Birthday Bash, Busted Lip, Build A Bear, Burned Finger and a Host of Other Things That May or May Not Start With the Letter B

So, big birthday #5. My baby is growing so fast *sniff*. She really wanted a party with friends, cake, and games but our apartment is just too small to accomodate our friends and their growing families. So we decided that dinner and Build-A-Bear would be a nice treat for everyone.
We hadn't ever taken the girls to the Rainforest Cafe and Chloe decided that's where she'd like to go. So to make it extra special we bought a birthday dress for her along with very special birthday butterfly wings for her to wear to dinner.

We were having a great time and hadn't been at the restaurant very long when Chloe said that she needed to go potty. Amanda was kind enough to take her but unfortunately they came back to the table just as the "thunderstorm" started inside the restaurant- it is the Rainforest Cafe you know. Well, Chloe was terrified and decided to run to the safe arms of her Daddy but she missed...and hit her mouth on the back of his chair. It must have been a hard one because her teeth went through her lip. Really, we were there less than 10 minutes. In an instant I could see all of her excitement drain away and I was so upset. It's funny but I was really excited about it too so I was afraid that the evening was going to be ruined. But we had a great server that was kind enough to offer Chloe custody of her flashlight- one of Chloe's most favorite things in the world- so between that and the $6 Icee we bought her (seriously $6 bucks for an Icee) she recovered quickly. I was so proud of her. She always tries to make the best of everything and she just shrugged it off and got over it. It did affect her smiles for photos so I'll make sure to document it when I scrapbook.

After dinner we made our first trip to Build a Bear and let Chloe pick out just what she wanted. So, she picked out a purple bear named Purpley Claire Button (get it, purple eclaire, hahaha). She had decided to name it Purpley but there's a spot for a middle name when you type it in to the computer so she asked, "what goes with purpley?" so my response was "Claire" and she went for it. I really wasn't expecting to pay that much for a stuffed bear but they make the last stop clothing for a reason, so we have a very well dressed stuffed purple bear. I really should have just made a dinner and bought a coloring book, I always go overboard. Next year...

So the next day was church and she got to go to the five year old class for the first time. She was excited. Then Mom and Dad took us to lunch, we parted ways with them in Cool Springs and we went home for naps. Later on we made a birthday cake together and Travis took her to the store to pick out some soda and the kind of ice cream she wanted- strawberry. She decided that the cake should be a bundt, which was fine with me because it's easier to frost. Then came singing and cake eating which leads me to the burned finger portion of the post. We purchased a number candle rather than the stick ones and I guess it took a little while for us to sing and for her to blow it out so a puddle of wax had accumulated by the time all of that was done. So while I was locating a knife to cut the cake with and Travis was doing something else Chloe decided to take the candle off of the cake to lick the icing off. And you guessed it the hot wax dripped on one of her fingers and extreme screaming ensued. My poor baby. I really felt like everything nice that I had planned for her went terribly wrong. It didn't take too long for her to recover and, again, she shook it off but I felt bad. I'm still kind of sad that everything didn't go perfectly.

She was happy and felt that we had properly celebrated her birth except for the gifts. My Mom and Dad purchased a very pretty, very girly bed for her: headboard, footboard, and mattress set and we shelled out a lot for dinner and BAB but to her it just wasn't the same without friends and opening several little presents...next year we're having cake, ice cream, soda and friends- that's it. I think my expectations won't be so high that way and she'll feel like she had a real birthday party.

It's funny but I remember very few birthday parties that I actually had my little friends over for. I remember having mostly family birthday parties and anytime my parents asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I always asked to go to the Kapok Tree. You can see pics here and here. Even as a kid I was a nerd but I loved it. I'll write more about that later, this post is already too long. But I guess I was pushing what I would like for myself on Chloe. Live and learn.