The Birthday Party of the Year

Alexis' birthday party was a blast! I was so proud of how well-behaved McKenna was. Before the party I gave her a bath and she was telling me "Mom, I'm just gonna be a little shy so you tell Alexis' Mom that for me ok?" I told her that it was ok if she felt shy but she still needed to be sure she said "Happy Birthday" to Alexis and "Thank you for inviting me" to Alexis' Mom.

She was anything but shy.

The entire place is just covered top-to-bottom with anything that a little girl might consider magical. Victorian dolls and china tea sets and stuffed animals and flowers and anything and everything princessy. The ceiling was covered in silk roses and practically everything on the walls was some sort of animated or musical decoration. McKenna's favorite was a framed scene from Peter Pan. When you push the button, Tinkerbell flies across the sky and they read a part of the story. McKenna made me watch it 3 times.

Right when we arrived they escorted McKenna to the dressing room where she was able to choose a gown from at least a hundred choices. She chose blue (her current favorite color) and then she chose a pair of "glass" (clear plastic) slippers:


While we waited, we hung out with her little friends (6 other little girls from her class) and took a picture of each of them in the princess chair:


Each little girl got her hair done-up fancy and then they sprinkled it with glitter and let them choose a flower to be put in it. It was so cute listening to her have a little conversation with her hair stylist like a little grown up:


Then she went over to the makeup artist who painted her nails (she chose blue glitter) and put eyeshadow, blush and lipstick on her:


Doesn't she look beautiful?


Posing in front of the tea garden:


She looked at herself and said "Mom, I'm very beautiful."


Then they had a fashion show so that all the parents could see each little girl all dressed up. I wondered if McKenna would suddenly become shy but she was very confident, walked out and did a beautiful little turn and smiled for the camera:


Here's the picture they took of her. They put it in a little Olivia's Dollhouse frame so we could each take one home:


And then the group shot(from L-R: Rebecca, Madison, Cameron, Addison, Alexis, McKenna, Karina):


Then it was tea time! Each little girl got her own tea set filled with pink lemonade and a plate of little sandwiches, mini cheese pizza, hot dogs on toothpicks, grapes, carrots & celery. McKenna was so proper. She poured her own "tea" and she would say "Ah, this is delicious. Do you like the tea Alexis? Isn't it delicious?" Anytime one of the girls would need something, they would just ask "Queen Alexis" and then Queen Alexis would ring her bell and a waitress would come out and get them whatever they needed.


Then there was this deer head on the wall named "Princess Arianna". She talked to the kids and asked if they were having fun and if they were ready for cake. The girls were tentative about responding (I think because they couldn't understand her very well) but McKenna did think it was hilarious:



The funniest part was that during the tea McKenna called me over and said "Mom, tell that goat that I love Alexis." LOL! Goat!! And still she keeps telling Erick "Dad...there was a talking GOAT at the party!"

Then everyone sang Happy Birthday to Queen Alexis (I couldn't get a good picture of the queen from where I was sitting):


And then each girl was given a plate with all sorts of candy on it as well as a small slice of cake and the whole plate was topped with a piece of cotton candy. McKenna loooooves cotton candy and I knew she'd be excited about this part so I got my camera ready and sure enough:


All the Moms laughed because McKenna's reaction was so excited and they saw I caught it so they knew I knew it was coming.

Then it was present time! McKenna was so excited when they announced present time! All the Moms were expecting that the other kids would have a hard time watching someone else get presents but not them. So I had asked McKenna ahead of time "Do you know that the presents are for Alexis?" And she said "I know. I just want to give her her present from me." And she really did! She sat next to Alexis holding the presents we brought and when it was her turn, she stood up and carried them to her. When Alexis said thank you, McKenna said "You're welcome Alexis!" In fact, none of the kids had a problem watching her open presents. They were excited for her but they gave her space and didn't try to open her presents for her or anything. Alexis LOVED her presents from McKenna and I dare say that she seemed most excited about the vanity set we bought her. ; ) We gave her a dress up set, a vanity set and a pink bunny rabbit.



Then it was time to put away the dress up clothes and get ready to go home. But before they left, they each were allowed to choose one toy from the treasure chest:


McKenna chose a toy guitar. Daddy was proud.

Then we said our thank yous and goodbyes. McKenna giving Alexis a birthday hug:


And before we left, I wanted a picture of McKenna in front of the wishing well. But at this point, she was coming down from her party high and she told me "I'm just feeling grumpy."



I was very proud of how comfortable she seemed the whole day. Not at all shy and in fact a very gracious party guest. She was complimenting all of her friends and asking everyone if they liked their tea, making polite conversation during tea time. She was quite the little lady and used her very best manners.

All of the Moms were nice and easy to talk to (the other classes at McKenna's school always have these cliquish circles of gossipy moms standing around waiting for the kids to get out. Luckily, all of the Moms from McKenna's class are really friendly. I'm not a fan of that gossipy soccer mom thing.) All of the girls were well-behaved and sweet. I don't think I saw one grumpy kid, not one tantrum, not one sassy moment from any of them! The party was just 2 hours long so just short enough so that no one had a chance to get overwhelmed, tired or bored. It was such a great experience! Really, a little girl's dream and pretty great for Mommy too. ; )

Ok before I go, I had to blog this. Even though McKenna was so teeny tiny compared to the other girls today, I was really noticing how grown up she seemed. And her features are really becoming so lovely. Her hair is getting so long and has the most beautiful, soft curls. Usually she bathes at night so she wakes up and has slept on her hair and her curls get all tangled. But look how beautiful her hair is:


And her eyes, we weren't sure if they were brown or hazel. We've always told her hazel and her teacher told her they were brown so we looked it up online and it turns out her eyes are actually considered "amber". How cool is that? What a unique color!

(You can't see it very well in this picture but her eye color is like a swirl of amber and green).

It turns out all 4 of us have a recessive eye color. Erick = hazel. Me = blue-green. McKenna = amber. Kyla = blue-gray. That's kind of neat! I should scrap a page about that.

Ok, busy day today! McKenna just got back from dance class. Now we need to make a Target run and then she has her costume fitting this afternoon. I'm hoping I'll be able to get back in time for the Featured Designer chat at DST!!