Elsa turns 6: bicycle wash!

Ben and I decided to make this fun bicycle car wash for Elsa's birthday. We used this tutorial, though I've seen several other versions online too. It was really quite easy to put together. Ben assembled the pipes in no time and then we stayed up late one night adding all the decorations. I had some midnight inspiration to cut the letters of Elsa's name out of the hanging sponges for some added fun. All the kids had a great time riding their bikes through it (and just running through it). Some of the neighbor kids showed up to use it too. Oliver and Simon were especially fond of the bubble machine we added for a fun effect.

Elsa turns 6: cake + presents

Elsa requested a cake that combined two of her favorite foods...crepes and nutella. We ended up with nutella pastry cream layered between 20 crepes and topped with a chocolate ganache.

Martha Stewart has a hazelnut crepe cake that I've been eyeing for years. But it was way too involved and didn't fit within my time constraints. So I found a recipe for nutella pastry cream and started assembling the cake. But the recipe I used turned out more like pudding. Resulting in this:

Right when I got to about the 20th crepe, all the layers started slip sliding around. Crepe tectonics! It was out of control before I could grab a skewer to steady it. Luckily I had made 40 crepes so I started over and just used straight nutella for most layers to prevent another earthquake. And then my ganache ended up way too thick and I didn't have the patience to fix it. In the end, the Martha Stewart version would have probably been faster. And much better. But, Elsa thought it was awesome. And so it was a success.

She had fun opening lots of presents from family. 

Elsa turns 6!

Elsa had been anticipating her big day for a long time. A few days before her birthday she mentioned that she couldn't wait to see all the decorations. Hmmm. So I made a last minute trip to the party store for balloons and Ben and I stayed up late hanging some decorations. We didn't do a big friend party this year so the decorations made things a little more festive.

Elsa had a great year in Kindergarten. Her reading has improved so much over the last year and she is so determined to read difficult books and as many books as possible. She loves to read to Oliver. Elsa is my number one helper. I have to try not to take advantage of her because she is always willing to do whatever I ask her. She loves to help clean up and won't stop until a job is completely done. She frequently asks what she can do to help me. (In fact, just now she brought me a list of chores she wrote out and asked if she could start cleaning her bathroom.) Elsa is the world's slowest eater, and she eats hardly anything. Breakfast is her favorite meal of the day. She asks almost daily if we can get a dog. She is quick to make a friend, almost always cheerful and definitely the most affectionate, always giving hugs and telling us she loves us. She still loves nutella. And still calls it tunella. I hope that never changes.

bike ride.

While the girls were at school, Ben and I took the boys on a bike ride one morning. We rode 16 miles on the American Tobacco Trail. It was such a great ride. Perfect weather, hardly anyone on the trail, and beautiful scenery. There's not a lot of personal space in the bike trailer and Simon and Oliver yelled at each other for the first 10 minutes, fighting over snacks and books. But they finally zoned out and took turns sleeping on each other's shoulders.

 The bike helmets lasted about 2 seconds. We tried.

A little lunch reward.