In a perfect world, Aubrey wouldn't have had to celebrate her birthday during a pandemic. But alas, that is exactly what she did. She didn't get a party. (On a side note, I'm so glad I spent hours planning a tea party birthday for her for absolutely no reason.) She didn't get to see her friends at school or eat lunch with me, Carter, and Clara in the cafeteria like we'd planned. She didn't get to go out to her favorite restaurant. In fact, she didn't get to go anywhere. And you know what? She was a total champ about the whole thing.
Because her birthday was happening during this weird and hard time, super cool Aunt Kara made some special art-themed birthday cookies and sent them to Aubrey all the way from Texas. They arrived a couple of days before her actual birthday, which was fun. Look how cute!
Aubrey loved them (obviously)! She immediately started planning which cookies she would eat on which day.
The set also came with two "paint your own" cookies, one for Aubrey and one for Carter. Aubrey thought it was the coolest thing ever and took it very seriously.
On Aubrey's actual birthday, she woke up to find streamers over her door. (We happened to have a small roll in the basement. I wish we had had more, but she still loved it.)
The first thing she did when she came downstairs was frolick in the balloons. Obviously.
Then she decided that she wanted to open her presents before breakfast. So we let her. Anything to make her non-ideal birthday better, right?
We decided to do six gifts for her (half of them small and pretty cheap), and we hid them around the house. She had to translate the location of each present using a cypher code (which is something she loves to do).
Then she went to find them!
She got her own wet brush (so she'd stop using mine), hair dye, and a new helmet (a $5 clearance item!).
She also got...
... a book called "How to Draw"...
... a tub of Bristle Blocks (because she's always using random objects from around the house to construct buildings, stages, and more for her dolls)...
... and a coding robot from Grandma and Grandpa.
Then, after she had played sufficiently, she ate the traditional birthday breakfast of Swedish pancakes, or "mommy pancakes," as the kids call them. We dyed the batter purple, of course.
After breakfast, she went for the balloons again.
She also learned how to use the robot.
Then she got to decorate her own cake. She had so much fun with it! I did the base layer of frosting (she got frustrated trying to do it herself), and she did the rest. At her request, I made frosting in rainbow colors.
Not to be left out, Carter asked if he could decorate the small 6-inch cake that I made with the extra batter I had. He made a heart out of sprinkles using a cookie cutter! Awww.
In the end, this is how Aubrey's cake looked. The second purple P in "happy" is actually supposed to be the D in "birthday," but Aubrey insisted she wanted it that way. I love her style!
In the afternoon, Nana and Papa stopped by to bring presents from them and cousin Emma. Aubrey decided to show off her scooter skills, which allowed her to try out her new helmet!
Nana and Papa also paid for us to get Dos Amigos for dinner. Aubrey is completely obsessed with their rice, so we got her her own big container of it. She was a happy girl!
Taking that first bite...
Ah, it's Heaven!
The cake was also enjoyed, and the birthday song was sung (I think). Unfortunately, I don't have any photos or videos of that.
All in all it was a good day. Aubrey didn't complain about being stuck at home, she loved her presents, and she enjoyed playing games with the family whenever we had a spare minute. She got to dictate what we did all day, which she always loves, haha.
So there you have it! Our oldest is six years old! *insert cliche but totally true statement about how she's growing up too fast*
We love you, Aubrey girl!
