Maren turns 6!

It's always a big week when the oldest child has a birthday, because now I am the parent of a child that is another year older! New territory for all of us...

This year Maren had a school day, where she got to wear a crown for the entire day. Here she is with her teacher, who is about to have her own firstborn in another six weeks, I think!

Grammy and Jesse and I went over to meet her at school for lunch. We sat with one of her friends whose mother had also come for lunch that day.

For snack to share on this day, Maren requested homemade blueberry muffins. They were deadly good, and well appreciated by the class (and teacher)! After school, Grammy sat down with her for a tea party, including more blueberry muffins.

At this age, Maren has just crossed over into reading. The teacher says she does an excellent job with hearing and writing down beginning, middle and end sounds of words. I am always hearing her sound out new words, or figure out how to spell a word she knows.

Maren loves kitties and horses, riding her tricycle in the driveway, Super Mario Galaxy (video game for the new Wii), and soft pajamas. Her favorite toys right now are the little Breyer horses. She doesn't know it yet, but that will be a big part of her birthday presents, too!

She has lost a total of three teeth, with another one about to go any day and a few more that are getting wiggly. She enjoys painting and drawing, especially making tickets and charts for people to read, as well as telling stories through her pictures. Sometimes we get on a kick where we do craft projects several days in a row (consider I am her mother, after all), and then she will come to me and say, "hello? it's time to do a craft project!"

We are just beginning to deal with allowance, with some money coming as reward for chores, some money coming automatically but having the potential to be revoked for unkind behavior, and some bonus money available for taking initiative. Hopefully Mommy and Daddy can get our act together to be consistent and actually pay out the rewards!

Miss Maren started swimming this week at the local Natatorium, with the goal of possibly being able to join the swim team by May. It was pretty cute to see how excited she was to get back into the water after four months away. Like a little fish, she was. We also hope to get her started with horseriding lessons later in the spring or summer.

We will be having a birthday party for Maren on Saturday, with her friends from class. It is a Rhinestone Cowgirl party. In the evening we'll have family birthday and give her gifts from the family as well. She has been very grown-up about understanding that birthday comes in two installments this year. I'll post pictures and stories after the fact.

We are very proud of our little princess. She told me on her birthday that she feels like a superhero now, because six seems so much older than five! She is growing into a nice young lady.