For her birthday party theme this year, Charis chose "mermaid." Denise worked like a madwoman to make the above outfit for our girl and to turn our front room into an undersea magical realm. It was unbelievable. Just look at the pictures!

Charis was REALLY looking forward to this birthday. For weeks, she's been telling us all the things she was going to do once she was Five. It's apparently quite a landmark...

A curtain of seaweed hides the way into the undersea realm...

Here's the table decor - complete with blue coverings for the chairs, tablecloth, shells... And notice what Charis and her friends are eating? Goldfish, star-shaped sandwichs, and blue Hawaiian punch, of course!

Hanging over the table is one of Denise's most elaborate projects - a jellyfish!

The frame is made from parts of a broken umbrella, carefully shaped and attached together. The exterior is made of tissue paper.

To the left you can see how it looks in bright light, with the camera's flash.

To the right is how it looked during the party! (no flash)

Outside was another of Denise's elaborate projects - a pinata that she made out of paper-mache. We hung it from the basketball goal. The video footage of the little girls trying to break this thing is quite hilarious... It was stronger than we expected!

Finally, what would a birthday party be without one of Denise's elaborate cakes? Everyone loved the mermaid!