Skippidy Turns Six

So should I wait until later or just admit right now that I really really really didn't want to throw a party for Skippidy?  I was so totally overwhelmed by the end of school and everything going on, the thought of putting together a cute and wonderful party with lots of little screaming girls was just more than I could bear.  I feel kind of bad about that because I'm sure that Skippidy would have loved it.  Eek.  I feel bad.  And I will say that I did give her two options - a little party or.... A FABULOUS all-day birthday extravaganza with just her and her mommy all to herself!!  I may have talked up my idea just a little bit to try to convince her, it wasn't really fair, but yes, I did that.  And I tried really really hard to make it the best day possible for her.

The day began with a breakfast-in-bed party.  Skippidy had made it abundantly clear that she wanted breakfast in bed, that she wanted scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, ketchup and water.  On a tray. Since we have a tradition of the birthday girl (or boy) getting one present at breakfast, we decided we'd better have a mass-breakfast on our bed.  We spread out a tablecloth, gathered the kids and everyone enjoyed some breakfast while Skippidy opened a couple of presents: a giant jug of gumballs (what was I thinking?  Don't ask.  I don't know,) and a small lego kit.  It was a very merry morning.

After I got the kids off to school I had just enough time to bake a birthday cake and decorate the back porch in preparation for dinner in the evening.  Then I grabbed some chicken nuggets, which seem to be Skippidy's favorite meal on the planet, and met her for lunch.  I have never actually eaten lunch with any of my kids in the cafeteria before.  It was a new experience for me, and I probably should have done it long before now.  I think Troy has often been the special lunch visitor on Stomper's birthdays, and Bitty has her birthday in the summer, so I guess that's why.  I had fun chatting with Skippidy's kindergarten friends. 

After lunch I stayed for lunch recess and had a really good time observing Skippidy in an environment I don't normally get to see.  There are lots of sweet kids in the kindergarten group and as soon as I pulled out the camera they started flocking my way. Started with a little hide n' seek:

As soon as school was over, I whisked Skippidy away and took her to our first stop: getting a mani-pedi. Now, this was something that she had told me she really wanted.  She had been talking about it for quite some time - "Mom, can we please please please go get a mani-pedi some time?"  And when I asked her what we should do for our birthday-date, she said with great gusto, "Mani-Pedies!"  Great!  I got us scheduled and was excited to take her.  But then, during our recess play, Skippidy came up to me and said, "Mom, I'm so excited for my mani-pedi." (Long Pause) "Mom, what IS a mani-pedi?"

WHAT???

All this time she had just heard the phrase, probably in a cartoon or from friends or something and had no idea what it was.  This was like the biggest part of her birthday and she had no idea what it was!! I was dying.  I told her teacher and the two of us just howled.  So once I explained to her what it was we were doing, I really hoped that she would still enjoy it.  I'm pretty sure she did.

I let her pick my nail color....may have been a mistake, especially for someone who NEVER wears nail polish

After we got our nails done we had enough time to make a quick visit to the planetarium. For some reason she just really wanted to show me the things she had seen there on a field trip.  So that's what we did!  We just puttered around the displays and I followed her lead.  We had a good time.  And of course at the gift shop I let her choose a bag of the shiniest sparkliest rocks I have ever seen.

After the planetarium we zipped home to finish preparations for Skippidy's dinner party.  She told me she wanted steak and strawberries and asparagus, so that's what I did.  And I threw in potatoes too. We enjoyed the company of grandma and grandpa and a very pleasant June evening on the back porch.

This cake was totally the best part.  Initially Skippidy told me she wanted "a chocolate cake with black frosting with white polka-dots."  Sometimes when I ask her what she wants I think she just free-associates.  It can get very random and very funny.  I tried to talk her out of black frosting - she was okay with pink and decided that we could make polkadots out of marshmallows.  Skippidy insisted on applying all the decorations, and finished up by going to the garden and plucking a dozen mint leaves to top her cake.  It looked...awesome.  And very creative.  She had so much fun making the cake.

So my skippidy girl is six.  She's losing teeth, she finished kindergarten, she's as sassy as can be and...now she knows what a mani-pedi is.  Happy day for all.