As the current craze of 6-7 is hilarious, Zinnia has levelled up and gone from 6 to 7 this month. It’s hard to believe she is 7 already!!! Zinnia was super excited for her birthday. It was a full festival of birthday celebrations, as always…..

Every year she tells us she is just going to have a ‘small’ celebration and it still ends up being a full birthday spectacle. I guess that’s the joy of being a kid!

After promising last year she’d just have a small party as we were about to head off to Europe for our White Christmas trip, Zinnia insisted on the not so small icecream party. That did turn out to be lots of fun, and it’s hard to believe a year ago we were getting ready to head overseas.

Fast forward to 2025’s birthday, and Zinnia decided she wanted a ‘movie’ themed party. We have no idea where she came up with this idea but it turned out to be a winner. Lots of fun, and pretty easy to put together.

First….. the cake!

Zinnia decided she wanted a super cute igloo cake with penguins! It had vanilla buttercake in the middle and vanilla icecream and coconut on the outside. We had lots of fun setting the penguins up and it definitely looked like an igloo.

Zinnia was rather happy with her cake. A masterpiece fit for a 7 year old.

The cake did have to live in the freezer until it was time to serve it but we had to take a few photos before the party. Zinnia chose which penguins were going to be on the cake, and we made sure her guests had a penguin to take home. Which turned out to be wise as the penguins were rather popular!

Party time…..

Zinnia’s plans for her movie party involved watching movies together and eating snacks. She picked the snacks she wanted…. yes mostly lollies. Plus Dad’s home-made popcorn. Both regular salted and a caramel version!

All the kids got to choose their drink cups when they arrived and then decorated a label for their cup. They could then take their cups when they left. The pink cups were the hottest commodity amongst 7 year old girls….

The kids all voted for which movie they wanted to start with and ‘Sing 2’. Snacks and drinks in hand, and they were upstairs to watch, and sing along. We set up couches, beanbags and had some glow in the dark balloons. All super easy and the kids were in heaven.

The advantage of a teenage sister is that they can assist with parties…. anything for pocket money it appears! Astrid provided popcorn, drink and snack refills to the excited 7 year olds. Ensuring they had an excellent movie experience.

Now I doubted that a group of 7 year olds would sit still very long watching movies, so Astrid had prepared a movie-themed quiz (with prizes) to keep them entertained. It turned out that we had to drag them away from Sing, well over an hour and a half into the movie to do the quiz. Astrid had picked questions about a variety of kids movies and some of them had definitely watched a lot of movies and did pretty well. A few looked concerned about the concept of a quiz until they realised it was multiple choice and there were prizes!

Cake time…..

After the quiz was done, and Astrid was collating results, the igloo cake was whipped out of the freezer. It was time to light the number 7 candle and sing happy birthday…..

Cutting through all that ice-cream proved to be a bit of a challenge for Zinnia’s muscles, but with some adult help we got there.

Present time….

They all voted they wanted Zinnia to open her presents. Word had gotten around that she loves squishmallows and there were plenty of new squishmallows to add to the ever-growing collection, along with craft and lego to keep her busy.

The rainbow face paint proved popular even with 14 year old sisters!

After the intermission for quizzes, cake and presents, the kids wanted to go back to movie watching. Next on the agenda was Despicable Me 4. They didn’t get through it before parents arrived to take kids home but everyone declared they had a great time. It definitely turned out to be one of the easiest parties ever, and all designed by the almost 7 year old!

……. and then she was 7!

Zinnia had to make room on her bed for her new squishmallows but apparently there was still going to be room for more. She had high hopes with her presents from family!

As is tradition, the birthday person gets to choose a special birthday breakfast. Zinnia wanted crepes with nutella and banana. This meant early crepe making for mum and dad, but a delicious breakfast was had. It of course had hardly any sugar…..

Then it was time for presents from mum, dad, Astrid and Soren.

There were of course more squishmallows, plenty of chapter books and her requested ‘Alexa’.

Soren had bought Zinnia a joke book for 7 year olds. We’ve been hearing plenty of those jokes. It’s a hit! She also quickly figured out her Alexa could also tell her jokes. We now hear Zinnia in her room in the mornings getting Alexa to fire up some jokes for the day 😉

…. the birthday festival continues!

When you are 7 taking cupcakes to school, and then continuing the presents for another couple of days is definitely part of the excitement. Grandparents and Uncle Mikl added to the present collection and then on the Friday night we got a chance to go out to dinner to celebrate with family.

Zinnia picked dinner at the Irish Club as it’s next door to our dancing studio and who doesn’t love meals as big as your head, after Friday night dancing lessons 🙂

After a whole week of festivities Zinnia was one happy 7 year old. The last year has sped by. She is growing up quickly. Still bossing us all around, and as cheeky and confident as ever. All the teachers at school love her, and she has most adults wrapped around her cute little fingers!

I swear she has lost more teeth in the last 6 months than I can count, and the cute gappy smiles are a definite marker of this era. Soon she’ll be looking much more grown up with all those adult teeth.

Not much has changed in the past year, other than Zinnia getting taller, and losing lots of teeth. She still talks non-stop, loves swimming, dancing and her pets, and reads voraciously. She also loves writing and drawing. Something neither of her older siblings are super fond of…..

The last year has been a big one in the adventure stakes for Miss Z. She had her first trip to Europe. Unlike her older siblings, who had already racked up a few European trips by 6, Zinnia was hampered in her travel pursuits by Covid travel restrictions. She’s rectified that now and added to her flights (46) and country tally (now at 15). Zinnia finally got to visit the Eiffel Tower, and decided it was higher than she liked but she thoroughly enjoyed all the food and snow on the rest of the trip. She took to sledding and ice skating like a champ…

Zinnia’s year

It’s been a big year in the adventure stakes for a 6 year old Zinnia!

…. what will 7 bring?

Six was pretty epic for Miss Zinnia but 7 is going to be special too. There is more travel on the horizon. We are off to Japan soon, and she is very much looking forward to being the biggest kid in the primary school when Soren graduates to High School next year.

Zinnia is definitely still cute as a button. She has plenty of attitude though, often taking a leaf out of her eldest siblings moody teenager book.. We definitely don’t need a double dose! Luckily she makes up for it by being the kindest, smiliest girl most of the time….. and still gives excellent cuddles.

Zinnia is always up for a challenge. Whether it’s standing on the blocks at a swim meet, dancing in a competition or performing on a stage in the choir. She always tells us that she often feels nervous but ‘it’s all about doing your best, and I love the feeling I get afterwards when I’ve done something hard.’ Wise words from a young lady. Definitely braver and smarter than some adults.

Happy 7th birthday Miss Zinnia Delphine. We are sure the next year will have plenty of adventures and more gappy smiles!