Tickets and Tiaras

Sometimes it is hard to know if you are doing too much or too little for your kids.  Especially around holidays and birthdays.  I am only three years in to this motherhood thing, which means I will undoubtedly look back at these first few years and realize I could have done things differently.  This was the first year that my child actually understood the concept of a birthday, complete with presents, cupcakes, and celebrations.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to celebrate Miss Stella’s big day, all I knew for sure is that I wanted her to feel special, have fun, and know that she was my first priority.  About two months ago I made the decision to spend the night of Stella’s birthday at a concert (on the front row, no less) with a bunch of my friends…cue the mommy guilt and worry that the birthday girl would feel like less than my first priority.  Add to the fact that dad would be working the entire birthday and I wasn't sure how we were going to best celebrate our special girl.  I am completely aware that I was making this a bigger deal than it really needed to be, and as a result I may have overcompensated just a little bit.  Maybe I didn't,  I am not totally sure.  All I know, and all that really matters, is that as a result of the circumstances my sweet little girl had a great couple of days feeling the birthday love.

Our celebrations started off right at the one and only, Chuck E. Cheese.  Thanks to PBS Kids and a special birthday coupon from our local bank, Stella actually has a clue as to what this magical place is.  The thought of going and spending our money on marginal pizza and germ-infested games usually doesn't sound too appealing, but we decided to make the little lady’s dreams come true and introduce her to a little Whack-a-Mole.  The pizza ended up being better than expected, the girls had a lot of fun, and it is still undecided if our current colds are a result of our time spent there or elsewhere.  You may remember another birthday celebration held at Chuck E. Cheese a few years back.  I think it’s safe to say that the big boy once again enjoyed himself, and that we felt a little less creepy making this visit with our own children in tow.

The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the majority of usual birthday festivities as a family.  Sure it was a few hours before her actual birthday, but I don’t think Stella seemed to mind at all since our time included cupcakes and presents.  I officially have two helpers in the kitchen and it is becoming quite the adventure.  Eliza is certainly growing up and will not miss a moment of the action.  She would have opened the presents and blown out the candle, too, if we would have allowed.  Big sister loved all her presents, the Skype sessions with far away family, and her pink, sparkly candle.  Life was good for our soon-to-be three year-old.

I spent the rest of my night preparing for the big princess party planned for the next day.  Like most things, it started off casual and small, and slowly grew into a mother’s vision/Pinterest inspired project.  But it was a fun little project and I was able to do the majority of the work the night before which allowed for a morning spent enjoying my special girl on her special day.

Thanks to the ever talented Aunt Kyrsten, Stella hand delivered some pretty invitations to three

 special friends and anxiously awaited the day of her princess party.  She picked out her special princess dress, practiced her princess dance moves, and read and re-read every word of that invite over and over again.

The party was a success and you know those little girls appreciated all of my time and effort spent making tissue pom-pom balls and tying pink tulle on the back of their chairs.  Ten minutes in and I remembered what I already knew, Stella would have had fun if we had eaten off paper plates and spent the entire hour and a half playing dress up.  However, I still think the matching pink tea cups added at least a little bit more excitement to our afternoon.

Stella capped off her day with dinner and a movie with her favorite guy, her dad.  The fact that I knew the two of them were spending some special time together helped ease some of that mommy guilt I had about jetting off to a concert and some girl time of my own. 

Miss Stella really is our princess.  She is sweet, outgoing, and beautiful.  We love her so much and we are so lucky to get to experience life with her, one royal moment at a time.