Karson is SIX

My little girl is officially six and no longer little. She and I made cupcakes for her class after school yesterday. She meticulously decorated each cake with sprinkles. I took them in for snack this afternoon and her class sang to her.

We let her pick the dinner venue--Chuck E. Cheese's (honestly, anything sounds better than McDonald's to me). We decided to celebrate on a smaller scale this year. We had a petite cake at Miles's party, and I took her to Toys R Us over the weekend to pick out her gifts. I let her choose what she'd like this year. I wanted to get her a hamster, but her Dad didn't think that was a good idea. Actually, I agree with him on that decision--(a) I am highly allergic to guinea pigs--which aren't the same but who knows??? (b) hamsters are nocturnal and sleep is a high priority in our house (c) the brothers--I'm sure our delicate pet wouldn't last long with them. Sooo, we are the proud owners of a couple of the Puppy/Kitty/Horsey in Your Pocket sets. Karson is inundated with toy sets. It started with Little Peoples, then the Loving Family Dollhouse, Dora's Magic Castle, Littlest Pet Shop, Ponyville (big and small), Tinker Bell Fairies, Princess sets (Sleeping Beauty House and Little Mermaid sets), and NOW the new pocket sets. I'd love to part with some of these sets (and did give the Dora set to a needy family), but I ENJOY them just as much as she does. We haven't tackled Barbie who is my absolute FAVORITE. I had 36 Barbies and 3 Ken dolls growing up. I know what you're thinking...so FEW =)??? No kidding, I was still quietly/secretly playing with them in middle school. I explained to Karson that once you go with Barbie, the other sets are history. Barbie will take over your room. She has her own mansion, Ferrari, pool, airplane, stable, etc. She's high maintenance and requires an "all or nothing" attitude if you own her. Those of you die hard Barbie fans know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Anyway, back to the birthday girl, I have to BRAG on her for a minute....

We had Parent/Teacher conferences this Monday at school. Karson is above average(reflecting a strong performance) on all her test scores scoring a 7 in reading assesment (phonological, literacy, phoneme-grapheme correspondance, and listening) and mathematics (concepts and communication, process and application). I have NO IDEA what any of those assesments mean, but I am PROUD as a PEACOCK. She will take the same tests in the spring, but her teacher feels she will already be working on a 1st-or-2nd grade level by that time since her scores are already as high as they'll get. Her teacher wrote this on her progress report: Karson has the best personality! She is such a sweetie (not to mention smart and creative)! She is an asset to this classroom. Here are some photos from her classroom party: