Ally is very artistic, so Joni made her a cake shaped like an artists' palette 

Cousin Natasha and Beth painting their jewelry boxes; Ally and her friends Shannon and Willow

The kids would have done better if that onionhead with the video camera had gotten 
out of the way; Beth used a blow dryer to finish drying the paint on her jewelry box lid

Shh! The artist is working....

But one cannot make art without...CAKE!

Note to friends and family: if you do anything 
silly on camera, it WILL wind up on this site

We went back home to open presents. Ally got a panda Webkinz...and a horse Webkinz...
and a dog Webkinz...

...six Webkinz in all, to go with the one she already had.
Cecilia only thinks she's a Webkinz...

More birthday loot. And yes, that is a fondue pot, and yes, she did ask for it.
Ally also got this way-cool, remote-control, mechanical dragonfly that we had to try out...

...so we did. The wings flap up and down, and yes, the thing really flies!
Is that cool, or what?