Happy 6th birthday, Jane!

Jane turned six yesterday (Jan. 16th) and it's been a long, fun celebration.  She opened one present while my parents were here (the annual post-Christmas gingerbread house).  The house looked great and we tried to keep it from the ants (there is a bit of an ant problem here) so that Jane could show it to Grandpa Carl but they finally got to it.  You can see the little critters below going to town on eating that house!

She was also able to do a little celebrating when Grandpa Carl was here (he also brought presents from Gaga/ Grandpa Carl as well and Uncle Dan & Aunt Susan).  Grandpa Carl also treated the girls to another adventure in the water balls (we also affectionately call them the hamster balls since the kids run around like hamsters in them).

I also amazingly found a tub of Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell ice cream.  My family (mainly my dad) is a huge fan of Blue Bell and introduced it to Jane early on.  In fact, when she was two someone asked her what her favorite kind of ice cream was and she answered "Bwu Bell" so it was such a treat when I happened upon Blue Bell quite randomly a few days before her birthday and was able to surprise her with it.

Then we had a birthday party on Saturday where a few friends came over for a puppy-themed party.  We had a scavenger hunt with real dog bone treats, a dog bowl relay and played a fetch relay with rolled up newspapers.  The kids also made their own pizzas and decorated dog bone shaped cookies.  Jane only invited a few friends over (the pace and noise level of a smaller group is more up Jane's alley).  She had a fantastic time and said it's her favorite birthday ever.  It's also nice that in January we can have an outdoor party here - it's much too cold in North Carolina to ever do that.

Happy, happy birthday, Jane.  We're so proud of you!

Annual tradition for my mom (Gammy) to do a post-Christmas gingerbread
house with Jane for her birthday.  How fun that she could do it here in Abu Dhabi!

And then the ants discovered it (we did a good job for a week protecting the house).
Jane wanted to show it to Grandpa Carl.

Grandpa Carl came for a very quick visit.  He and Jane share a birthday so it was very special to have him here.

A birthday outing to the hamster balls.  The kids had a blast (again).  We had also
done this for Meredith's birthday in October.

Watching birthday dinner being cooked at The Noodle House with Grandpa Carl.  Little Anna toddled over, too,
to see what all was going on.

Jane is thrilled with her new doll from Aunt Susan, Uncle Dan & Cousins Zach and Alex

Making "dog tags" and coloring at Jane's birthday party.  High school neighbor Ellie
came to help.

Jane loved the big balloon we hung on the gate so that her friends could find our house.

Eli & Brenli searching for dog bones during the scavenger hunt

Ameera and Jane were part of the winning team that found 10 bones first.

Jane cruising ahead of Eli in the dog bowl relay.

A quick hand-off between Jane and Brenli.  No water was spilled (Regan and Eli
got a little wet in their hand-off!)

Brenli made a great heart-shapped pizza.

Meredith and Elijah making their pizzas

Ingrid and Regan

Ameera decorating her cookies.

Elijah and Brenli racing during the game of newspaper fetch.

Rooting for their teams!

Ameera was fast during fetch.

Lunch time!

Happy 6th Birthday, Jane!

Anna is a fan of birthdays, as long as they include icing!

Jane and Regan putting together Jane's new lego house

Can you believe that we found Blue Bell ice cream in Abu Dhabi????  This is one happy birthday girl.