The Golden Girl

Not quite sure who came up with this "golden birthday" idea long ago, but it sure has gained a lot of hype with school-aged kids. Melissa tends to talk about her birthday plans constantly, from the time Jonny has his birthday at the end of October, until her own birthday arrives on May 9th. Guess who is turning nine on her birthday this year, leading to even more elaborate plans than usual?

Since the opening of the American Girl Doll store at MOA earlier in the fall, that was the most obvious choice for her party. She and the neighbor girl will spend endless hours playing with their dolls, and never seem to tire of it. The dolls go outside, inside, to the park, to hockey games, shopping, everywhere the girls go, they go. We had a wonderful dinner with them in December to try out the new store and bistro. Yum and fun.

Melissa's Friday started out with beautiful "golden" flowers from Grandma C, and a few balloons. She brought rainbow colored cupcakes to school, dressed in a pretty yellow daisy dress she picked out at the store last week. In the afternoon, she came home on the bus with three friends from school, and the real celebration began!

In case you were wondering, a PARTY booked for two hours at the store costs $485 dollars for eight kids. Um, not so doable for us. We opted for the much less expensive route of a reserved dinner for just a few of Melissa's closest friends, and the Grandmas too. The girls had a nice time, the dolls were still treated to their own drinks and eats, and the adults went away happy and full. I enjoyed conversing and catching up with my good friend, Tracey, and my darling godchild, Lizzie, who it seems I have not seen in FOREVER. We were still able to purchase the signature cake for a modest amount, which included free ice cream. Followed by a lengthy window shopping experience through the rest of the store, the girls had quite a nice time. Melissa was glowing as she walked through the aisles, eager to spend her $70 of birthday money on some new items for her dolls. After finding just the right things, her doll was treated to getting her ears pierced (for an additional charge, of course). The other girls were good sports, helping Melissa to make wise purchase decisions.

Contrary to the silent ride out to the mall, the girls were bouncy, giddy, and LOUD, as they sang Hannah Montana songs during the 45 minute ride home. It was such a contrast to the earlier ride....these girls were wired! Once at home, Daddy came to the rescue and played some crazy, wild game in which he ended up drawing all over arms and feet, like silly tattoos. From the couch in the other room, I could hear all of their giggles and yelling quite clearly...they were having a great time. Exhausted, the girls fell asleep before 10:30pm, and awoke promptly at 7:20am, as usual. I pulled them away from their busy doll play long enough for some homemade waffles and pancakes with all the fixings: fresh berries, syrup, butter, and whipped cream. Does it get any better? While I had planned on driving them home early in the morning, everyone was playing so nicely, and also keeping Tubby and Laura entertained....I didn't have the heart to mess up their fun. By 2 pm, I had parents calling me, looking for their kiddos (I guess they all missed them?), so it was time to call the party officially over.

My girls rested for the remainder of the afternoon, and Laura threw a two hour long tantrum from being overtired. We had poppy seed chicken, salad, and fresh rolls as per Melissa's birthday dinner request. We then spent some special time getting her ready for the much anticipated Father/Daughter dance Saturday evening. I curled her hair, put her in a pretty dress, and painted her fingers and toes. She looked so pretty! Daddy dressed up nicely too, and let Melissa pick out a tie for him to wear. She chose SpongeBob, because "it would be funny." Apparently, Melissa was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people at the dance (over 200), but Daddy tried his best to get her into the groove. By 8:30pm, she was simply too exhausted to make it longer after her big party evening the night before. Their early arrival home allowed us to celebrate her special day one more time with lemon poppy seed, lemon filled cupcakes (homemade, of course), and her favorite chip and mint ice cream before heading off to bed.

Good-night, our golden Princess! Happy Birthday!