No biggie, except that it was the day of Amelia's birthday party, and she started forming a black eye almost immediately. I took a quick picture, but it doesn't do it justice.
Physically, though, after a few minutes, she was fine. She took a great nap that afternoon and was ready to receive all of her guests by 5:00!
(Technically, our first guests were my Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Ben, who visited from 4:00 to 5:00 since they couldn't be here for the party. Kathryn is a loyal blog reader ... Hi, Kathryn!)
As the party got under way, our daycare teachers were among the first to arrive. Amelia was so happy to have her favorite people here! Granted, she had no IDEA what they were doing at our house, since I hadn't told her we were having a party or anything, but she was still thrilled to see them. Anna, Anitra and Catherine are so sweet with her!
We were blessed with gorgeous weather, which was great because the few kids we invited were able to play outside for the first couple of hours.
My cousin Lesley and her husband Bart brought their three boys, and our kids always enjoy playing with them. Built-in playmates are the best.
I didn't decorate for the party, but I got our cake lady, Vickie, to make one heck of a cake for us. Doc McStuffins!
She did a great job on Amelia's very favorite character!
It was chocolate icing on chocolate cake, and it was fabulous. Even though I was dieting, I still ate some.
Vickie's cakes are NOT to be skipped.
First we had to eat supper. Notice I say, "We had to eat supper." That's because, AS WE ALL KNOW, if it were up to me, I'd just skip supper and go straight to the cake. But we were all civilized and stuff, so I served some pasta and salad.
Then we sang "Happy Birthday" to our sweet girl -- I still don't think she got it. I probably should have read her a book about birthdays or something first.
Once she got her eyes on the cake, though, she was so intrigued!
She was dying to touch it, but I wouldn't let her. I told her she could just look at it, not touch.
So she tried REALLY hard to honor that request. (Oh and she's really into the concept of jewelry for some reason, so she's wearing two of my ponytail holders as bracelets.)
I kept reminding her not to stick her hands in it so that we could serve it to everyone ...
... and she got totally fed up with me. She crossed her arms over her chest and got a really put-out expression on her face.
I mean, it made me laugh out loud. Have you EVER?
She looked around the table like, "CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS WOMAN?"
Finally we cut the cake and she got to dig in.
At which point I'm pretty sure all was forgiven.
And by the way: Girlfriend is all silverware, all the time. She wants to eat like the big kids. No more fingers and hands for her.
Since my dad's and Amelia's birthdays are only four days apart, Vickie made a cake for Dad, too. A fisherman in a fishing boat!
This one was her "standard" yellow cake with buttercream icing. To die for, of course.
Not surprisingly, many guests opted for one piece of each! Can't blame 'em.
Gift-opening was another interesting part of the evening ... Amelia really didn't know what to make of it at first! Grayson and I gave her a little Doc McStuffins figure with a tiny doctor's bag.
She was really happy with it ... happier than she looks here. And she's been carrying her around ever since.
She was also thrilled by the LIFE-SIZE Doc McStuffins doctor's bag and instruments that she opened. But Jake immediately said that he wanted one SO badly ... he was begging for one of his own. Then, lo and behold, another guest had purchased a duplicate! It was divine intervention.
Turns out that Jake and John Bart really took a liking to those sets and played with them for the remainder of the party.
They immediately targeted Dad (a.k.a. "Pop") as a potential patient.
Pop received numerous shots, had his blood pressure taken and got his eyes and ears checked.
Luckily I think the report came back clean.
We didn't wrap up until after 9:30 that night, which is the sign of a great party, I think. We had so much fun celebrating our baby girl ... who's no longer much of a baby at all!
And she went off to dreamland snuggled up in her birthday Elmo PJs ... happy as a clam. Elmo runs a close second to Doc McStuffins, Internet. A VERY close second.
Today is Nick's 9th birthday, so I hope to have both his and Amelia's birthday letters posted within the next week. Giving myself a little grace period this year.
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