other after a somewhat tumultuous winter and spring, Matt and I decided a beach trip would be just what our family needed after this whole move was over. And why not plan it right around Elise's birthday? So we did! And then hurricane Irma happened...but, in November, when do probably actually make it to the beach, it still counts for Elise's birthday. Right?

Under the sea party!

Fortunately, as it turned out, Elise had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday even without the beach. A simple, kind-hearted girl, Elise wanted nothing more than to enjoy family and maybe open a few presents. Not a lot. Just a few. Otherwise, she informed me, it's too much to clean up.

Of course, there would also be cake. Nothing too fancy, just an ocean-themed cake with pearls and seaweed, and blue frosting and yellow, and graham cracker crumbs for sand, that she would crush beneath her feet in a Ziploc baggie. And a couple of Ariel figures on top, and the cake would be chocolate.

Elise adores her sisters, but when I mentioned we could invite an aunt, uncle and cousin (great aunt, great uncle and 1st cousin once removed) to celebrate with her, her smile lit up the room. A few texts later, and they were looking forward to attending. As it turns out, Elise and I were on slightly different pages as far as how long the festivities would last ("They should arrive right around the time Grandpa always came to babysit Naomi last year while we went to CC" so, 8:45 a.m.). But we worked through it and at the very last minute shifted them to Sunday afternoon rather than Monday evening so we could manage to squeeze in all the activities Elise was looking forward to, without anyone using vacation time from work.

Kalina bravely lights the candles while
sisters and cousin look on.

For instance, a pinata, a mermaid necklace craft, hot dogs, cake and a few mermaid-themed party games. Elise and I made a couple trips to the store to make sure we had everything we could possibly need, and those trips were almost as fun as the party itself. It's impossible not to smile when Elise is choosing sprinkles for her cake or favors to stuff into a pinata.

Soon, we were tossing up decorations right before her guests arrived, and Elise joyfully welcomed them to her under-the-sea party. We got started right away with the couple of gifts they'd brought, and then several of Elise's games before dinner, including a mermaid vs. shark board game she'd created, and "Find the Hidden Treasure," in which we took turns hiding and finding a bracelet that later Elise (or Naomi, which Elise would have been totally fine with) would get to keep. Aunt Jill had brought a spare cake and a bin of sprinkles with which to decorate it. Elise used all of her favorites (and there were a lot of favorites!). The cake turned out sparkly and beautiful.

This pinata doesn't stand a chance.

Elise chose hot dogs for dinner, and helped me pick out chips and pink lemonade, too. And then, as it was growing dark, we jetted outside to whack a lovely cupcake pinata that Elise had helped me fill a couple days before. As they make pinatas quite tough nowadays (in Wal-Mart, in America, anyway), we opted out of a blindfold and let the kids take turns whacking for a while. Because I'd prepped Kalina and Naomi just isn't that strong yet, Elise was the only one making much progress. Eventually, the poor cupcake fell to the ground, and was whacked over and over in earnest by an enthusiastic Elise holding a plastic golf club. Still, the cupcake held firm until Matt got down to business with an actual golf club. Candy and trinkets eventually sprayed over the lawn, and the girls then gathered it all carefully back up in a pile to divide precisely among themselves at a later time, totally negating the purpose of a pinata, but no complaints here. (Actually, Naomi horded a stash for herself until Elise convinced her that yes, she had planned for Naomi to get the purple mini-slinkies.)

Under the sea party!

After cake, we made mermaid necklaces and then called it a night--and a quite late one at that since we ended nearly an hour past bedtime. But the party wasn't truly over, since this was only birthday eve!

The party may actually have lasted all night, because somehow there was a light on in the girls' room well before their normal wakeup time. As it was a birthday, I didn't ask for the full story--I probably didn't want to know, anyway. The morning was rainy, but the weather dampened nobody's spirits.We enjoyed traditional birthday cereal, opened a few gifts and basked in the final family birthday of the year. Much of our time was spent in the kitchen, as there was an "official" cake to make (and decorate!), pumpkin pancakes requested for lunch and a new frosting gun from Aunt Nancy to try out. Elise easily convinced me to turn some of the cake batter into cupcakes so she could fill them with her frosting gun--which she did the very second they were cool enough.

These beads are all the rage in our
house (thanks, Kalina!). Also, the
dolphin Naomi picked out for Elise!

After lunch and a little rest for Naomi, we decided to go to the candy store. Elise would've preferred a chocolate factory tour (we've been--they hand out all kinds of samples all tour long, which naturally made quite an impression), but picking out a bag of candy was fun, too. Back at home, then, we decorated Elise's cake to look like an ocean and a beach, with fruit-roll-ups and fondant for seaweed and coral creations, candy pearls for pearls, a couple Ariels to make it look mermaid-y, and the frosting gun to make it fancy. Kalina and Elise both helped a ton, and it turned out fantastic.

