The Vlach Six: Barbie in Paris! Madeline Turns Six.....

The excitement mounted for weeks as we prepared for Madeline's 6th birthday party. "Can we talk about my birthday," she would ask almost every morning over breakfast. She immediately fell in love with a Barbie in Paris theme, and had so many creative ideas, all of which I tried to incorporate into her big day! She's a little party planner.

On the day of the party, Madeline and I wore matching white dresses that we shopped for together. She invited several of her best friends, as well as all the darling little girls in her class. We kicked everything off with a brief French lesson -- picture 12 kindergarten girls reciting "ooh la la," "manifique"(magnificent), "bisou" (kiss), and "je t'aime" (I love you), to name a few.

Every girl should be able to say jewels en francais!

Then everyone took turns having mani/pedis with Ning and my friend, Nikki, whose daughters were both at the party. While the girls waited for their turn to have their nails done, they made necklaces and decorated their very own pair of pink flip flops with flowers and jewels, which they got to take home with their favors.

Then I explained that Barbie always attends fashion shows when she goes to Paris, so each little girl walked the catwalk (a roll of pink wrapping paper on the floor) to find their seat in the dining room; I couldn't believe how Madeline sashayed her way down like Naomi Campbell -- she was fabulous! Taylor Swift, Madeline's favorite musician, was the runway music.

Walking the Parisian runway

We ate chocolate eclairs, croissants, yogurt parfaits and every pink sweet I could find -- marshmallows, cupcakes, cookies galore. The coup d'etat was the Barbie cake that Ning had made for the big party -- it blew the little girls away! Her skirt was made of strawberry cake, covered in pink glittering icing; the coordinating cupcakes had chocolate embellishments designed to look like the Eiffel Tower and letters spelling "Mimi."

Madeline's Barbie cake, ala Ning

Rob, my dad and Charlie stepped out during the party to do boy things, at Madeline's request! Rob and Charlie went bowling and had a date at a local coffee shop. Baby John slept the whole entire party.

On March 19, Madeline's real birthday, we did all her favorite things, including a fun family dinner at Panera (soup in a bowl; she can't believe something that cool exists!) and of course, eating birthday cake! Rob gave her a bouquet of flowers, which he has done every year since her first birthday! We opened presents afterwards -- she was so excited about her barbie dolls, barbie books, Barbie Mermaid movie (you get the picture)... But the thing she was most excited about was her brand new backpack!

Panera. Life's joys are simple when you're six.

Each year gets sweeter and sweeter. Happy birthday to my sweet six year old, Miss Madeline May! She's a little spitfire -- full of life, silliness, creativity and compassion; kind to her brothers and friends, and an absolute joy to be around. I thank God every night before I sleep that I have the privilege of raising her. We love you, Mimi!