Jasmine's 6th birthday

Jasmine's birthday comes last, each year, but hers was planned the earliest this time.  I took the girls to a Disney on Ice show last fall, and we all really loved it.  So when Christopher got an email that he could by tickets for the next show, which was a week after Jasmine's birthday, for $10, he bought a dozen of them.  There were moments where Jasmine wasn't entirely certain about the birthday party she didn't pick out, but we knew she would have a great time (and she did!).

On her actual birthday, we mainly opened presents.  She got a gift card to Bath and Body Works from Grandma and Grandpa Jones, since Grandma got to see over Christmas how much she loves that store.  Jasmine was totally in heaven picking out her big stash.

And then, a week later, it was time for the party!  I'm so grateful that her Aunt and Uncle said we could have the party at their house downtown.

She told me she didn't want a cake this year.  Just ice cream.  When I asked her if she maybe wanted an ice cream cake, her eyes went wide.  "What's that?!?"  Dairy Queen had a lot of cool flavors of cake, but the Minion won her over right away.

It was actually a LOT of ice cream for us all.  But totally worth it!

Then we walked over to the arena for the show.

We had quite the crew!  Our family of five, her Aunt, Uncle and two cousins, and then three friends from her preschool class last year.

I bought a 24 pack of foam light sticks for party favors.  Light up toys are all the rage at these shows, we found.

Goofy kiddos!

A birthday snapshot of Jasmine:

*We generally call Tyler by his name, and Kaitlyn by hers, but Jasmine has many nicknames.  Jas-Jas, Jas-ah-mah, and sometimes she likes to go by her middle name, Marie.  She's just too spunky for a boring name!

*She has ended up with many hobbies that match her sister, which I sometimes feel bad about.  I want her to be her own person, too.  But she really does love to do things that Kaitlyn does.  She was thrilled to bits when the thrift store had Heelys in her size so that she could learn to skate around all day like Kaitlyn does.  She loves to have an American Girl doll just like Kaitlyn.  I put her in ice skating lessons just because we were already driving there, and the first session was a bit rough for her.  But now, she loves to zip around the rink almost as much as Kaitlyn does.  And she felt left out of violin lesson, so we arranged for our half an hour lesson to be 25 minutes of Kaitlyn, and a 5 minute session for Jasmine.

*She is such a bright little girl!  She started on easy readers last summer a bit, and then for the first half of the school year, I would read to her for her homework.  And then one day, I handed her the book, and it turns out she could just  . . . read!  I love seeing that whole new world open up for her.  She loves to be included in that secret code, and wants to read everything she can.  And she is nearly the top of her class in math!

*She loves Singer's Club!  She loves to sing and dance around, and being on stage is a lot of fun for her, too.

*She absolutely LOVED school this year with Mrs. Orton!  Every day when I picked her up, she would ramble on about what she had for snack that day, and what all of her friends got up to.  But she has a truly special place in her heart for her beloved Mrs. Orton.  She runs her classroom with exactness and kindness, and is just amazing.  The day before her year-end test, Jasmine asked me if she did badly enough, could she stay with Mrs. Orton again next year?  I assured her that Mrs. Orton knew how smart she is, and "throwing" the test wouldn't actually change anything, but I had to just laugh.

*She is almost done with mispronouncing words, but I refuse to correct her on the last few because they are just too cute.  A primary song sings about how a father "protects me", and she sings "por-tec me", for example.

*Jasmine also really, really loved going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  She has asked many times since when she can go back.  I hope we can make that happen again soon.

*She has recently become enamored with babies.  Tyler has barely outgrown that stage, I think.  But Jasmine sees a little toddler or baby and dashes over to say hi and try to help it with  . . . something.  Which is quite adorable, even if sometimes a bit intrusive.

*Jasmine told me recently that when she grows up, she either wants a job giving  "maj-jah-jes" (and she really is good at massages), or else she wants to work at McDonalds.  Which is I guess high on her list because I generally refuse to take her there.  She told me that it is very busy there, so it would be a lot of work, but lots of people means she would get more money, so that sounded good to her.

*And most of all, I love her sweet snuggles!