We had a successful double birthday! On June 17th, we celebrated at Arizona Air Time with our birthday twin - Suzi Pearson, who's birthday is on June 16 & her daughter, Abby, who's birthday is on June 17. Then we got all the free food that my kids could handle - 2 free sprinkles cupcakes, 2 free Kneaders desserts (even in the drive-thru), and $20 of free food at Joe's Farm Grill for lunch. Then we watched movies and sang the birthday song and played with our presents. Rachel got the Frozen castle, some Frozen toys (impossible to find!), Frozen pajamas, legos, magic treehouse books and other miscellaneous toys. I got a new sewing machine, pedicure, rice cooker, popcorn popper & Target money.
Then we decided to let Rachel have a friend party - Frozen themed, of course! I'm weird about birthdays, and I wish I wasn't, but I just am! I want them to be special for my kids, but they get me all stressed out! I don't love "friend parties" until they are 5 years old, because having kids over under 5 is too much babysitting and not enough party. So we liked the whole "family party" idea - except that a family party for us consists of just us five. Not having family here, makes the idea of the family party tricky. So in the past, we have invited one family over who is gracious enough to let us have a little party with our kid with them there to make it more special. And it has worked pretty great so far. But now we have a 6 year old, and we are first-timers just flying by the seats of our pants and figuring things out with our oldest as she gets older.
Initially, I thought we would have friend parties starting at 5 and then only every few years, but then I changed my mind because I knew how much it would mean to Rachel to have her friends over and have them sing to her! Plus, she had been to quite a few birthday parties during the school year, so it was tough to come up with a good solution - maybe just invite a friend to do something super fun, but these little 6 year olds don't process the value of money very well, and I knew she would "just want a party, mom!" Brandon wanted to help me throw a friend birthday party that was simple and not stressful. I wasn't stressed about it until about a day before when we literally hadn't done anything and I knew I had to work the night before. But Brandon rose to the occasion and pretty much did everything. I planned lunch and got the house somewhat clean, and he made the cake (like he always does) and came up with the activities and party bag.
The girls (we had 9 total) built Olaf snowmen out of marshmallows, played pin-the-nose on Olaf and had a real snowball fight (using his snow cone maker, he made a whole cooler full of snowballs) and threw snowballs at Brandon, who was pretending to be the Snow Monster. They also had an impromptu dance party and watched the movie, "Frozen" (This was an added bonus. I texted the moms to see if their girls could stay for an hour and half extra to watch the show - not shocking that every mom said YES!). Rachel and the girls absolutely loved it. I am grateful for a talented husband who is so great with kids, and is patient with my birthday stresses.
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| Real birthday - shared with mommy called for Sprinkles cupcakes |
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| Birthday buddies - Rachel & Abby Pearson |
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| Brandon's creation |
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| Kendall giving Olaf a big hug |
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| Ellie, Paige W., Holly, Brooklyn, Abby, Rachel, Veronica & Paige C. (Shea came later) |
2 comments:
It looks like it was a triumph!! Brandon should go into the party planning business!
Sounds like a great birthday!!
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