Birthday Girl

This year Riley requested a polka dot party with all her friends. It was the first year that she was really invited to school friend's parties so she wanted to have one too and we agreed. It was a fun time, but crazy. CRAZY. I'm glad we did this for her, but would have rather capped the amount of kids at 5 or 6. She invited 19 and about 13 kids were able to make it.

We rented the Wolfe Park Pavilion which is near our house and would have been even more fun if it was a different time of year since there are a couple playgrounds right next to it. One of her friends recently had a party in the same building so we took a cues from them when it came to keeping it simple with some food, music, and some balloons to kick around.

I tried to think of some polka dot themed games and decided to get twister. I had a couple other games I thought we would try, but they weren't very well thought out and we never got to them. Jesse doesn't really like to plan out things for this - he's more along the line of letting the kids do whatever, but that makes it feel so chaotic to me. Lets just say that two hours felt sooooooo long.

We started with some art stuff. Kids could decorate a bag which I filled with trinkets before they left. I had markers and daubers (polka dots makers!), googly eyes (at Riley's request) and pom pom balls. The kids then kicked around the balloons which was fun until it wasn't. There were a couple 'rough' kids and one ripped a balloon out of Riley's hands... and then the crying commenced... but luckily she got over it.

A few of the kid's really got into twister. I wasn't sure if this game would be age appropriate since some of these kid's are still trying to master their left and right (including my daughter), but that didn't seem to matter. It was fun to watch them attempt this game.

Many of the parents just dropped off their kids which was fine with me since that meant less small talk. The parents that stayed were friends of Jesse and mine and one of our neighbors so we had some other adult support, but the kid's that were the wildest did not have their parents there. One girl we really like, but she is wild and basically stole all the remaining trinkets out of bag after I filled each of the kid's bags. 

In the end, I think Riley enjoyed the party, but even she seemed exhausted by the wilder kids and I think she would have been happy with something smaller. Luckily I feel like she'll be fine going back to celebrating with the grandparents next year. Speaking of grandparents, my in laws also attended the party and helped up set up which was so helpful! Unfortunately, my dad had a stomach bug so he couldn't come, but really this was a party for the kids. 

We served cupcakes (which happened to be Valentine's themed since they were the only ones in the size we wanted at the store) and then Riley opened gifts. I kept trying to keep the kid's seated, but wow... they just kept getting in her face and then tried to play with some of her new stuff. This is truly proof that I would make a horrible bouncer.

Adele live

And then the day ended with lots of hugs between friends.

We had a couple people help us clean up, especially my friend Josie. She brought her two girls who were so sweet and well behaved. I'm so glad they were able to make it.

The next day (Riley's birthday) I planned to take Riley to breakfast. I had the day off since I had to work the next Saturday and had planned out a doctor appointment for myself and one later for Riley. I also thought I would find some unique non-chain restaurant to go to with Riley, but when I looked at menus I decided that Perkins had the most fun kid options for breakfast. Riley had rainbow pancakes and was pretty excited, but as we sat there I noticed that her one eye was pretty red and crusty, We knew she had a cold coming on, but it seemed clear now. I debated about bringing her to school, but just didn't feel comfortable doing so especially since I had the day off.

After breakfast we went home to play with some of Riley's new toys before I had to head out for a mammogram. I wasn't sure about bringing Riley (and may have explained too much too soon about the process to her - ha!), but I didn't want to cancel the appointment. I was going to a new office, but the old one I went to had a private locked room right next to the mammogram room, but this was not the set up here. I didn't realize it right away, but they ended up bringing me down the hall while Riley sat in a special waiting room with her Kindle. Luckily it only took a few minutes, but it felt really weird to leave her like that. I'm not sure it was the right thing, but she survived and I don't plan to do it anytime soon again. Some woman offered to stay with her, but she seemed ok.

Actually, when we arrived at the doctor's office there was a super strong smell of weed. It was really, really bad. One of the nurses eventually shared that someone put a towel in the break room microwave, but seriously... what was that towel wrapped around? A block of marijuana? I texted Jesse that he'd probably come home to Riley and I sleeping after we finished off a bunch of cookies. Riley has a coloring app that she loves where she can color in a picture and then add to it. While I was getting my mammogram she colored the following picture for me. I'm pretty sure that dinosaur has the munchies and is about eat all those marshmallows that are on sticks and that Riley may have had a contact high.

We then went home and played with more of her toys from her birthday such as LiteBrite (from papa Frank) and some kinetic sand (from a friend) before exerting energy on chasing around balloons.

Also watching her Adele live DVD from the grandparents

Lol. This makes me laugh.

After Riley's nap I took her to her wellness exam where we discovered that she's still tall (72%) and still skinny (35%). No surprises at her appointment except for the vaccinations - we just weren't expecting them this time. Riley was a huge trooper when she got her shots and walked away proudly with three princess stickers.

Riley's doctor's office is right next to Lake Calhoun so after her appointment we decided to walk over to some snow sculptures by the lake.

An outhouse?

Afterwards we picked up Jesse and got frozen yogurt and then I followed it up with a video interview of her.

It's a little long, but it amuses me. At the end she mentions that she wants to interview me next so I think I will let her do that soon. I can't wait to hear the questions she asks me.

We ended the night watching old videos of Riley. Lots of laughing was involved and over all it was just a really good day. Can't believe my kid is already 5 years old.