A Birthday Fit For A Five Year Old Princess

     Our little girl is five!  We had a fun day celebrating her life with her classmates and teammates/friends.

Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, is Anneka's favorite princess.  For weeks she's been wishing for a Belle dress for her birthday present.  We have a friend (Lena) who is an amazing seamstress.  I showed her several pictures of Belle and went with her to a fabric store to pick out poofy and yellow fabric.  And she made an amazing dress for Anneka!  Here's the underskirt to make it really full.  (later that day at school, Anneka had the girls hold her skirt for her while she went to the bathroom.  They all crowded around her and loved helping).

  

      She felt like the most beautiful princess in the world!  Lena secretly measured Anneka at church a few weeks before her birthday, but we didn't know if it would fit until the day of her birthday.  It's great because she'll be able to wear it for a long time.

John got to be with us for breakfast and the great dress-unveiling.  He gave Anneka this dog (from all the Wickers) and she loves it so much.  The dog has been her constant companion since she got him!

     We know 2 ladies who put on "fairy tale" birthdays for kids.  Since this may be Anneka's only year in Russian school, we decided to throw her a special party with her class.  I was a little nervous with planning the details in Russian (making arrangements with the teachers, finding out what I needed to buy, reserving a room, etc)... and the morning of the party it snowed so much that transporation was SLOW for the ladies.  They called and told us that every bus was full!  Thankfully they were able to catch a taxi.  We all made it in time.  Anneka was very excited to invite Matty to her party.  Here, Matty and Ella waited for the rest of the kids to come into the music room.

     A few of Anneka's friends dressed up especially for Anneka's birthday and got her a present.  It was really fun to see Anneka interacting with classmates in this environment and seeing the little girls' affection toward her.

 

I love how this little girl has her arm around Anneka here!

     The party was an hour long and was full of dancing and games and acting out a story of Anneka being the princess and then a pirate coming and stealing her and the treasure!

 

Her dress was perfect for the day!

 

 In this game, the girls had to put pigtails in the boys' hair.  It was really funny to watch!

 

Here's another action shot with the hair relay.

 

 And there was dancing, and noise-maker blowing.

 

     Then we came home and had a birthday lunch (Ella was hiding at my legs).  Anneka's choice: macaroni and cheese, chocolate milk, kiwi and peaches, and (of course) cake.

  
 Everyone in Anneka's class made her a birthday card.  One girl made her a card with a picture of Anneka in her dress.

 

     We topped off the evening with a ball!  Leif dressed in his suit and the girls and I all wore dresses and we danced.  We had too much fun to stop and take pictures.  =)

Happy Birthday, sweet Anneka!  As your name means, you are a gracious gift of God to us!  We love you so much.  You fill our hearts with joy!