Robin's Random Ramblings: Not a Baby Anymore...

My baby turned 6 on Friday. I can't believe she's getting so big. She really is a big girl...quite a bit taller than most kids her age. Well, that's to be expected though...her daddy is very tall and lanky, and I'm not exactly short.

She got to spend her birthday with P.'s parents. She shares a birthday with her Nana, P.'s mom, so they spent their birthday together. We also got our household goods the day before A.'s birthday (which will be a story all of its own soon), so the time was a blessing for P. and me, too. They spent two nights with P.'s parents, and it was admittedly quite a bit easier to accept delivery of our household goods while they weren't here.

While P.'s parents had them, they took them to Little Washington to visit P.'s brother and sister-in-law. While they were there, they got to go out on the boat again, and they took them tubing. The kids loved that. There's also an Estuarium there that they got to go visit. They planned to go to Hatteras, but time just didn't allow. That's ok, though. I figure we can go spend a weekend there sometime. I've only been once, and I lived in NC most of my life.

Anyway, since P.'s parents had them for her birthday, we decided to plan a party for Saturday night. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I could do that she would enjoy. After all, she hasn't really had a chance to make any friends yet because they haven't been in school or anything since we arrived. My mom and her boyfriend, and my sister and her husband wanted to celebrate with her. Then Friday morning it hit me. They've seen commercials for Chuck E. Cheese's and have asked me numerous times if I would take them. I figured that would be perfect. So I called out there and was able to get reservations for Saturday evening. I was really amazed that I was able to get reservations at such late notice, but was so happy. P.'s parents brought the kids home late Friday night.

Saturday the kids and I spent a good part of the day trying to unpack and organize. P. had to go in to work and was there longer than he had hoped. I wanted to surprise A. with where her party was so didn't say anything. After P. got home and we got the stuff in the car and got ready to go, the kids were about to go nuts trying to figure out where we were going. Then when we pulled in to the parking lot, they really went crazy. They were so excited.

We were a bit early, so our party table wasn't ready yet. In the meantime, I took the kids and let them play a bit. As planned, my mom and her boyfriend were there, as well as my sister and her husband. As a last minute surprise (well, my mom told me Friday afternoon), my favorite aunt and her new husband were there too. When it was almost time for the special birthday show to start, I went to get the kids. They came back and enjoyed the show. Then we lit the candles on A.'s cake. We were so mean and used trick candles...you know, the ones that light back up after you blow them out. The look on her face was priceless. I asked her afterward what she thought about the candles. She was laughing at the end and said they were funny, but she wasn't really amused at first. I'll have to get the pictures from my mom, who was at a better angle than I was and got a good picture of her. She was a great sport about it though. Then, of course, we let her open her presents. After the party was over, we let them go spend their tokens in the play area and get prizes for the tickets they won. It was a busy night for all of us, but it was so nice to be able to do something fun for her birthday. We had all their birthdays at the bowling center in Vilseck for the last couple of years, which was fun, but it's nice to do something different. Here are some pictures:

I love this picture of A. and my sister, K. Aunt K. gave her a special present. A. wanted some "sparklies like mommy" so Aunt K. gave her an adorable little ring, and my mom gave her matching earrings and necklace. I gave her a jewelry box so she'd have a safe place to keep them.

Here's a picture of her when she saw what it was. She was looking down, so it was hard for me to get the expression on her face. She loved it though, and wanted to keep it in the box so it didn't get lost at the party. I was really proud of her. Once upon a time she would have insisted on taking it out of the box right away. She really is growing up.

Blowing out her candles...or at least trying to. Gosh we're mean...lol.

Posing with Chuck-E-Cheese. She wouldn't go up without Aunt K. going with her. K. is just out of the picture. I asked A. after this pose if she wanted to give Chuck E a hug, and she said no. My mom asked me since when was A. so bashful. I said she's bashful when it suits her...lol.