How to Celebrate a Child's Birthday with Photos | Maris Ehlers Photography

My little sweet pea is turning six this week.  And yes, amidst the fun and excitement, I'm feeling sort of melancholy.  How could she be six already?

Some of the things we will do at our house during "birthday week" are:

• The birthday girl will get to pick out a box of birthday cereal.  Yes, birthday cereal.  It's the only time of year that I let them pick the sweetest, sugariest, nastiest cereal in the aisle.  The rest of the time it's Life, Kix and oatmeal.  This tradition was actually started by my mother-in-law when my husband was little, and it's a great one for several reasons.  They look forward to their birthday cereal weeks in advance, they enjoy it immensely, occasionally will share it with the other sibling, and best of all:  they know not to ask for it the rest of the year!  If I were a betting mom, she'll either pick Reeses Peanut Butter Puffs Cereal (which is so not allowed in our house) or the trusted fall back (and my personal favorite) Lucky Charms.  Stay tuned.  
• The H Man (brother),  Daddy and I will decorate her room the night before while she's sleeping.  She's a night owl, so it's pretty hard to get H in on the action, but I typically save him some balloons and the next morning he sneaks in and puts them in her room while she's sleeping.  We usually use a sign, balloons and some streamers.  Everyone looks forward to it. 
• This year, I think we're going to try a surprise birthday breakfast.  Even though her birthday is on a weekday, I'm going to get the kids up extra early and take them for breakfast in their pj's.  I'll just be sure to have their school clothes already packed and in the car.  :) 

I grabbed just a few pictures this afternoon.  I wanted to take her outside but it was too chilly, darn it!  Maybe tomorrow.    I love to take pictures of her smiling face. 

The top 10 things I love about this child: 

10. For her 4th birthday, she insisted on a Transformer party.  To which she wore a pink tutu and heels. 

9.  The fact that she uses no fewer than 30 pages of paper a day.  None wasted, of course.  All are masterpieces of art or of the written word. 

8.  Her stories.  My favorite one is the one she made up after hearing the coyotes outside of her room at night earlier this year.  She wrote that the coyote she heard was actually wearing a tuxedo and passing out fliers to his performance, and was practicing his singing out in the cold night by himself so his friends and family wouldn't hear him.  She said she opened her curtains, pulled up a chair and watched his dress rehearsal in the snow while the rest of us slept.  

7.  Her insane stubbornness. 

6.  Her keen observation skills.  

5.  Her obsession with stuffed animals. 

4.  The fact that she loves to go hunting with her father, perhaps more than her brother does.  

3. The fact that she absolutely is a Mama's Girl.  Yay, me!  :)  

2.  Her organization skills.  She keeps me on track.   

1.  Her beautiful light brown eyes, her smile, the funny faces she makes and the fact that she has a great sense of humor.  

But most of all, I love her for who she is, just as she is.  Stubborn, pragmatic, funny, so NOT a good sharer, and completely, wonderfully lovable.  

She is, however, more than just a little on the intense side at times, so as her dad just said, the serious images "suit her".

And for her birthday gift?  A small, bright red compact digital camera (What?????  I bought it on sale the day after Thanksgiving at like 60% off!),  perfect for a now six year old girl who is constantly begging to use my Canon and who takes more pictures on my phone than I do.  She loves taking them, and so I look forward to sharing my passion with her in a new way.  Oh, and a journal.  She writes a story a day (at least), and so hopefully having her own journal will encourage her to continue to document her her ideas and observations.  She is an amazing little girl, and while I'm so sad to see the stages she's leaving behind, I'm excited to see what is coming up!   Oh, how I love this girl.