Happy Birthday to Big1...

Her party went... OK. James showed up, but not baby brother (his foster mom decided that the site was too allergy intensive (soy, eggs)... 48 hours before the party... even though she had known for THREE WEEKS. We haven't heard from her since.), her CASA was there, the foster grandparents, ONE child from school: a boy; even though we weren't going to invite any boys, the ONLY child from class who RSVP'd woke up the day before with the flu, so couldn't come, what with the puking and all, so we invited the best friend who lives in our complex and is in her class.

He got her her favorite toy, which she has carried with her and slept with starting the night off her party: a little plush valentine's puppet-dog, who sings "Why do birds.... suddenly appear... every time... you are near... just like meee... they want to beeee.... close to you" when you squeeze his mouth...

As for the actual party... it was pretty ok, I think. I've never thrown a kid's birthday party before and she's never had one, so we were a good match. We showed up at McHell twenty minutes before guests were scheduled to arrive. I checked in at the front desk and was given a look like I'd grown a second head. They had no idea about any birthday party.

I am becomming enraged already. My eyeball is twitching, I go out to talk to MommyM, I tell her. She informs me that she is SO going inside. I let her. Very calmly, although with a hint of panic "I planned this three weeks ago", I informed the manager. "I paid my deposit three weeks ago. I have a six-turning-seven year old out in the car who has never had a birthday party. Do I just need to call the guests and reroute to the bounce house????". OK, well, we'll have the manager go check the calandar... five minutes later we know damned well no one has gone to the back... I remind them the guests will be there in ten minutes now. They go check the calandar... Well, looky there! there is a birthday party today for Big1! UH... how many people are you planning for? We palnned for ten but only three RSVPed, so 10 adults, 2 teenagers who think they're five and five children, yes the teens will want happy meals. Well.... ok.... uhm... give us just a minute and we'll throw something together for you. Luckily we have a second manager on duty who will be your hostess...

Lucky my ass! Lucky for your retarted asses! "Cake? you are supposed to have a cake... DO you have a cake?" Uh... let me check... We have a cake. "Ok... wait... is the cake defrosted? Is it frozen?!?" Uh... goes back to the back... no, it's not frozen. OK, so I assume you're getting it set up now??? uh... yeah...

So, perky old manager greets me when I return from the van with pressies and gift bags, we have everything set up for you! It's actually really lucky they had me come in today, no one knew about the party and you have to have a manager to host, I don't know what they would have done for you!

I smile, lucky my ass, you were supposed to have this set up when the kid got here! and go get the kid out of the car.

Witness the cuteness of Big1's THREE ponytails! She's been trying to talk me into them for about two weeks now, the first time she asked, we had about thirty seconds to get out the door to the bus, so i told her maybe another day, she countered with "how 'bout my birthday?" So it was!

The CASA watched her blow out her cake and I was to focused on not dropping it to really look at her expression. She said that it looked like Big1 wasn't sure if she should smile or cry, but she looked really happy. Ater she blew out the candles, she cut her cake and passed it out, then she passed out icecream. Once everyone had gotten a peice and eaten it, including her, Mell's dad cut a HUGE peice of cake and sat it on the table in front of Big1. Her eyes want off like fireworks and she ate the entire thing, giggling.

After her party, we made the call to the bio grandparents and then took her to Chili's for dinner. She ate her food and then, we all ordered dessert and the waiter told her he had a special, irthday-girl treat for her! Our desserts arrived including a GIANT chocolate milkshake with whipped cream and a cherry!

Soon, she had the sugar belly ache and was wound-tired... We took this opportunity to explain to her the reactions that sugar can have on your body, including a belly ache and making you really hyper and then doing what's called "crashing" when you feel really tired and a little sick all of a sudden. And telling her about how that 's why we don't give her very much sugary stuff.

All in all, our Big seven year old girl went to bed happy and exhausted, which is what really matters in the end!

-T