Birthday Party Salvaged

I will have to post separately about Jadyn being 5 and all the changes we have witnessed in her over the last year. We had quite a weekend. You may recall that it was supposed to be Jadyn's special weekend. Preschool graduation Friday, professional ballet pictures on Saturday and then her birthday party on Sunday. Well Saturday she started to not feel so well. We managed to get pictures done and relaxed the rest of the day, hoping for the best. Our hopes were dashed on Sunday morning when she began throwing up. Time to cancel the party!

The good news was that Jadyn was too sick to really be all that upset that she wasn't having her birthday party. The bad news is that this is an extremely busy time for everyone and trying to reschedule something was next to impossible.

By Sunday night she was feeling better so as a treat on Monday I took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda 2 (really cute, maybe even better than the original). On Tuesday, the day of her actual birthday Jadyn woke up and excitedly asked when all her friends were coming over. I tried to explain the difference between her birthday and her party and how it is a week day and everyone is really busy but to a "just turned 5 year old" girl all she really understood was disappointment. It was heartbreaking.

I had planned to take her to Build a Bear on her birthday all along as our gift to her and so while still managing to accomplish this, I also managed to find a few friends who were able to come over in the evening for games and cupcakes, including one of her best friends from preschool Autumn, our new neighbors, Cruz and my friend Lyndsey with her two kids Chloe and Ryder. I understand why so many people couldn't come but I will forever be grateful for those that did come and help us celebrate Jadyn's birthday and give her the party that she so desperately wanted (and frankly so did I as a lot of planning had been put into it). I couldn't have asked for it to have turned out any better given the circumstances. Major sigh of relief.

Here is the birthday girl with her newly acquired wolf pup from Build-a-Bear who she aptly named all on her own, Alaska:

Here is the invitation with personal info blocked out. Oh and the fact that the date and time are now wrong too but whatever, I thought it was cute. I couldn't believe how many people asked if the puppy was Kuma, which it is not. Just an uncanny resemblance:

The setup:

Brother and sister on her big day:

Family photo op:

The super cute cupcakes (thanks again to Rose):

Pin the paw on the puppy:

Pinata with "doggy bags" for the loot:

Singing happy birthday:

Opening gifts:

The gang of kids all together:

I know that Jadyn not having a party wouldn't have been the end of the world but as mothers, we try our best to shield our kids from heartbreak and disappointment. I realize that at some point it is a life lesson which they must learn and in those times we can do nothing but be there to comfort and support them. However, I am still very grateful that it didn't have to happen on Jadyn's 5th birthday.