birthday month begins

A few weeks ago, we gave Annabelle the option of having a birthday party or taking a special birthday trip. I thought for sure she'd pick the party. She talks about her party for months leading up to the big day but I underestimated her love of hotels. I know she loves them but I didn't think she'd pick a hotel over a party. Her love of the "honeypot" aka hotel room ice bucket runs deep. Truthfully I was a little disappointed because I love setting up her parties but it did take things off my plate. Plus, with the changes in the family coming up with foster care we thought it would be nice to have a special time just the three of us. 

Her one request for the hotel was that it have a pool. I called before making the reservation to check on the status of the pool which was a gift of true love in and of itself since I don't like calls with strangers. We made strawberry cupcakes, went to the party store for party supplies and counted down the hours until we left. I don't love the usual kids selections at party stores (I'm more of a klassy party girl), but I knew she would want to pick out plates and napkins and it was her weekend. She picked Shimmer and Shine. I did my best not to steer her towards the cute rabbit plates. It's her party! Her weekend! If she wants Paw Patrol or Elmo so be it! She got to pick out a party favor for each of us and little bags to put them in. She was so excited.

For all the road trips she's been on, I would have hoped she'd learn not to ask "are we there yet?" every fourteen minutes for three hours. When we finally got to half an hour away, I said it was the length of two Daniel Tiger shows. She knows there are 60 seconds in a minute and asked us to count to 60 with her 30 times. Thanks but no. I can't make every birthday request come true.

Sesame brought her imaginary brother Matt to the hotel. Thankfully I didn't have to pack for him this time. She usually requests I pack his luggage and carry him through the airport. I didn't know until it was almost too late that I was supposed to bring him a party favor too. Thanks to my trusty imagination, I whipped a slinky out of my pocket for him. In this picture, she's smiling at Matt with true love. She has several imaginary friends but Matt is her current favorite. She also has a brother named John and a sister Olivia but they didn't come.

The main destination for the trip, besides the hotel pool, was the American Girl store. She doesn't love dolls like I did when I was her age, but she went two years ago and loved playing with the displays. I think we were at the store for half an hour before she got overwhelmed by the noise and screaming children and asked to leave. We said she could pick out a small item for her Bitty Baby and she kept saying, "You can pick whatever you want, Mama. I'll like what you pick." Most times I appreciate that she's very compliant and it's much better than the alternative of throwing a fit, but sometimes I wish she'd be a little more decisive.

 After a few laps around the mall, we went back to the hotel for the party. Yes, I put light candles near the sheets and no, nothing caught fire. 

AB was thrilled. She sat on the bed eating cupcakes off Shimmer and Shine plates and talking about her new American Girl cat. It took all of 25 seconds to clean up which made me think maybe the no-party route is the way to go.

The next day we went to a nature center/museum. The ride home took nearly 5 hours instead of 3 thanks to bad weather, but Matt behaved well during the drive. It's so hit and miss with those imaginary friends.