Its My Party and I'll Cry if I want To!

That seemed to be the 'phrase' of the day during Ariel's birthday party this past weekend. We had a few 'rough' moments that Ariel resorted to tears to solve the situation, mainly brought on by her over excitement for the party itself and the lack of sleep leading up to it... I don't remember how many times the night before we told her to go back to bed, only to have her up at the crack of dawn ready to go! Then she refused to eat her breakfast (only taking a few bites), so really it was a recipe for disaster. She was excited and ready for her friends to arrive, and for awhile things were fun.

Lots of dancing, er running in a circle. Every girl looked adorable!

The table was set and ready for the princesses to feast at. The candle holder Ariel saw at the rental shop. After pointing out it looked like Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast we had to rent it for the party table, haha.

Things started off well until we played musical chairs, Ariel wasn't playing close attention and was the first out, oops. Note to self and others playing this game, always start with every kid having a chair, then they all get one round with a chair, haha. We did play a second time where she won, and boy did she watch those chairs.

We watched the annual Ariel slide show video only for a few tears at the end that she missed seeing a few of the picture. We watched it 3 times later, so all is good. Enjoy it, hard to believe how much she grew this year.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

The next time the tears showed up was when Daddy read the story. Now bear in mind the story is about her. She is super sensitive to people being 'upset' at her, and it this story the elf character gets 'upset' and stomps his foot. Well this was too much and she went nuts. Of course after calming down and explaining her tears, she said 'I cried for a reason'.... rather than just being disappointed and embarrassed by losing the game first off. Here is the online link to our latest book for her.

Then... yes more tears... she cried when a few of her friends blew out her candles. Oops. The candles were lit again and we did it again with better results. Oh its hard turning 5! lol.

The cake turned out well, after a VERY long day in decorating it. Which also included a rush trip into Richmond to pick up the needed structural elements I needed when Ariel changed her mind in the design of the cake.

We also did a fun feast of princess food, using all of Ariel's dolls as the 'hosts'. I made them each a little sign to hold by their dish. Everything served were Ariel's favorites, however the moment one of the other girls said 'I don't want to have this' she would suddenly not want it anymore. However, once everyone was gone, she did gobble anything that was leftover, lol. Ah kids!

Ariel's friends gave her some lovely gifts, lots of crafts, stickers and coloring goodies along with with other surprises. The biggest being from Grandpa and Rita, her own 2 wheeler bike! She was so excited and something that she has wanted for months. Looking forward to her riding to school this fall, yay!

Earlier that week Ariel and Xander both received their birthday gifts in the mail from Grammy and the Uncles. Ariel got some cute outfits for school, her Julie doll got a cute outfit and a backpack so she can be ready for school too! Haha. Uncle Dan got her a Star Wars playdoh set because he thought she needed some more 'nerd' influence, haha.

Xander got a Thomas wooden train starter set, and some Cars duplo sets which he loves. The boy just loves wheels!

Thanks Grammy!

On Ariel's actual birthday we visited the American Girl store outside Seattle that just opened this summer. We headed out early to try and beat the boarder traffic, er, not. We still sat in the line for 40ish minutes (yes Dad I am filling out our Nexus application). For once we got a nice boarder guard! We said we were going to the AG store and he actually said oh I have seen some other girls heading down this morning too. I think it was almost shocking for us not to be hassled for once... whee!

Ken dropped us off and took Xander to go to a church service. Ariel was pretty excited and overwhelmed at first but quickly calmed down once I laid out the plan for the morning. First up Julie got her ears pierced and hair done. Ariel was thrilled!

Next up we checked out all the dolls and clothes. Grandpa Priebe had sent some birthday money for us to pick out something for her, so let her lead me around to what she liked. Of course she loved it all, but we quickly discussed either she get a doll or a few accessories, and she chose the accessories.... but did give strong hints to possible Christmas ideas, haha.

We had lunch booked in the bistro, in which after recommendation from others got the birthday package. It was magical and she LOVE IT! First off she got a special birthday crown and Julie got one too, haha.

Our meal included a starter so we both got the spinach and artichoke dip. Very yummy, but Ariel was concerned it was a tad hot and didn't really want it until it cooled down.

For our main course Ariel wanted the macaroni and cheese, her fav, and it came with a fruit skewer which was a hit with her.

Then came the cake, she was so giddy!

They brought us each a slice with ice cream and a goodie bag for the birthday girl. It had a little t-shirt, balloon and shopping bag for her doll, some stickers and an activity book for her. Thumbs up!

Then we hit the store and Ariel picked out her goodies. From us she picked out Julie's birthday dress outfit, her birthday picnic goodies which included a doll sized bbq, haha, and Julie's record player and tape recorder set. Then with Grandpa's money I picked out Julie accessories set that included her purse, necklace and hat and a cute food set that included a mini version of the cake, ice cream and pink lemonade we had in the cafe (which also happens to be a store exclusive that you can't get online - here she is at home with her goodies!).

We met back up with Daddy and Xander to do some outlet shopping, although we didn't find anything I was looking for. I did find some pjs to put away for the kid's for Christmas gifts though, so that was a score. Dinner was at Red Robin and since Ariel was still wearing her birthday sticker from AG, they brought her the ice cream and sang for her without us asking, very cool! She was tickled pink to get 2 special songs that day.

The border on the way back was awful. About an hour and a half at least we sat. Ugh. Thank heavens for netflix on my iphone, the kids watched Dora and Thomas cartoons to pass the time, as our little man was fed up with being in the car at that point.

So that finishes up Ariel's birthday week! Now we get ready to celebrate our little man's big day this Friday as he turns 2! Then the following weekend we will celebrate with his party. So stay tuned for more birthday fun!