Mother fail, Juliet with Patsy Ann at six, seven and she's almost eight!

I finally took photos for James' tenth birthday and realized there were photos from a year ago still on the memory card. Not only that, I never posted a birthday post when Juliet turned six. She's eight in 25 days, and I didn't post photos when she was six. WHAT???

Looking back at these photos I almost don't recognize her. Once she lost all her baby teeth her entire smile and face changed. Now, at almost eight she's tall, thin and her hair is halfway down her back.

Look at this six-year-old goof.

And this photo from a year ago, when she was seven.

Juliet, my beautiful gorgeous girl that is almost eight! I'll do a proper post in a month when she's EIGHT!

Fairy Garden birthday party!

Juliet desperately wanted to have a "friends party" this year, and after two years of family vacation instead of a party, we thought we better go all out. She decided on a theme easily, she wanted to have a fairy garden party! We waited to celebrate three weeks after her birthday in hopes for some spring weather. The weather didn't cooperate but the party was perfect, nonetheless. 

This friendship makes me so happy. For so long James and Emilia would stick close, but in the last six months these two have become the best of friends.

Baby Will Will and Pap-paps stopped by for a few minutes.

These two have been friends since before they could walk.

A real fairy came to the party and the girls were thrilled. She read them stories, she understood all of the fairy stories and Juliet was entranced.

Every girl got a fairy kiss (glitter star on their cheek).

The main event for any garden fairy party is building your very own fairy garden. This included a pot filled with gravel and moss, topped with rocks, a tiny mushroom, a succulent and a tiny rabbit. No fairy was included because once you set this garden out at home, the fairies will come!

Everyone loved this craft. They stayed engaged and interested for ages perfecting their gardens.

All done (her pinky kills me!)

All done!

Fairy garden cupcakes were SO EASY. I groud graham crackers with green food coloring for moss. I added candy rocks, another bunny and a toadstool for good measure! We served it with "tea" and china teacups for each guest.

The stories were all about fairies and fairy gardens and little girls and everyone was mesmorized.

Well ... almost everyone.

Juliet is SIX

My sweet baby bunny is growing before my eyes. On her birthday we decided to head up the mountains for some lunch and an impromptu photoshoot. Juliet has been very invested and taken with fairies and nature as of late, and I thought like it was the perfect time to let her pretend to be a winter fairy in the woods. The day was so mild (even in the mountains) that she braved a few photos without a coat.

Juliet is FIVE!

Guys! Juliet, my baby bunny, is five years old. She's not a baby anymore, she's strong and smart and funny and sweet. She adores art, kitties, riding her bike, playing fort with her brother, taking pictures and thinking about our next vacation.

Some more awesome info:

• She knows cat facts well, her favorite being cheetahs, leopards and house cats.
• She can spend hours and hours on art. She loves to cut paper and tape pieces together, draw with markers, coloring books, and paints.
• She is always wanting to take photos with my camera.
• She's quite and polite and well liked at school. 
• She loves handwriting but struggles on remembering her letters. 
• She's been riding a two wheeler for a year.
• She's becoming a better swimmer whenever we go.
• She laughs, makes up songs and rhymes for every situation, and is super wild and crazy before bedtime. 
• She wears a size five in clothes but only 9 in shoes (small!).
• She's still shy around people she doesn't see often, doesn't like a crowd, and is more of an introvert than James.
• Comes out of her shell when she's at home with family and then is crazy and wild and wonderful. 

Apple orchard in the morning

One morning after we dropped James off at school, Juliet and headed over to our favorite apple orchard. (Here's another spring post from two years ago!) This tiny private orchard is right in the city and the owners are the most fantastic people ever. It was warm and lovely, and the trees were buzzing with bees.

I begged Juliet to wear this princess dress. She said "I don't like princesses, I like Darth Vader."

But she flashed me lots of great smiles and after bribing her with candy she wore the dress.

I'm printing this huge for her bedroom.

She said she looked like a bride. I had NO idea she even knew that term. Baby girl is growing up.