the weekend was all about the princess!  On Saturday Annie had a big performance at her Japanese kindergarten in celebration of “Tanabata Matsuri”, which celebrates the myth of a princess and her star-crossed lover.  All the classes did a few different dances, with the children wearing traditional Japanese summer outfits.  Nothing could be cuter than a few hundred five year olds dancing in unison wearing bright-colored yukatas!

Here is a video of the song she was most excited about it– it’s one of the theme songs from Pokeman.  Even though she’d had strept throat the 4 days before the festival, her previous days of practice payed off and she certainly enjoyed it.

On Sunday we celebrated Annie’s fifth birthday with several American friends and two Japanese families.  It was great fun– we had several Italian dishes complete with Fourth of July napkins, plates, and tablecloth from our friend Maho.

Annie was given a TInkerbell DVD and outfit  from her Auntie Beth:

…and we decided to go with the Tinkerbell/princess palace theme for her cake, as well. Eric had made a special cake topper with Tinkerbell and 3 of her fairy friends that were attached to a spinning top that moved when the candles burned.  (Unfortunately, it also burned a bit as the candles burned, but the general effect still worked!)

The REAL princess – and her sibling and two friends – were  thrilled…

and we loved celebrating special days with special friends.