But first...it's been too long.
The first and foremost thing on my mind is finally, almost two months later, wrapping up Addie's birthday. I wrote my sentiments regarding her day, but I did not recap her actual day and her party. I'll attempt to do that in the next (gulp) seven minutes.
While it has been almost two months, I still remember her day clearly. We had so much fun celebrating her. She woke up to balloons littering the floor of her bedroom, which she loved. (Some of them are still residing in the tent in her room.) We spent the morning at my Bible study at church where she played with friends, hung out with my mom a bit, then headed back home until we picked Sabian up from work.
Dinner was, of course, Addie's choice. And, of course, she chose Chick-fil-a. We ended up at a location we don't normally frequent and when we arrived, it was packed. Clowns, balloons and kids dressed up as superheroes and princesses were everywhere. Totally coincidentally, Addie was dressed in her new birthday Rapunzel dress from my mom, so she fit right in. When we went up to order the cashier asked me, "Is she dressed up?" Confused, I answered, "Yes, but what is going on?" Apparently we hit the right Chick-fil-a on the right night. It was their family night and the promotion that night just so happened to be a free kids meal to any kid dressed up as a superhero or princess. In an instant I was super happy and at the same time humbled - I kind of saw it as a God thing.
So, we scored a free kids meal and Addie got her face painted and a balloon sword. We almost could have stopped right there, but we had a surprise for Addie.
Our gift to our sweet girl was her inaugural trip to Build-A-Bear, where she picked out a hot pink cat to bring home as her friend. A bright hot pink cat. And, when the store employee showed Addie the matching, miniature Rapunzel dress she could dress her in, it was all over.
I have to admit, it was pretty cute, Addie in her Rapunzel dress and her new stuffed friend in hers. Her new friend's name? Rapunzel Cat. Addie has always had a knack for naming her stuffed animals just what they are - brown doggie, white doggie, you get the picture. So, we added Rapunzel Cat to our family that evening.
I actually would have been content to call the birthday doings done, but we had planned a party for her with some of her friends for the following weekend. Our apartment is too small for this sort of thing, which presents some challenges. I had in mind what I wanted to do but was finding it hard to bring to fruition what was in my mind.
In the end we had Addie's party at a local floral shop that now dabbles in cupcakes. They dress up a couple of rooms, all cupcake-d out, play a few games with the girls, provide cupcakes for decorating and an ice cream sundae bar. Including Addie we had five girls and might I say it was fun, but five was plenty!
Maybe naively, I tried to teach these sweet girls how to play Simon Says. Turned into equal parts hilarity and exasperation.
We had a lot of fun with Addie and her friends that day, even discovering, about 30 minutes before arriving to set up, that the St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Belleville, right where we were having the party, was in full swing. The more, the merrier.
Addie is still fairly fixated on her birthday, and when she sees something she likes she says, "I want that for my birthday." I've stopped trying to explain to her that her next birthday is a year away. She says it, I listen, and we go on. Frankly, I don't want to rush it. Five means one year older, it means starting kindergarten. Those are good things, and even though we still have our challenging moments (days, weeks...!), I don't want to be in a big hurry.
I am thankful for Addie, and the fun we had with her on her birthday.
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