i'm late, i'm late, for a very important date

Our baby girl
turned six years old.














I asked her if I could snap a few shots of the big (belated) birthday girl this morning...
and as usual the "few" turned into dozens.
I tried to condense here and get them up pretty quickly (read: slapped up here on the new laptop with no editing) since I'm behind in blogging, but most everyone knows that me and condense don't always work well together.






















































I love this six year old.














I'm not so good with words on occasions like this.
I'm not so good at voicing my love and my joy and my pride and putting into words what makes my little girl who she is and why she is so very cherished by us. I'm jealous of the eloquent writers who can paint such an amazing picture, their ability to capture so much of what it means to be a parent watching their child grow up... the bittersweet, the swell of joy, the amazing piece of their heart that walks around outside of them.





I wish I had those words to describe Savannah.







I can at least say that I cannot begin to fathom what I would be missing out on if we had not been given the blessing of her life joining ours six years ago.













She is the smartest, craziest, silliest, and sunniest girl I know. She'll laugh at anything; a loud belly laugh with her head flung back and her eyes crinkled up to little sliver moons.




She loves to snuggle up and read any thing at any time with any one, including her little brother which melts my heart. She would probably spend the rest of her life at a table drawing and writing if we let her, filling notebook after notebook, making up stories and poems and songs and always cards and pictures to share with her loved ones. She loves her friends. She loves to dance. She loves to run and go barefoot. She loves dressing up. She loves being fancy and pretty. She loves games. She loves making up jokes. She loves to be the boss (what big sister doesnt'?). She loves school. She loves playing in the rain and she's obsessed with rainbows right now.




















Speaking of rainbows...
she has had a random preoccupation with them as of late. She picks rainbow anything and has been on the lookout constantly for rainbow colored accessories, decorations, etc. For her birthday cake this year I decided to surprised her with something along those lines. I wouldn't tell her what kind of cake I made and presented her with a plain old white birthday cake.














Or so she thought....




















until we cut it open...














and she loved what she found!!






















I have to admit, the cake was yummy yummy!









































I found it here a few weeks ago and knew instantly when I saw it that I had to make it for Savannah's birthday this year.
It was so bright and fun and each layer tasted so good!
Ryan asked for a repeat for his birthday!!
The red layer was made with raspberries, the orange with orange juice and zest, the yellow with lemon juice and zest and the green with the same from a lime of course. The blue was done with blueberries and the purple with some big delicious blackberries. I did a regular buttercream frosting instead of the white chocolate one originally done with the cake in the recipe. YUM.
Yes it was a process, but it was simple (all it takes is two cake mixes and fruit and food coloring) and well worth the effort I think. Best of all, Savannah loved it!

Happy Birthday again Savannah Joy! Here's to your best year ever!!