It’s hard to believe my little Astrid is now 6!  How do you celebrate being 6? With plenty of presents, fun and more cake than you can poke a stick at….

Our girl is still the most stubborn and opinionated 6-year-old going around, but lucky she is also clever, kind and just plain adorable. She is also growing up way too fast, such a little girl now!

It’s been another huge year in the world of Miss Astrid – 2 little Australian holidays and 2 pretty impressive overseas jaunts, visiting another 8 countries.  She is now on her second passport and is the ever seasoned traveler.  Between her travels there has been plenty of fun at home and school.  She still adores school and year 1 has not yet disappointed.

Aside from school and playing with her friends Astrid still adores her pets. She is still devastated by the loss of our Scully cat earlier in the year, it’s hard to lose a pet you’ve not known life without.  Her other great loves are swimming, reading and craft.  Books don’t last long around these parts and we can’t keep her away from craft.  There is also plenty of baking and bike riding in the mix!  We’ve been spending plenty of time out riding in preparation for our overseas bike tours and Astrid didn’t mind one bit.

So much has happened in the last 12 months, the hair has also got a lot longer but the beautiful smile hasn’t changed (except for all the baby teeth that are now falling out)! Here is a bit of a look back at the year that Astrid had…….

The 6th birthday celebrations started early when Astrid scored her new bike as an early birthday present a few weeks back. A massive growth spurt and she no longer fits her old bike that has served her well since 3.5 years old!

Of course there still had to be a few things to open on the big day.  Astrid went to sleep for the last time as a 5-year-old, and Mulder cat guarded the pile of presents waiting for her on the couch when she was officially 6!

The morning edition of presents didn’t take long to unwrap and there were plenty of smiles!

Meanwhile Soren and Anto were whipping up a special birthday breakfast. As per tradition, Astrid got to pick what she’d like for breakfast and fairly unsurprisingly she chose crepes with nutella, banana and whipped cream (Anto loves late night crepe making)……

The breakfast was demolished by the kids in no time at all!

Astrid loves school so was happy to have the day at school with her friends. We had spent the afternoon before her birthday making cupcakes, so the school day ended with a special birthday dance with her class and a bucket load of sugar in the form of vanilla cupcakes with rose buttercream icing (and silver sparkles).

Hyped up on sugar the day didn’t get any quieter.  A couple of quick video chats with relatives and then it was off to gymnastics.  As the sun was setting we picked Astrid up and headed off to a family dinner. It was a truly impressive sunset and Astrid thought it was most definitely in honour of her special day!

Dinner with grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousin, was at a local Italian restaurant, Locale.  Aside from the fact that we were sitting outside in the dark and pretty much everyone was sick (Canberra Winter viruses have taken hold) it was a great dinner.

Astrid scored a few more gifts, most of which were easier for her to see once we were home!

The festivities weren’t quite over though.  No birthday is complete without cake. Astrid had requested a French Chateau for her birthday cake (something about visiting all those Chateaus on our recent trip). So here is what we came up with…..

After her big rainbow extravaganza for her 5th birthday it was a non-party year, but there always must be cake. On the weekend we had a few family and friends over for afternoon tea and to watch Astrid blow out her candles.

There was more presents, plenty of food, and definitely no shortage of sugar with home-made cinnamon buns and citrus popcorn.  The kids also had some bubble fun in the last of the late afternoon Winter sunshine.

The cake was pretty delicious, and as per Astrid’s request the inside of her castle was pink, yellow and purple marble (her favourite colours).

There was one happy newly 6 year-old.  Her new bike is now extra special, thanks to a some well-chosen presents.  She is also particularly fond of her new hand-made rabbit ‘Flopsy’. Lovingly crocheted by my friend Karin from our alpaca yarn (and stuffed with alpaca rovings). With a fanstastic haul of craft, jewelry making and new books, the school holidays are going to be full of craft and reading and she is one happy girl!

Happy 6th birthday Miss Astrid, hopefully the next year will be just as much fun (but with slightly less tantrums and arguing)……. We aren’t holding out much hope on that, she is a fiesty one.  Lucky she is cute! I’m sure 6 will be fantastic fun!