Back to the Birthday!

Like I mentioned, Molly celebrated her birthday with Jack, Ben and 17 of her friends at PETLAND!  The Petland back in MA is pretty gross.  You leave sad for the puppies and feeling like you need a date with some hand sanitizer.  The Petland in Naperville however, is pretty amazing.  It's so clean you can't even smell the animals and the people who work there are the nicest, most helpful people ever.  When you visit you feel like you've been hanging out with Stepford people.  Stepford people who like animals.

One of them, Dan, was our Party Host, and he did ALL the work, from setting up the tables to handing out the cupcakes and pizza, to interviewing all the kids about their own pets, to introducing the animals to cleaning up.  I didnt' even know what to do with myself!! 

Molly got to wash up and go in the back (with me chaperoning of course) to see how they care for the puppies and to choose which puppies she'd like to play with.  They call this "socializing" the puppies.  I tried to hope that the benefit was worth the manhandling the sweet pups endured at the hands of 20 grabby children...but the jury's still out on that one.

Here's a photographic journal of the party - Enjoy!!

Lining up for a tour of the store

Scooby Snacks

"Boys and girls, how are we going to hold our hands out for Rainbow to stand on?"

LIKE THIS!!  What good listeners!

Meet Rainbow.  She's a sweetie.

Rainbow loved Luke.  The feeling, however, did not appear to be mutual!

Jack was a big fan.  Stalked poor Rainbow the rest of the day!

Hermit Crabs!

Fascinated three year olds!

This is MY hand - this guy was gigantic! 
He started coming out and I startled him back in because those claws scared me!

For the girl who won't eat pizza at birthday parties, a sauce-less pizza!
(It worked!  She ate every bite!)

Meow!

Woof!  The Paw Prints were the biggest hit (and the easiest to make) Who knew?

Meeting of the minds.  Or a Vulcan Mind Meld.  I'm not sure.

At the end of all that puppyliciousness, the kids each got to choose their own "Build A Pet" to stuff and bring home.

Choose a heart...make a wish...

Everyone was very happy with their new little friends.

Happy Birthday girl...Happy new "pet" owners...Happy Family!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Ben came around the corner with my pajama pants in hand (they must have fallen out of the laundry basket as I brought the dirty clothes down earlier this morning).  And he said to me, as he rolled his eyes toward the stairs...

"Mama, is THIS where we put our clothes?"

It's nice to know that the seventeen times a day *I* say that to the little people in my house, that someone is listening!  But man was it funny to hear coming back at me!!

Somebody had a Birthday!

Somebody in this house turned SIX last weekend.  And I haven't blogged about it yet because I'm in DE-NI-AL!  I swear, her legs grew two inches on Tuesday.  I'm beside myself!

It's been a big, HUGE, ENORMOUS year for Molly.  Kindergarten challenged her more than she's ever been challenged before.  And yet, she managed not only to succeed, but to do it with a smile on her face, a song in her heart, and with her own sweet spirit intact.  To say that we are proud of her is an understatement.  We are beyond proud of her!

So our little girlfriend deserved a fabulous celebration of turning six, even if Mommy went swimming in the Nile.  She'd asked (since August) for a party at the Brookfield Zoo.  But the zoo wanted $700 for a party with 8 kids.  I had to explain to Molly that this was not an option.  I had talked her into having her party at a tea party place downtown that does nothing but little girls' birthday parties - I'd even had someone custom make her a tea party outfit.  But one day while leaving Walmart I saw a sign from God....

...okay, actually it was a sign from Petland, but it sure felt like divine intervention!  It read "Have your Birthday Here!", and when I called they told me that the party included all partyware, entertainment and favors for up to twenty children for only $200!!! Are you kidding me??  That was my pizza bill from last year's birthday bash!  Sign me UP!

So here's how it went down...

We started baking cupcakes two days before.

Why yes, yes that is a naked 3 year old in the background. 

How else is one supposed to bake 48 cupcakes without interruption?

See how sweet and cute he looks?  Yeah, that's all an ACT!

See him eyeballing the merchandise?  Gotta watch out for grabby hands with 'helpers' like this one!

Eventually though, the mess was a bit overwhelming, so I accepted an offer of help
from a mysterious caped crusader.

In a cupcake apron.

He was handsomely rewarded for all his hard work with a cushy job as taste-tester.

Here's a sneak peek at the prototypes...

MAY 28

Finally the day was here! 

Molly woke up to a table full of all her favorite things.
Things that are usually no-nos.  But not on your birthday!

Pardon the fact that everything looks yellow.  It was the buttcrack of dawn and my photography skills (or lack thereof) couldn't compensate for the lack of sunlight.

In reality, it was a pretty exciting display of

pinkaliciousness.

There were whoppers in pink and brown, Pocky, Yam Yam, Good and Plenty and more Little Debbie than you can shake a stick at!  I rustled up some funky fleece from the basement (it was supposed to be a baby blanket for my cousin's baby....who is now three). 

Those fluffy things hanging from the ceiling are tissue paper pom poms.   I've seriously put of making these for YEARS, so sure was I that I couldn't do it.  And they were so. stinking. EASY!   The world needs more tissue pom poms - they are MAGICAL!!

Astoundingly, nobody ate the goodies on the table - I was shocked!  Instead, we had waffles and yogurt for breakfast and then got ready to PARTY!

And now you can hate me because there is much to do tonight to prepare for something else I am in denial about...THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!  I promise I'll report back with all the details of the party, but for now...

To be continued...