Happy Birthday!

Today was the big day. I woke up Alyssia this morning and said, "Happy Birthday, Honey. It's your birthday today!" She smiled at me (binky intact) and said "hee-hee, hee-hee." The entire day was a blur. I'm sitting down now to make a few notes, before I forget.

Alyssia had this fantastic look on her face every time she saw a new present. Priceless.

A HUGE crowd came to the party. Alyssia had a wonderful time. The birthday girl wore a green and white polka dot dress for the first half of the party (before cake) and a little yellow and pink romper (after cake) .

When she came out of her room after her nap and saw all those people in her living room, she looked a little stunned at first. After a few short moments she wanted to play with all her little friends. For the next two hours, I hardly saw her because all the kids were playing together-sometimes outside on the front lawn, sometimes on the deck. It was very hot outside, and despite the air conditioning, quite warm inside too.

Nana made two fabulous cakes. Gramma Norma came over early to help. Kelsey, one of Alyssia's favorite teenagers, came over in the morning to help also. Kelsey was a great help to me today, as she always is. I've adopted her as my niece and she's adopted me as her aunt. We all did a lot of cleaning, straightening, organizing, cooking, wrapping, decorating, watering, and filling of the goody bags.

Ben grilled 40 burgers and 40 hot dogs. Peggy brought a pot of sloppy joes. My neighbor Kim made potato salad. Nana made 48 deviled eggs. Muzzy brought a delicious bean salad. Aunt Ann brought a pasta salad. Grandma Francis brought a delicious pineapple coconut cake. And I made the punch and some appetizers. It was quite a spread. The good news is, the guests ate it all, except for a little bit of birthday cake.


Alyssia seemed a little confused during the happy birthday song, but I think she enjoyed it. I know she enjoyed the cake. We placed one entire cake in front of her and she very daintily scooped up some icing with one finger. She ended up smearing her beautiful dress with pink icing. Nana will get it out. After that, she had a quick wipe down and change of clothes so she could open presents. All of our friends brought such lovely gifts. Every time we opened another present, Alyssia would reach out for it, mouth wide open, eyes excited. She isn't going to know what to do with herself tomorrow when she can peruse all her new toys in peace.



There were a lot of sweet little ones here today. I think they all enjoyed themselves. The babies attending included Callie, Caris, Olivia, Cheyanne (all babies from church), and Chloe (my neighbor). I had intended to do a baby photo shoot--on a blanket in the yard. But with everything going on, I never got to it. We also had quite a few toddlers and a good group of older kids. Alyssia loves them all. She is such a little social butterfly.




She followed Esther around and around the living room, loving every minute of it. She sat outside in a circle with a group of kids and played duck, duck, goose. Esther was my little after-party helper. Watching the two of them play after the party was probably the best part. Esther is 9 and Alyssia adores her. Esther is so good to her and entertains her with little songs and funny faces. When Alyssia sees her at church, she reaches out to her, even if I'm holding her--which says a lot.

After all the guests were gone and some of the party mess had been cleaned up, I finally asked Alyssia if she'd like to have her bath. "Oh Yeah," she replied, with the accompanying shaking of both arms, up and down, up and down, and the kicking of the little legs. I was so exhausted, but so happy at the end of this special day. During her bath, I asked Alyssia if she had a nice time at her party and told her happy birthday again. She turned away from her boats, put a little wet hand up on my face and gave me a kiss and said "hay chew" (Translation: "thank you"). Does it get any better than that?




One sad thing happened today. Ben's Great Aunt Doris, who had been faithfully working in the kitchen, drying and putting away dishes, passed out and fell to the floor. Thankfully, two of my good friends, Peggy and Gerrianne, are nurses. They stayed with Aunt Doris until the paramedics arrived. I've just learned that Aunt Doris did break a bone in her leg when she fell. We're feeling very bad about that and wish she had been resting, instead of working. Please keep Aunt Doris in your prayers. She is a lovely lady and we pray she recovers fully.




One last thing. One of my little guests, Julia, got stuck in the bathroom during all the commotion. I came around the corner and saw a paramedic opening the door and comforting Julia, who was very upset. Apparently, she couldn't get the door open (it does stick sometimes), was calling out for her mom (one of the nurses helping Aunt Doris), and with all the confusion, no one heard her. No one except one of the paramedics, who happened to hear her crying and saved her. They came to the house to help Aunt Doris and ended up saving little Julia from the big bad bathroom also. The cacophony in my house during any party is deafening. It was especially noisy and confusing today. It's a good thing the paramedics were there. Julia might have been stuck in the bathroom for hours.



Now you know why I named this blog "CRAZYhomeK"