Now we are six...

...it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I would have rathered the later than the sooner. I had mixed feelings about this little tooth falling out. Delighted by her excitement at losing a tooth, but as she took one big step away from being a small child and a giant leap towards being a big kid, I felt more than a pang of nostalgia for my long gone little one.

But it did provide the opportunity to start a new family tradition, which made me happy. I sewed a little pillow, inspired by Soule Mama, with a tiny pocket for the tooth. I've also been enjoying a book by Susan Perrow, who tells a story of the tooth fairy leaving small gifts like feathers and pebbles for her children. Elsa was filled with wonder and delight at receiving a small diamante jewel from the tooth fairy. There's magic in that, from which I can also take comfort for this inevitable rite of passage.

Birthday Party

Big day today. Elsa's sixth birthday party. Lot's of fun with lovely friends, cups of tea and too much sugar. I love birthday parties. I love making the cake, the party bags and organising the games. And I love to watch how the children grow each year and how their tastes in games, food and how they play together changes.
I wish I took better photos though, but wrangling thirteen kidlings is quite taxing on your shooting time!
By far the most popular activity was playing musical instruments - mostly the piano, but the drums and shakers and anything with they could bang a rhythm on really. They really are a musical bunch. The children even improvised the music for Pass the Parcel and Musical Chairs which was great fun. But I did learn that perhaps six is too young for only one prize in Pass the Parcel.
I breathe a big sigh of relief knowing that we can now slow down and spend a quiet few days in the lead up to Christmas. Ahhhhhh......

Six journeys around the sun

Elsa will be six tomorrow. I can't believe how much she's grown. Such a sweet and sensitive little soul who is kind to the world around her. Full of wonder and adventure. I learn so much from her every day and am incredibly blessed to have her in my life.

Diaphanousness

This is the tulle cut into strips ready for a no sew tutu I'm making for Elsa's birthday next week. I think my favourite clobber for a little girl must be a tutu, t-shirt and gumboots. These are really easy to make, a few metres of tulle, cut into strips and tied onto a loop of elastic.

This is the third no sew tutu I've ever made. The first one I made for myself with black tulle, when I about, oh 17. I wore it with a black skivvy and super pointy flat shoes, to a Simple Minds concert, I think. The second was when I was a bridesmaid, aged about 20. There were two of us bridesmaids and we were both very poor. We made the tutus and teamed them with a cream spencer and bare feet. With our short and spikey, brightly coloured and heavily gelled hair it would have been quite a look! Sigh, oh those (late) eighties....