Alissa's big day

Our little Alissa is now six. Where did the time go? If you havent noticed, Alissa is a goof ball. She loves to be silly and make people laugh. On the flip side of that, she is also the most dramatic and pessimistic of the girls. We constantly have to reassure her of the positives in her life and to look at her blessings. If we compliment one of the other kids, she automatically thinks that means we dont think as highly of her. She is very hard on herself and wants to be perfect at everything. Hmmm...dont know where she gets that. Her constant attempts to be perfect have made her excel at most things she does though. She is a fantastic artist and does very well at her writing. If she does happen to make a mistake, she gets very upset about it. It just takes her a long time to build up the courage to try things, and keep trying them after a first failed attempt. Her latest proud accomplishment has been learning to tie her own shoes. It took a lot of encouragement and patience on our part to get through her frustrations of not being able to do it right away, but after all of that was out of the way, it was only a couple of days for her to get it down. Hooray!
In addition to all of that, Alissa also likes to take her time. I often call her "Snail-issa", because we are all left waiting for her to get dressed, or eat, or brush her teeth etc.. etc. She gets distracted easily and I often find her off in her own world. Maybe she's thinking of ways she can be perfect? But wouldnt it be great if we could all take more time in life? Unfortunately, I dont usually have twice the time to wait for her.
Overall, Alissa is a very sweet girl. She loves to cuddle and draw pictures for me. She is fun to play with, and Katelin has become her very best friend, which is great. I hope that sticks forever. She just requires a little extra love and attention, to know how important she is. So, without further adieu...the birthday details!
Since Alissa is now in school and making friends quickly, we thought it was time to give her her first friend party. The rule we have established in our family, is that every even birthday, you get to choose to have a party. I just cant do it every other month, so this makes it so I only have to host a part 2 or 3 times a year. Okay, so off of that tangent...

Alissa chose to go with a little pet shop party. Her actual birthday ended up being on the night of the pumpkin patch festivities, so we had to move it to the next day. That didnt mean we couldnt still celebrate a little bit though!

Alissa got to pick the dinner menu, which of course consisted of pancakes and eggs.

Then she got to open her family present. The other rule is that when you get a party, that is equivalent to your presents. They get one or two presents from the family, and the rest come from the party. Here is what she got from us this year...

She also got to open a package from her Grandma and Grandpa. It included a locking diary, a shirt, and a sticker activity book from her aunt. Thanks guys!

She had to wear the shirt right away. Then off we went to the pumpkin patch, and came back to have some cupcakes. We even added a candle and the birthday song to make it more official.

Then the long awaited day of the party arrived. The first thing to do while waiting for all the guests to arrive, was to decorate the table cover. Everyone claimed their spot and made a fun drawing in their place.

Let the games begin!
To start off was a good old fashioned game of Pin the tail...on the dog! Since it was a little pet shop party, we tried to have games that had something to do with pets or animals.

Alissa went first.

Katelins turn. I think this game was either too easy, or we had a lot of cheating going on! Look at how close most people got...with the exception of the two tails off in La La Land. They did it right! Way to go girls!

Next up, a duck race. They had a relay, where they had to put on these duck feet and race down and around a chair and back while quacking and flapping their wings.

Zack had to get his turn in too.

Then a twist on the game Duck, Duck, Goose. We played Lion, Lion Hyena. The lion had a tail sticking out of their pants (you can see part of it on Katelin), and the hyena had to get the tail.

The last game had nothing to do with animals. It was the one where they pass a present around in a circle to music, and when the music stops, the person holding it unwraps a layer. Zack got to be the lucky one who got to open the last layer, revealing the present inside...suckers!

After the games, Alissa decided she had waited long enough and it was time to open the presents. I wont show you all of them, but she got lots of things that she loved. Her favorite was an American Girl type doll that she now carries with her everywhere!

Even after all of the games and presents, we still had an hour to go. Never has a party gone that quick before. Oh well, maybe they will take a reallllly long time eating the cake...right?

Heres the cake, in the shape of a paw. Not my best cake, but it still tasted just as good. Ever since Madi's idea of putting pudding in the middle instead of frosting, we are converted to making every cake that way. Yum! Zack thought it was Blue's Clues, since it was blue. Shhh...dont tell Alissa that!

Blowing out 6 candles.

Well, with about 45 minutes to spare, we sent the girls out to play. Alissa decided she wanted a "spanking machine", so here she is on the tramp crawling under their legs while getting her birthday spankings. Crazy girl!

They just played and played until pick-up time, which was fine with the exception of a game of Red Red Rover, courtesy of Madi, who then ended up clotheslining one of the girls pretty bad. No more Red Red Rover!

Overall, I would only rate this party a 6. Appropriate for a 6th birthday I guess. I didnt come out of it feeling like it turned out great, like most other parties. The games were too quick and I didnt get the feeling that the girls were loving it. Maybe I underestimated their abilities. It seemed they were too old for them. If I knew the weather was going to be freakishly warm for October in Wisconsin, I might have planned some better activities to do outside. A pinata is always a winner. Oh well, Ill have to make it up for her 8th birthday.