Playground & Posh Party!

After school this Friday, as we'll do on most half-day Friday's this week, we had a picnic lunch at the Community Park in the Rose Garden Gazebo. (Leia Rose used to call this the "Mouse House." I didn't know how much affection I had for that term, . . . but today I found myself feeling very sad when she said, "No, I want to call it the gazebo now.") : ( Anyway, a little boy from Leia's class named Austin was there. Leia and Austin ended up playing seagulls & condors together (which consisted of them running around flapping their arms and making loud bird sounds). ; ) And THEN we went to Maddie's fourth birthday party set to a Little Mermaid theme. Now, this has to go down in history as the most SPECTACULAR little kids party I have ever been to. Leia Rose ended up with a mermaid costume, a picture frame (that she painted herself), a shirt (that she also painted herself), a pair of mermaid sunglasses (that she won in a party game with Jessica), and a huge, personalized sand bucket of loot including an Ariel jump rope & lots of candy. And at the party, Darcy (Maddie's mom) secured a really big bouncehouse, a snowcone machine, a popcorn machine, and a cotton candy machine, . . . not to mention the dozens of larger-than-life homemade jellyfish and starfish used as decorations. I was amazed! Just a funny story, Leia Rose immediately wanted all of the food and then as soon as she got requested-food-item she immediately discarded it for something else. : ) Many of the moms came up to me during the party with different anecdotes about Leia. "She is sure confident in herself and really comfortable, isn't she?" (Hmmmm . . .) The one time I approached her while she was getting ready to eat cake, Leia said, "We can't leave now, Mom! I'm going to eat cake!" Oh my. I was just going to give her some love. ; ) Leia Rose is obviously at the age where she doesn't need (or maybe I should say WANT) me at parties anymore. : ( I was talking to Hollis today about how age 5 seems to be the magic age where suddenly kids can suddenly attend parties alone, but ironically many parents choose for the parties to be a get-together for the parents as well. I was also wowed by Maddie's Meadowmont neighborhood, . . . which is only about 100 feet from her future high-ranked school. The homes were gorgeous, most with 4 or 5 bedrooms and each one seemed to have at least 1/2 an acre. I took a handout from a home for sale just to see, . . . sure enough almost 3/4 million. Wow!
And Annie enjoyed the party, too! I just sat her down, popcorn pile between her legs, and she chowed down happily! : )