So, we decided to
brave a birthday party during COVID-19. Before you get upset with me, we are
three families who decided to be in each other's bubble, and we celebrate only
amongst us. We have done two birthday parties from the other families and a
Christmas get-together. We felt safe to get together, but we had to follow
regulations as to the number of people inside the house, so we did only moms
and kids. I gotta say, planning a party having only six kids in mind is pretty
awesome.
I had several decorations
and plans made, but it all got downsized by 75%, but I enjoyed the party so
much more. Small space to decorate and clean, only six kids to feed and
entertain! I loved it! I don't mind it one bit. The initial idea was to invite
20 something kids like we had on Emmalee's Pirate Party. I had made favor boxes
and favor pinwheels for 25 children. The plan was to have it set up as a real
carnival, with game stations the kids could go play on their own and redeem
tickets according to how well they did. I was gonna give each parent a page
where they would keep their kid's score and redeem the tickets while teaching
their kids honesty because they could have written whatever they wanted. I had
even started making cardboard booths for each station and had already made
three. These all ended up in the garbage after months of holding onto them and
my husband losing his mind seeing them in the house taking up space. I made a
doll-sized ticket booth to hold the tickets because I would not have my
life-size ticket booth. I had to eliminate many of the games because space
would not allow for more, and noise would be an issue in an apartment building
filled with quarantined people. I had to let go of the stations idea and do one
game at a time with the kids making a line for each game. Again, the six-kid
limit came very handy.
Because we had done
Kaylee's birthday with no kids and it had been almost six months of the girls
not seeing their friends or doing things with them, we had to sell the party to
the girls as a co-party. While it was closer to Emmalee's birthday, we were
doing Kaylee`s chosen theme. They did not mind and got onboard with whatever
mom said with no complaining and much gratitude in their hearts and faces. I
tried to keep it as Carnival themed as possible.
Dear Emmalee,
I can't believe it's been eight years since I carried you inside me. Today you came to my room to scold me because many hours of the day had passed and I had not given you a morning hug. You jumped from the bed and landed on my arms. I held you in my arms with your legs wrapped around my waist. You are still small enough for me to carry you, small enough to fit you almost completely between my arms. I asked you to stop growing. I don't know why I was feeling so emotional last night. You came to give me a good night hug and tears began flowing from my eyes. I felt compelled to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I thank the Lord for the privilege of being your mom. You make me so exceedingly happy. I am still amazed by your intelligence. Mom dropped the ball a bit in your Spanish education, but you just picked it up so quickly. You are reading and speaking so well in Spanish. I can't believe I raised you two so immersed into English that Spanish is actually your second language. It saddens me that the opportunities to grow and practice your Spanish have been cut so short from your inability to talk to your friends in the swim team and the gymnastics team. I am so sorry I can't let you play with other kids at the park, even when your heart is aching and breaking to do so. I don't know what the Lord is preparing you for during this time of the pandemic, but I trust Him that He knows what He has for you, my little warrior. You and your sister are the warriors for His Kingdom I will leave in this earth. You have started to ask me to teach you how to read your Bible and study it. It fills my heart. You have a Bible camp coming up, and you just can't wait for it. I love your heart opened to hearing your Lord's voice. I love how you are tough on your daddy. You always make sure he looks his best. I love to see you bully him (the sweet kind of bullying). You laugh with your whole body sometimes even bending over because you can't contain it. You still hum or sing songs when you think no one is watching you or when you are doing the mundane things like brushing your teeth or getting dressed. The sound of you and your sister's voice is the best sound in the world to me. I always smile when I catch any of you singing. The pandemic has hit you harder than your sister, but you both have made good use of your imagination to make the best of what you have. You got that from your mother, baby! You’ve become quite the party planner. You made games and even prizes and written instructions for moms birthday. You even directed your sister into making the decorations. Even though this Christmas was so different and closed up, you had prepared makeovers for us and a fun movie night. We watched the new Croods movie. Of course, your sister and you made us watch it a few more times afterwards. I love how you get into "big kids" movies now. You remind me of myself. I would also watch The Sandlot and The Karate Kid and fantasize of being "one of the boys." We even watched The Little Rascals and The Goonies, all of mom and dad's favorites. The best thing about you getting bigger is that the number of things we share only grows. Last time you made pancakes for the family almost all by yourself. I want to teach you how to code, bake, sow, paint, build! And I want to see you far surpass me and even become my teacher. I want to make more singing videos together playing the piano and the guitar. I'll make sure not to drop the ball on that because I haven't been to consistent with that. I love you, my little sweet girl. You and your sister asked for new hair cuts. You look so much like I did at your age. We have these face covers with some round eyeglasses, and daddy swears it's like looking at my old pics. Mom wore glasses since she was 4. I praise the Lord for having guard you and your sister from needing to go to the doctor for the entirety of the pandemic. Not a accident or even flu. You struggle with allergies like I did, but at least mom has the experience to battle it. You are the one that worries the most about mom. You don’t like hearing the word “cancer” on the tv or movies or watching anything where the parent dies from a disease. Disney does you no favors in that department. But mom’s last cancerversary meant so much, probably as much as it meant for me. Mommy finally feels like a cancer survivo, and you felt that change. I am so sorry I’ve been a source of worry for you. We’ve had to work together to avoid you getting your mom’s bad habit of nail biting. You worry for anyone in need or trouble and celebrate as earnestly as possible when anyone has a victory. Your heart just loves so earnestly with no reserve. I pray that part of you never changes. Keep teaching me kindness and love, my sweet child of mine.
love,
Mom
Here are the videos of our doll amusement park!
