In the world of birthdays, I have to say, this was the first that Mia truly "anticipated." She remembered her party from last year and all the parties that she's been to since then and was very ready to celebrate her own.
In true fashion, her birthday celebrations started the Friday before her birthday. Ong and Ba arrived from Houston early enough to help Mommy pick up both Jude and Mia from school. Mia ran and SQUEALED when she first caught sight of her Ba at school.
We left school and went straight over to Shogun for a special hibachi dinner. It was Mia's first time at a hibachi restaurant and they did not disappoint. The cat was let out of the hat when the table behind us kicked off their dinner show about 5 minutes ahead of us. The little girl at that table was caught a bit off guard when the flames went up. She jumped out of her chair and hit the ground. She was so frightened, she was shaking and couldn't even cry. Her mother laughed and said they'd just learned about "stop, drop and roll" that very day at school =)
Both Mia and Jude were very enthralled with the dinner show, though they were a little scared. They enjoyed watching from the safety of an adult's lap.
After dinner, we went next door for frozen yogurt. There were lots of smiles and laughter over there =)
The next morning, Mark went off to run and both kids decided they were too excited to sleep in. They were wide awake by 6AM. So I changed them and let them use the restroom and then deposited them in their grandparents' room. They were more than happy to see them. While they wrestled and played, I crashed out for another hour on the floor.
Breakfast, present time, more playing outside, including a visit to the "jumpoline" with the grandparents and the kids were starving by lunch time. And exhausted. They were asleep within 5 minutes of going upstairs. Success.
As soon as they crashed out, Nini and Papa arrived. Just in time to load the cars and head over to set up. Nini and I worked like little elves setting up while Mark and Papa carried in load after load of red and white polka dotted ribboned items and pink fluff. We kept on truckin while they went to pick up the kids food and a few bags of ice. After about an hour of non-stop decorating, we thought it looked just right.
Nini and I headed back to the house to pick up the rest of the crew. Mia and Jude were both up from their naps by then and getting dressed. She was very ready to head to her party. We arrived with 30 minutes to spare. She spent the time opening presents from her grandparents, exploring her party site and taking pictures with her family.
Her friends arrived right at 4 and the festivities began! Little fairies fluttered throughout the pavilion in search of their fairy attire... wings, tutus, slippers. They laughed and squealed as they found each piece with their name on it. They wiggled and jiggled to get their different costumes on. It was a silly sight. The fairies that were fully dressed were happy to help others that hadn't found all their pieces!
After all that running, they needed to freshen up. They had water and snacked on popcorn and grapes.
Mia and her BFF Jasmine!
Once they were done with that, on to the craft table where they decorated their own fairy princess tiaras with jewels and flowers. When they put the final costume piece on their heads, they headed over to paint little fairy houses. This was their most favorite activity. I think they all sat quietly and made a mess for well over 30 minutes there!
Our sweet princess doing one of her most favoritest activities... painting!
The handsome brother's favorite activity was the water bottle
Their dinner was served around 5 and most were famished! Chicken, pringles and yogurt parfait bar fit the bill. The girls loved eating their parfaits from dainty little wine goblets and pink spoons.
Back to jumping in the bounce house after dinner until they heard the announcement that it was CAKE time! Mia was front and center. With her full costume + wand + Happy Birthday glasses on. She was a sight to behold. Her friends knew their places and quickly filled in all around her. After a resounding rendition of Happy Birthday was bellowed, all were served cupcakes. There was a strawberry or chocolate option, but all the fairies opted for strawberry!
I love this photo of her sweet friends
The bounce house entertained the littles until it was time to head out. I'm so happy we sprung for the miniature bounce house this summer. After Jude's birthday in August and we borrowed Nana's, we just knew that we needed one. Expect to get TON of use out of it before the kids outgrow it!
One more picture of Mia with her family before they left
On Sunday, I made breakfast for the house. Their favorite: pancakes. Except this was the healthy version of oatmeal and cottage cheese. Really, they can't tell the difference and all was quickly gobbled up.
Once we cleaned up after breakfast, we all got dressed and headed to the All Abilities Park. Our all-time favorite park to play at. Ong and Ba were totally impressed and we had such a ball playing out there until lunch time.
The kids fell asleep in the brief drive home, but were awakened to the sounds and smells of lunch. Thick steaks, salad and sweet potato fries.
After lunch, Mia opened more presents, including the massive cardboard castle from her cousins.
Then it was time to dig into the cake and that was about all she wrote.
Ong and Ba had to head home right after lunch. Once they turned that corner on our street, we were back inside and the entire house crashed out... for 3 hours.
We didn't do much that evening as we were all trying to recover from the storm that was Mia's birthday.
