After what seemed like months of anticipation, the day of Alaina’s birthday party finally arrived this weekend. Ever since her first party invite a few months ago, Alaina had been excited for this day, thrilled with the idea that her friends from school would be coming to HER house to celebrate with her. She has cousins a year younger than her and several of our friends have young children that she has had play dates with. These have been regulars at parties and holidays for all of her life. This was the first time that more of HER friends were going to be invited than ours.
She was up at the crack of dawn, bursting with excitement. My biggest regret of the day came early, as I would have loved to have videotaped her as the bounce house was being blown up. We’ve gotten one every year for her, so it wasn’t a surprise, but her complete inability to contain herself as it was being set up was pretty great to watch.
The Frozen themed cake and an absurd amount of pizza arrived next, but like the bounce house, these were of minimal concern to me. I was more concerned with whether or not any of her classmates were going to be able to make it. We had received a couple of affirmative RSVPs, but hadn’t heard back from many. Weekends in the summer are busy times. Since none of these people really knew us, if at all, it would be completely understandable if they didn’t come.
Fortunately we didn’t need to explain this to her. I’m honestly not sure how disappointed she would have been, but it’s something I’m going to keep in mind when we receive invitations to bring her places. One of my favorite qualities in my daughter is her self-confidence.
Two of her BFFs came and all the kids seemed to have a blast. Besides the bounce house, the bigger kids, ( it’s weird describing my four year old and her friends that way ) spent some time in the pool. They hit the sandbox and the swings. Tons of cake and pizza were consumed.
By then end of the day we were exhausted but satisfied we had done all that we could to make her day special. It still is difficult to believe that she is four already and that my biggest worry about the day was for her ego. Alaina spent the day surrounded by family and friends, all there just for her. I wasn’t surprised when she described it as “the best day ever.”
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Previously Published on thirstydaddy.com
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