It is my birthday tomorrow! I went to three parties this weekend—two of them were for me! Tomorrow night Mommy, Daddy and me are going to celebrate my birthday by going out for supper to a place I pick!

He said

Here we sit as I jot down my side of this week half way between Emelia’s birthday extravaganza day and her literal, actual birthday. She’s definitely been run to the point of exhaustion and over stimulation this weekend – much to our own blame – but it has definitely been a great birthday weekend.

The only do-better for next year would be to try and avoid a Saturday with three separate birthday type celebrations. (Not to worry, only two of them were our blame).

Party #1
The day started with a garden-themed tea party  at our house for all of Emelia’s BFF’s from school and otherwise. Danielle and Emelia had been working in earnest on this since well before Christmas. They were creating the crafts, decorations and even the menu and activities. And all the work absolutely paid off. It was a huge success that culminated in ten girls in reasonable proximity to the age, eight, screaming and dancing to Taylor Swift in our living room. There was a high tea with hats and finger sandwiches and each girl got to take home their own mug they decorated as well as a beautiful loot bag hand decorated by Emelia and Danielle. It was clearly obvious each of the girls, as well as ours, hand a wonderful time.

Party #2
The moment our party wrapped up it was time to get ourselves quickly cleaned and adjusted as it was off to the birthday party of the little sister of Emelia’s twin, best friends. We started off by heading to the wrong YMCA location for the party but then quickly were re-calibrated and off to the right location — only a few minutes late to the festivities. Of course the twins, who had also just left Emelia’s party, were as wired for sound as Emelia and they proceeded to pick up right where they spazily left off at party number one. There was two hours of running around, pizza and cupcakes that ended with Emelia starting to show signs of the day’s excitement.

We headed home and tried to decompress as best we could for the forty five minutes we had before…

Party #3
The last gathering of the day was so that Emelia could ring her eighth year with her Teeter family. We opted on The Palasad as it has great food, bowling, and an arcade. After we got dinner in our tummies and Emelia and her cousin Vaughan got in some games in the arcade, we headed back over to Mom & Dad’s so Emelia could open her presents from the family as well as have her third round of cake (or cupcakes) on the day.

We had a good visit with family to end the day and ended up getting Emelia home entirely too late, and more than noticeably over stimulated. By the time Danielle had finished her bedtime story and summoned me upstairs for snuggles Emelia was fast asleep. We followed suit not far after her.

If I had to do it all again, I’d be lying if I said that three parties in one day is doable and a reasonable plan. My body was definitely feeling it today, given I had a whole day of work. I think next year we should try to stick to two… and maybe just one party in a day.

Hindsight being twenty-twenty and all…

Tomorrow, is Emelia’s actual birthday. I am happy that for this occasion, all we have going on is just a quiet dinner out, at the location of her choosing, with just the three of us, and maybe even an early bedtime after?

It is amazing to think how much our lives have changed to become more complete with your addition to this household over eight years ago, Emelia but every moment since your arrival has been both the most challenging – and at the same time – and most rewarding years of our lives. We can’t imagine our lives without you and relish every moment with you as the parents and family we were always meant to be!

Thank you and Happy Birthday Boo—Love you more!

She said

What an incredible and exhausting week of birthday celebrations…

The week started out normal, I was back at work, John had a couple mid week days off and we were back in the normal day to day. Emelia had her mid-week activities in rock climbing and hip-hop dance classes and I tried my best to squeeze in a couple work outs. The middle of the week was also putting on the last minute touches for Emelia’s birthday celebrations on Saturday. We had to finalize meal plans, buy the food for the big day and make some changes to the reservations for the family dinner so we could accommodate everyone as best we could.

All-in-all it was a busy week.

