Party Girl

Malia's birthday was today. Since her birthday fell on a Saturday and Kev's mom would be out here for our quilt class, we decided to invite them to stay for lunch and a small birthday celebration. We invited Kev's other siblings and their families as well. Kev's brother wasn't able to make it, but Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Connie, Uncle Arrin, Nick, Zack and Sammi (Nick's wife of two months) joined us. Malia has been super excited (still) and even picked up her room before everyone arrived, a task that usually takes a good deal of coercion to complete. All week she has been telling us that her big Hello Kitty cake was coming. She didn’t ever say her birthday was coming, just her big Hello Kitty cake. She wasn’t wrong, I just think it’s funny.

You know those times when you choose what you think it a great gift only to have it totally tank? That is definitely not what happened this year. Malia loved all her presents. We gave her a new pair of ladybug boots to replace her old ones. She has had the old ones since she was two and when every time something breaks on them, she cries. So she loved that. We also gave her a bunch of stuff for Baby (her baby doll): an assortment of clothes, a new seat for Baby’s stroller to replace a broken one, some baby bottles (We have a bunch of boys, including my two grown up nephews, that had never seen those cool baby bottles that look the contents disappear when you tip them upside down. Malia was not the only one who thought it was way cool!), a spoon and bowl, etc. I made her a diaper bag and filled it with dresses, diapers, bibs, socks and a coat. We had some errands to run later in the day and she put Baby in her coat and packed up the diaper bag to take along. The only item she wasn’t crazy about was the diapers. She told me Baby needs panties instead.

Grandma got Malia a small table and chair, just the perfect size to go alongside her kitchen. And Aunt Connie got her a Hello Kitty bike helmet (I think it is so fun!), some play food, and a play dish drainer filled with dishes. The dish drainer was perfect because a couple of months ago I was trying to convince Malia to pick up her room and she told me she couldn’t put her dishes away because they were dirty and she couldn’t wash them because she didn’t have a dish drainer. The very first thing she did once we got all her stuff moved into her room was wash her dishes. Woohoo! While everyone was still here, she sat and played house with Sammi. When it was time for them to go, Malia tried to convince everyone that Sammi could stay. She is short of female playmates at home and loves when girls come to visit. :-)

We had a great time. It was a super fun way for Malia to celebrate her big day.