Happy Birthday!

Happy 6th birthday to our sweet Ariana.  She is a very special daughter who is always quick to serve our family.  She loves to care for her younger sisters and help in the kitchen.  She is cheerful in serving others and quick to forgive.  She loves to laugh and has a special place in our family with two special roles: the younger sister to Kalia and Joel and an older sister to Nadia and Sonia.

She was so pleased to have an early birthday party in Addis with her two new friends but we will also celebrate it here in Gesses on the 28th.  She is looking forward to getting some presents on her real birthday.

One year ago, we were getting ready to return to Ethiopia and with a basement filled with boxes, I prepared 3 birthday parties in 2 days.  This year, Kalia and Ariana wanted to celebrate their birthdays before returning to Gesses so....I prepared three birthday parties in less than 10 days.  A little easier than last year but still a lot of work.  But....the kids all loved it and it was so much fun.

Ariana has 2 special friends that she has made this month.  She was so pleased they could join her.  Ariana decided that the middle flower cake would be for herself and the other girls would each get to stand in front of the others and blow out the candles. Ariana was so happy to have her very own party.

The party was pretty short so we had quesadillas and sandwiches for lunch and then a short playing time before cake time.  Rolf did not have time to decorate the cake this time so I was rather apprehensive about how it would go.  I decided to do cupcakes and it ended up being a simple way to make a pretty cake.  And no cutting needed:)

An hour before the guests were to arrive, Nadia was happily licking the icing from the bowl.  She decided to hand it to me without me looking at her and it smashed into hundreds of pieces on the cement floor.  We found little pieces of glass everywhere so it was quite the job to clean it up!