Part 2

Smidget's party was an ABC party. Sounds educational, huh? Trust me, it was not my idea. I tried to get her to have it at SwimAmerica, Young Chef's Academy, Little Gym -- not that I was thrilled about forking over that kind of cash for a 5-year old's party, but I had decided it might be worth it at this point in my life. But no--she was intent on a pinata and insisted we have the party at home. Grudgingly I acquiesced. I tried to "influence" her to a different theme, too, but once she had decided on letters, the course was set. It turned out surprisingly fun!

Kids were invited with a cute little invite that said "B is for Birthday and that's why I say, Come to a party for my special day! F is for Fun which I promise you'll find. Please say you'll come ... and don't change your mind!" It was attached to a letter flashcard with the first letter of the child's name.

We stuck a teacher package worth of letters on the wall -- oh, the pain of that job!! -- and strung a few from the ceiling. That turned out to be such fun, though, because we had the kids hunt all over for the letters of their name and they absolutely loved it.

And so the guests arrived and the excitement began. (I thought Smidget would burst before the kids finally got there. She was counting down since after Christmas and her voice would grow a little bit higher each day we inched closer to her big day.) We stamped names on nametags and hunted for letters which we glued on a colored folder.

We colored shrinky dink letters and oohed and aahed as we watched them become tiny. (Perfect for 5 year olds--those kids were amazed!)

We decorated crowns with foamy letters and glitter glue.

We battered the butterfly pinata, the hit of the day of course, and inhaled cupcakes. (I planned on ice cream and had cute plates to put it on, but they just grabbed the cupcakes and ran off to play, so I figured 'why bother?')

We came in and opened presents and then finished up by giving each child their own container of play-doh and letting them use letter cookie cutters to cut letters and make words. Oh, and we had bowls of Trader Joe's letter cookies and scrabble cheez-its to munch on.

After the party had ended, we recovered for an hour and then took the birthday girl to Red Robin for her big dinner. Then we had a babysitter so we could attend our adult session of Stake Conference. It was a long day, but it sure was fun. I just can't believe my Smidget is 5 years old!! She is such a special girl.

My three girls--

Here's one of Queenie smiling--