April 4, 2013

Somebody special turned 6 at our house today.
Well technically she doesn't for a few more days, but out of worry that I would be having a baby we didn't want to wait one more week so we did it a few days early.
Of course, like always she has been planning her birthday party for months, maybe even a whole year since her last birthday.  This year was the first year we let the kids have real birthday parties.  I think we are going to do birthday parties on even years and family outings on odd years.  So we started this year with friend birthday parties.
She decided on a party based around her two favorite things to do.  Jump Rope and Hula Hoop.  Seriously I haven't even seen Kate get out any other toy really in weeks.  So it seemed perfect.   Especially since she  had a few boys she wanted to invite and her original idea was a nail polish party.  I didn't think that was going to work well.  We added a few more activities and made it a Spring fun party.  About two weeks ago we delivered invitations.

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Then we got to work with the planning and preparations.  I was really nervous that I might not be at her big day in the hospital having a baby or something.  Which I would be sad for because her birthday is one of my favorite days of the whole year.  There is nothing like celebrating somebody you love so much.  We came up with these cupcakes that we thought looked like potted plants.  The tops are just hostess cupcakes we found at the store in Spring colors and tulip shape.  We stuck them on green cupcakes and thought they were awesome.

 We made banners and hung up all the spring things  we could find.  Lucky for us after Easter all the Spring stuff in stores goes on sale.   We got butterflies, pinwheels,   flowers, and everything in Kate's favorite colors of light pink and turquoise and we added some more spring green and yellow too.

I learned how to make these balloon flowers online.  Kate told me I must be a balloon clown now and started requesting other animals.  Nope just the flowers.

 We served cupcakes at the kids party, but had cake with just our family and grandma and grandpa later at night.  Kate picked to have a white cake with sprinkles and specially requested that it had a number 6 on the cake not just 6 candles.

 More party set up.  Lots of fun colors and butterflies and flowers.

 Waiting for  the party guests near the pinwheels.

We  let Kate open the gifts from us before the party and craziness began  Sam got her an art kit he was so excited to give her.  He and I spent at least 30 minutes at the craft store picking things out and then he was so good about keeping it a secret for a week.  He kept reminding me we still needed to wrap it all week.  She loved it.  She also got a soccer ball and a razor scooter from us.  The scooter was put to practice right before party time. The best part..  For weeks Kate has been thinking about telling me what she wants for her birthday.  It was more trivial things like more lalaloopys, makeup, or something I didn't want to buy like a Leap Pad.  I have seen her borrowing the neighbors scooters so we decided to get her that.  And just yesterday she came to me and said "Mom I changed my mind, I want a scooter for my birthday"  Well good thing Mom had figured out that that is what you would want weeks ago and already has it wrapped in my closet I thought to myself :)

 She also had a chance to try out the art kit too.  She loved it and Sam was so proud.

 Party time.
Activity One was making bubble wands.  Out of beads and pipe cleaners.  Something else I saw online. The idea did not work perfectly but it kept kids busy while we waited for all the guests to come.  Then it was jump rope practice and contest.  Next it was hula hoop practice and contest and some trampoline jumping.  The last three birthdays of Kate's,,,,, or every one that she has really had some say in has had some kind of jumping thing to it.  The girl knows what she likes I guess.

   The party crew.  Yes.  Jake and I alone just wrangled this crowd for two plus hours.  And I didn't go into labor.   When Kate was making her list of people to invite it was getting long but I figured it was Spring Break and if she invited 14 people- that only half would likely make it because of the holiday.  And at first several people said they couldn't come.  Kate was very upset actually several times this week that so many people were not going to be able to come.  It made me sad for her, and I kept trying to encourage her reminding her about the friends that had said they could come- which as of two days previous was only 4 people.  Well I guess I have one lucky girl, because not only did almost all the rest of the guests rsvp or just come in the end, even some that said they might not make it called the day of to say they could make it after all.  Soon our guest list was overflowing.  I mean  we basically had an entire kindergarten class on our hands.  Good think she has such sweet friends who were all great at sharing and listening and we had a great time.

 Here is Kate thinking of her wish for her cupcake with her friends.  She honestly thought about what she wanted for a wish for several minutes.  Eyes closed, frustrated, friends waiting.  Then she decided and told us all out loud that she wished for more pink and purple butterflies in the world.   Here is the girls table eating cupcakes.

 Present time.  People are so thoughtful and generous.  Kate got so many kind gifts. A lot of the boys got her some kind of art or craft thing.  They know her well, or must pay attention to what she likes to do in class.  Her brother also picked out art stuff.  Jake and I realized that maybe boys are uncomfortable picking out barbies and makeup already so they stick with something that doesn't seem so girly.  It works since she does want to be an artist when she grows up now.... yep no more astronaut after like 4 years of that.  Others remembered her favorite candy, something I had written in this blog she liked, something she had seen on the bus with a friend and liked  The kids (and their moms really) were so kind and thoughtful  .  Kids are so well behaved too to sit and watch another kid open presents for 20 minutes.

 Marianne had to be detailed holding a balloon flower on Jake's shoulders for all of presents because she couldn't keep out.

 Then we headed outside to do bubbles.  We got an awesome bubble maker at the store that makes bubbles 6 feet long or more.  It is so fun.   We did it on the back patio to try to hide from the wind.  I think we will likely play with the bubble stick several times a week in the summer.  Best $7 we ever spent. We tried out our bubble wands we had made too.

Then we did chalk art in the front yard until parents came.  Each kid was sent home with a goodie bag of jump ropes, bubbles, chalk and candy.
Wow what fun.  Kate was in her zone too.  She love friends and being the leader with her friends.  I think the party turned out exactly how she had planned it in her mind.  That planning girl of mine can sometimes be hard to please perfectly, but I think we pulled it off.  It was a fun party too, I can only hope she might pick the same thing in two years again and we can have a lawn in to do some of the fun on instead of just a driveway and patio.

 After the party Kate picked to go to Chinese Food for dinner.  No surprise at all. And then we came back home.  Grandma and Grandpa Anderson stopped by with presents and shared some cake too.  What a long fun party day.

 My Kate is so special. She is great at making friends, being a friend so it is no surprise to me that so many people came to make her day so special.  Lots more about Kate coming with her 6 year old picture hopefully soon.