birthdays

Monday morning I snuck down to the kitchen to make A’s favorite—daddy eggs.  L came down to help me and we readied plates of eggs, powdered donuts and grapes.  We served A breakfast in bed amid much giggling and toasting.  We got the kids ready for school and on the bus.  Just before the end of her school day, I joined her class with chocolate creamies.  They sang to her and happily downed their treats.  We did tumbling class and she played with Grammy during L’s piano class.  And then Husband and I took A out for her special birthday date night.  She picked Ichiban, her favorite restaurant.  She ordered pot stickers, fried rice and chow mein (sushi and soup for me and daddy).  She enthusiastically tore into her gifts opening a necklace that she begged for a few weeks ago, a set of chapter books and a Lego Elves set that she squealed over.  We stopped at the grocery store to pick out gourmet cupcakes and took them home to share with sisters.  We sang to her, ate our cupcakes and immediately began building her new legos.

E’s birthday was Friday, but since she didn’t have school that day, she celebrated with her class on Thursday.  She was the special leader and brought the class snacks (donuts and grapes).  I attended the first portion of her class so I could tell her class more about her and we played one of her favorite games.  Then on Friday, we served her breakfast in bed as well, making Mickey shaped waffles and sausage.  She got to play at the gym daycare and spent most of the afternoon as home as she helped me bake the cakes.  E was pretty tired and grumpy, possibly not feeling very well.  I insisted she lay down for a quiet time movie and she eventually feel asleep but it didn’t help much.  She did still want her birthday date though, requesting pasta.  So we met Daddy at Vito’s.  She was pretty quiet and subdued but cuddled in and lapped up the attention.  She colored a picture with Daddy, hardly noticing the presents that we eventually suggested to her.  She cooed over her new necklace and liked the new tablet case.  And she was thrilled with her Lego Cinderella carriage.  But rather quickly, her enthusiasm faded and she asked to go home.  She perked up a little when the server brought her complimentary dessert and she loved the whip cream and strawberries garnish but mostly she just wanted to go home.  At home we sang to her over an ice cream cake, built legos and cuddled until bed.

Finally Saturday arrived and the girls were ecstatic, having anticipated and planned their party for months.  We readied for the day, ran errands, finished the cakes and finally went to the party.  It was held at the tumbling gym in town, Husband arrived first with the girls to meet their guests and get the party started.  They dove into the foam pit and bounced on the trampolines and their favorite—took turns on the bungee jump.  I arrived a few minutes late with all the stuff and finished setting up the room with cake and presents and drinks.  The kids made an obstacle course and then used the blocks to build a jail/castle.  E, who had played so happily up until then, got upset when the other kids didn’t play as she wanted but there wasn’t much to be done and she was over it by the time we did cake and presents.  A ran nonstop bouncing around with friends and trying to do everything as much as she could.  L was a little reluctant at first but anticipating this, we had invited one of her friends as well, so the two of them raced off and gad a great time as well.  After an hour on the equipment, the kids headed to the party room and we sang and served cake and ice cream.  A’s was a Lego Friends beach party cake.  The inside was chocolate and it was decorated with a kitkat “fence” around it.  The blue water glittered with edible sparkles and the sand beach was topped with graham cracker crumbs.  And then lego toys decorated the scene of a lifeguard tower on the beach with girls building a sandcastle, floating on inflated rings and playing with a dolphin.  E’s cake was a red velvet, Cinderella doll cake and turned out beautifully.  The girls begged to open their presents and were wonderfully spoiled with great gifts—new swim suits, toys, craft kits and especially, legos!  We sent their friends home with a bubble wand and a little bag of lego candy, made quick work of the clean up and then spent a lazy evening at home with pizza, watching Back to the Future, and building legos.

quote of the day: (from A) "The best part of being seven is that you get to do bigger math problems!"