Big girl Par-tay

A couple of weekends ago, Alayna was invited to her very first big girl birthday party.  Her friend Gabby (whom Alayna absolutely ADORES) was sweet enough to invite Alayna to her 5th birthday party.  Alayna was the youngest person she invited (besides Gabby's younger brother, Nate, who is a few months younger than Alayna) so, I was a bit worried, but Gabby's mom assured me that it would be fine.

Alayna was beyond excited and carried her birthday invitation around where ever she went and told her Daddy promptly when he got home that she was going to Gabby's "Happy Birthday"!

And of course, the day of the party, was the first time Alayna has willingly fallen asleep on her own during her quiet time so we had a bit of a grump for the first few minutes prior to the party.  BUT I knew that not waking her and having her skip the party was NOT an option. 

So here she is, minutes after having been woken up.  The party girl.  Not in the mood for a "I'm going to my first big girl birthday party picture". 

Gabby LOVES babies.  And when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said, "Anything baby." 

Well, living in the town that we do and only having two (yes two) options for shopping for birthday occasions like these, I was forced to get in touch with my crafty side.  (Thanks to my mom and sister for the suggestions.)

So, Alayna and I made some things for Gabby's babies.  

First, a hooded towel for when she gives her baby a bath.  Turned out rather cute, huh?  Alayna picked out the colors.

Second, we made matching bracelets for Gabby and her baby.  Alayna helped pick the beads.

Kind of fun. 

Alayna had a blast!  She could not stop talking about the party.  She had to tell me ALL about it (as well as Dan, when he got home). 
Oh, and Gabby's mom told me she did really well....and I am choosing to believe her.  :) 

Big girl party

This girl had a party.  A big girl party. 

Wanna know what we did?

First, we got some balloons to decorate with.

Next,  we helped daddy make a cake.

Then after dinner we put two candles in our big girl cake and sang "Happy big girl party to you".

And blew out the candles all by ourself.

Next, we got all of our binkys out and had one last suck.

Then we put them in an envelope (that we decorated with stickers) to send to the babies that need them.

 And took our package to the post office

And mailed it.

Our big girl is doing great!  In fact, even better than I could have hoped.  There was one moment when we were walking out of the Post Office where she asked for her binky (it was close to bedtime) and we said, "You just mailed them to babies that need them. Remember?"  And she had this look of "Oh crap.  What did I just do?"  But then she was fine and since has gone to bed like a champ. Her naps are getting back to normal as well.  Whew. 

We officially have a potty trained, toddler bed sleeping, binky-less BIG girl. 

It's kind of sad for me to think that she really is a big girl and not a baby, but I have to admit this big girl phase definitely has it's perks.

[Note: The idea for this came from an extremely creative sister who had a similar party for her little boy. I just changed a few things and obviously made it a girl party.]