Finally Thursday rolled around and we were set for Emelia’s present from John and I. For a few years Emelia had been asking to get her ears pierced. And for a few years we said we would do it for her birthday, but as her birthday approached she would change her mind and say she wanted something else for her present from us. This year there was no changing her mind, she was ready. So after doing a bit of research on safety we opted to have it done at an actual piercing shop versus going to a place in the mall. A friend of mine had given me the name of a good friend of hers that was great with children and willing to do it at her studio. The appointment was booked and we were ready to go.

After the kids left and we had dinner off we went. Emelia was excited and nervous. We arrived and she marvelled at the tattoo artwork and watching someone get their tattoo. After a few minutes they were ready for us, they had two people able to do it at the same time to make the whole process quicker and easier and less stressful on Emelia. She was such a trooper, there were a few tears and she said it hurt but within a relatively short period of time she was saying it hurt less and we were on our way home with all the aftercare information. All-in-all we were very impressed with the care they took, so much so that the owner gave us her personal cell number to contact her if we had any problems what so ever.

With her present out of the way we shifted focus back on the party. After all the children left and Emelia had some supper she and I quickly moved into party prep mode. We set up all the decorations, set the table, made the place cards, made the cupcakes and basically prepped the house as much as possible so all we would have to do the next morning is set up the table for the crafts and make the food. Once John got home Friday night we were off getting the food supplies for the party. Once home we got a very excited Emelia to bed and John and I did a bit more prep for the crafts the next day.

Saturday morning came early and we were up again getting the last minute things in order. By 10:00 we were all ready and just getting Emelia ready for her fancy garden party. She even got her hair curled for the big day. She was bouncing off the walls by the time the twins arrived a bit early for the party.

Soon the house was filling with excited and giggling little girls. The party was a huge success. Everything went off without a hitch and the girls had an amazing time. The day started with decorating their own tea cups, followed with making their garden hats. Once crafting was done we moved to the table for our garden tea party. They just loved that they were using real china tea cups and that their tea was being poured from real tea pots. Once lunch was wrapped up and cleared we moved to presents. And presents she certainly got spoiled, she loved every single thing and has since played with just about everything she received.

Once they were done presents we moved to the dance portion of the night, the girls squealed and danced the rest of the afternoon away as we waited for each of their parents to arrive. Emelia hugged and thanked each of them and gave them their loot bags. She was a great hostess and the kids had a great time. The party was certainly worth all the work that went into it. I know this will be a party she will remember for years to come.

With little time to think we were off. See the problem is Lydia the younger sister of Emelia’s best friends and her birthday is the day after Emelia’s so what this means often is that were are booked all weekend for parties. Originally we were supposed to have the parties on opposite days this weekend but the only time that the venue they chose for the party resulted in back to back parties. It is not ideal but honestly it was going to be a busy weekend no matter what and at least it was done in one day. The kids had a great time and Emelia burnt off all the excessive sugar in her system chasing her friends around the tree house room at the YMCA.

We were off again, this time we were able to squeeze in a bit of a break at the house before picking up the cake for Emelia’s third party of the day. Now this one was lower key. We only needed to show up at the restaurant and enjoy time with family. No dinner prep, no dinner clean up, just time together. Emelia had a great time with her cousin and we had a great time catching up with the family.

After dinner we went back to Grandma and Poppa’s place for presents, cake and lots of laughs. Emelia by this time was spinning and spinning. Not meltdowns like in the past with her being so tired but down right silly. The silly girl made it home and crashed for the night shortly after.

And that was the marathon event of birthday extravaganza 2015! Exhausting yes, lots of fun yes, not wanting to think about planning another crazy day like that again for another year … YES!

Tomorrow will certainly be less bells as whistles for her actual birthday. Just a small celebration at school which we spent this evening making treats for, and tomorrow night is just the three of us, quietly celebrating the day that we became a family.

To end this week I want to say, happy birthday to the most amazing, feisty, creative, loving, beautiful person I know – mama loves you more than words can express – and remember baby girl – you will always be mama’s baby, no matter how old you are!