Happy Birthday, Tori-bug!

My sweet Tori turned six in July. She is such a delight to me. She is always giving me hugs and saying kind things. She gets embarrassed and giggles and hunches her shoulders. If she says something that might not seem nice and realizes it, she quickly says, "April Fools!" Her new teacher loves her. So do I.

She was so excited to get her ears pierced for her birthday. She had started talking about it a while back. I was so sure she'd back out, that I didn't object - not that I felt strongly one way or the other. (My parents said that we could get our ears pierced when we turned 12, but I was too scared to do it until I was 15 and even then, I wouldn't have if it weren't for intense pressure from a friend.) We decided to do it the evening before her birthday while Clara and her girls were still here to go with us. (See next two posts.) Tori was holding my hand and skipping into the mall telling me she wasn't a bit scared. We had a hard time finding a place with two employees available to do the ears at the same time, which seemed critical. When we did, they got everything ready, marked her ears and were set to go when she got scared. She saw the guns and then covered her ears and started to cry. At first I tried to talk her into it, because it just seemed like we were all there and the process had gone too far to just call it off. :) Luckily I realized in time that I shouldn't force it. But I did have to pay for some overpriced antiseptic stuff that they'd already opened. My cute girl. I'm predicting she'll be at least 15 before she gets her ears pierced as well.

We had a fun party with a baking theme. Tori loves to bake with me, so it seemed like a good fit. Plus, I got a good deal on aprons for the kids. We made little pizzas and then decorated cupcakes. They took home one of their creations in a little cupcake box. (I could have used more help on this party, so I had my mom and sister come for Eli's party recently and it turned out I didn't need them as much for that one. But better to have plenty of adults.)

Tori added a couple more Webkinz to her stuffed animal family. It's a tight-knit group. She and her friend Lacey are always having different kinds of get-togethers with their Webkinz. Some are married, some are the kids - it's fun to hear them play.

So here are some of Tori's birthday moments:

And here's our other little baker: