Cousins

Bria is very lucky in the cousin department. Not only does she already have 25 cousins, six of them were born within one year of her. I was never very close (geographically, emotionally, or chronologically) to any of my cousins, and it was something I always felt sad about, so it's particularly meaningful to me that Bria is so close with so many of hers. We love living near one set of Bria's cousins whom we get to see fairly frequently.The 13 year age difference doesn't even matter, Bria absolutely idolizes her cousin Amanda-- totally understandable, since Amanda is a real live ballerina. These two have a special bond, mostly thanks to Amanda always playing with Bria when we come over: painting her nails, showing her ballerina costumes, including Bria in photo booth sessions with her other friends. I'm so sad Amanda only has one more school year here before college. Last weekend we went to take pictures for Amanda's prom, and Bria was completely mesmerized. Even though she was totally bummed she couldn't be a part of the big group photos, Bria was bursting with excitement to get a shot with her beautiful cousin.

More of the Four

 To round off the birthday posts, here is a highlight of Bria's birthday party. She was set on having a princess party (since about last May), and I was set on changing her mind. I finally succeeded, and the idea that convinced her was a Cake Doodle party, based on one of her favorite apps. We kept it simple with just a couple activities: lunch, cupcake decorating, and pin the candle on the cake. The genius of the party was holding it at a park, because the kids spent the majority of the time on the playground or in the giant sand pit. Seriously, I think the remainder of Bria's parties will be at parks, because it made it so incredibly easy for me. And this was the first year we invited just her friends (instead of all our adult friends, with a few kids sprinkled in). It turned out to be an awesome day, and it was so fun to celebrate Bria's big day with so many friends.

modeling some of her gifts after the party