So Miss Hazel turned 6 this year - crazy! And she wanted to have a birthday party but since her actual birthday was on a Thursday, I told her we'd have to do it on the Saturday right after. So basically, she got to celebrate her birthday twice, the lucky duck.
A couple of weeks before her birthday, I took her out to lunch to discuss this "party" and other birthday plans. We started with her wanting to invite her entire school class (including the teacher) and take everyone to Chuck E. Cheese. Umm....no. After some conversation and suggestions, we compromised with going to Chuck E. Cheese on her actual birthday night with her cousins (who would be out of town the day of the party) and then having 6 friends (one for each year she is old) over for a party on Saturday. She had some other requests that I tried to accommodate but sometimes life just doesn't work out like you want them to.
So the actual birthday arrived and I made her requested lunch (Spam sushi - so good) and headed up to the school to have lunch with her. I thought it was weird that there were so many APS (the local electric company) trucks up at the school when I pulled in. Turns out that the power was out at the school so 1. I couldn't have lunch with her because things were too chaotic, 2. I couldn't give her the lunch I had made for her because they'd already ordered pizza for all of the kids, and 3. I probably couldn't come back to have cupcakes at the end of the day because things were so crazy. I understand things were kinda nuts up there but I was still one unhappy mama. Especially because I wanted them to go ask Hazel what she wanted me to do (she was the birthday girl after all) and the office lady came back and said that she looked fine and didn't bother talking to her at all.
So not wanting to make a huge issue of it, I just left. I'll be honest - I cried on my way to the grocery store to get her birthday balloons. (Please recall I was hugely pregnant and therefore a giant ball of emotional mess.) I'm not a big birthday person but Hazel had some pretty simple but specific requests and none of them were working out no matter what I did.
A little while before school let out, I headed back over with the cupcakes. I figured either they'd let me take them in and at least Hazel would get that part of her birthday wishes or they'd tell me I couldn't and I would just pick her up for the day. I was happy that the power was back on and her teacher said she was okay with me bringing the cupcakes in. Hazel was super confused about why I wasn't there for lunch like I had promised but she was really happy about the cupcakes and was fine when I explained what happened.
After we got home, she opened her presents from everyone, which included my entire childhood Barbie collection. She got a lot of Barbie stuff but she was super excited because she's all about Barbie right now.
After presents, we headed off to In-n-Out for dinner (again, her request) and met up with the extended family there to eat.
After that it was off to Chuck E. Cheese, or The Worst Place on Earth as Jacob and I call it. Apparently the kids think we're being sarcastic because they keep asking to go back. Fun was had by all (I think - I suppose I shouldn't speak for everyone).
The last part of the night's festivities involved singing to the birthday girl and then having the rest of the cupcakes (I told her one cake would be plenty and she wanted it for her party).
Then Saturday: after soccer, we got some more balloons (so I like balloons - so what) and got everything set up for the party. Hazel had requested a cat cake/party and when I finally got her to be more specific, she told me she wanted a Pete the Cat party. Turns out Pete is pretty easy to draw, so the cake was nice and easy and the rest of the party was pretty quick to throw together. We had strawberries, blueberries, pudding, cookies and water for snacks. (If that doesn't seem significant, go read the book.)
They played Pin the Shoe on Pete (everyone colored their shoe first),
Musical Towels (we already had one incident with someone falling off a chair when coloring the shoes for the first game so I made a last minute adjustment),
read Pete the Cat,
ate snacks,
opened presents,
and had cake and ice cream. I was surprised how few of the kids actually wanted cake at the end. I guess the snacks we picked out just looked better. Or maybe other kids aren't such cake monsters like mine are. :)
It was a fun time but when it was over, I was REALLY glad that I put a specific beginning and ending time on the invitation. We'll need to slowly increase the amount of time for little kid parties - they are really tiring, especially when the birthday girl's mother is that pregnant. Hazel said she had a great time and that's what matters to me.
I'm so glad to have our silly, spunky, sassy girl and I can't believe she's so big already! 6 going on 16, or so she thinks. :)
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