Elise chose frozen pizza for supper. She was offered plenty of other options, but always enjoys a good frozen pizza. And it was delicious. We took a walk later (at her request) and tried out her new slackline (which she loved). The cake was delicious and the remaining presents were exciting--a happy birthday all around.

Thank you, Aunt Nancy, for
the gift of filled cupcakes.

Elise, we would celebrate you all year this way if we could, but we're grateful we get to enjoy an Elise day every September! And there's still Florida....

Year 6 for Elise was filled with lots of happy moments, but also some challenges. Sweet Elise continues to delight us with her thoughtful (and sometimes hilarious) words, her generous spirit and her enthusiasm for life. We also enjoy her stories and comments on life from waaayyyy back in her memory ("One time, when I was too little to go to preschool, and we were picking Kalina up, there was this book..."). She loves to laugh at "little Elise," who wanted to be purple and who apparently used to think all kinds of cute things.

Currently on Elise's radar are making it to Fairyland someday, still trying to find a way to fly, wanting her hair to be purple (and pink), if not still her skin, and wishing to have candy with every meal. She would like to have her ears pierced, enjoys plenty of jewelry (but not stickers), thinks she's too old for a lot of things she's not too old for and knows she can't be a mermaid, but is trying to design a swimming outfit that would let her come close. (Unfortunately, it's not very safe...)

Our cake masterpiece!

We've also seen some slightly less cheerful sides of our sunny Elise--her anxiety about the move, which led to lots of mixed feelings (some decidedly less mixed than others) and her shyness. "Mommy, I'm actually pretty shy," she let me know one day. I chuckled at first, but now I see it's true--the world's friendliest little girl is hesitant around kids her own age. And even though the move is over, we still see thunderclouds occasionally when things aren't going as she planned.

She's still super-generous, and often wants to buy Naomi treats and toys when we're out and about. And she's extremely thoughtful of others, not wanting to tell even the free sample lady in the grocery store that she wasn't a big fan of the cottage cheese she tried, fooling even me (I bought some). In restaurants, or on the way home from them, she often whispers: "Mommy, I don't want to say this out loud, but I actually like your macaroni and cheese better than the restaurant's. But I don't want them to know so they don't feel bad. So if I say their macaroni and cheese is good, just know that I think yours is better."

We made mermaid slime!

Elise learned to ride a bike fairly comfortably without training wheels this year, and how to swim and snorkel fairly comfortably without floaties. She can climb higher in trees than most people are comfortable with, do several hairstyles (sometimes her own designs!) all by herself, and do double-digit subtraction with borrowing in her head (but she'll let you know she's super-annoyed with you if you ask her to). Elise is a pro with crafts that involve her fingers and can create truly amazing finger-knitting and rainbow loop creations without any help or patterns. She likes to help in the kitchen--although the recipe will usually come out short a few tastes. And she comes up with pages and pages and pages of detailed stories that take half an hour or more to tell, and much longer for me to actually write down (which unfortunately doesn't happen as much as it should). They're about fairies, mermaids and forest animals, and about a little girl named Mary with three kittens. She continues to love science and nature, and has started seeking her climbing tree as a place of refuge when someone or something indoors has frustrated her. When she grows up, she wants to be a dolphin trainer. Slime is totally her thing.

Elise's new slackline!

So fun to be around that people assume she's mischievous, Elise actually gets really uncomfortable when people break rules--even in books. She covers her ears when she listens to any book with much suspense, or in which people make poor decisions (so it's a little bit hard to find books to read right now!). Ambiguity makes her uncomfortable, and she demonstrates a strong sense of fairness when it comes to proper behavior (as long as she's not the one behaving improperly). In fact, sometimes she makes a good sounding board not only for "does this shirt match these pants?" but also for the extremely rare, "Am I crazy to think your sister was overreacting, and did I do the right thing?"

Me and my birthday girl and
her new nightgown.

There's nothing Elise likes more than to distribute treats, and if you ask her to gather things for ice-cream sundaes, for instance, she's so on it. And unselfishly so: "There are only two popsicles left, so I'll have to have an m&m cookie instead!" Kalina: "Oh, thank you, Elise!" (Really meaning it.) Elise, taking one for the team: "That's okay." Personally, I think Elise got the better end of that deal, but no one else did; it's the thought that counts.

Elise continues to be super engaged with everything around her (I have to be really sneaky about chocolate these days), and about two years older than herself. And of course, she's certainly an extrovert, so the rest of us need her as much as she needs us.

We've enjoyed every minute of discovering the deep side of Elise, and can't wait to see what 7 brings!

On the other side of the cake,
it says Elise in green fondant.