My little girl turned 5 years old last week! I can’t explain it, but I feel like she’s made a huge transformation from “preschooler” to, well, a big girl overnight! Maybe it’s the summer that has made her limbs seem to be a bit longer in shorts and skirts. Or maybe it’s her larger vocabulary. “Mom, I already know that!” and “I don’t take naps anymore because I’m 5 years old!” Watching her run like the wind way ahead of me makes me feel like she’s about to really take off. And she is. She’s starting kindergarten next fall and I won’t see her all day. This is a moment I have prayed for and dreaded for a very long time.
But, back to the real stuff she’s interested in like her birthday party. As mentioned in earlier posts, birthday parties seem to be a huge deal to this age group. Unless, of course, you are me in which case birthdays are a huge deal every year (hint, hint). So, Grace has been informing me for about a month on some of the items she wants and desires at her party. Fortunately, they change daily, so I don’t have to listen closely. We (I) decided she would have an “enchanted forest” party this year to capitalize on all of her little girl fantasies all at once. Unicorns, fairies, horses, magic, girls that actually look like barbies, whatever. It’s all there. Plus, we had the party at a park, so we didn’t have to use decorations. Catching on now on how this is all easier on me?
Her birthday party turned out to be the one day in a series of 5 days where it didn’t rain. It looked like it was going to, but didn’t. I drew upon my experiences as a young member of the Winkels family (my mom’s side) and planned for fun get-together games. Like a true Winkel, I made the grown-ups participate in the water relay game. Essentially, you have to move water from a bucket to another vessel (a flower-petal shaped plastic bowl) using only a long-handled ladle as fast as you can without spilling any water. It worked well and I even got grandma and grandpa up to participate.
Then, Pat began his famous “scavenger hunt” story. The Coup de Gras of the party. He prepped by hiding a bunch of toys purchased from goodwill (beany babies, action figures, magic wands, whistles, and whatever else I could find) in the trees and grass at the edge of the park. Then, drawing from inspiration from my father, he made up a wild and crazy story about how each item got lost in the woods. Then, he made the kids go find them. He did infuse his own nerdy nature in a few ways. First, he used a power point to illustrate his story, and second, his story began with Obama invoking the kids to help him find the “evil BP wizard who spilled all the oil.” The kids ate it up and got to keep whatever they found. The parents rolled their eyes, but changed their attitude when the kids played happily with their new treasures for the next two hours!
Overall, it was a really fun day and Grace was happy with all the really cool swag she scored. She got lots of art stuff, outdoor stuff, and even a digital camera. I was skeptical of the camera at first, but it turns out to be her favorite thing from her party. She has taken about a million pictures and had approximately 0 turn out. The only down side is the fact that she makes us all sit and pose while she is taking our picture…for about an hour! She is her father’s daughter!
I included pictures of the small, family birthday we had prior to the big birthday party. The other pictures are on another camera. Here are pictures of Grace and my parents before they took her and Sevie to the “Day out With Thomas” at the National Railroad Museum. Oh, and the cake is my first layer cake. A very sweet snickerdoodle cake!
