Best Birthday Ever

Initially Chica Marie wanted to spend the night with her sister for her birthday. I had already spoken to her grandmother and made plans for the following weekend. So, instead Chica Marie settled on getting dinner, which turned into lunch, at a restaurant of her choice. First thing in the morning she opened her gifts and chose to wear one of her new dresses. The shoes I got her were a bit too big, which was disappointing, but she wears them around the house for the time being. She will eventually grow into them. After she opened her presents, I made her birthday cake. She asked for a chocolate cake and strawberry icing, then changed her mind to vanilla icing. So, I used my mom’s black cake recipe and planned to use her cooked icing recipe, which is made in two parts so I cooked the milk and flour to make the special icing paste. We had lunch at Appleby’s and then went to Wal-Mart and the mall briefly. Chica Marie had asked to go to the complex where Primero works, which made it easy for us to get him to work on time. Sadly, at the trampoline park the kids could not jump together. They have an area for the little kids and a the rest of the space for everyone else. Love Bug was much too short to be allowed into the big people space and Chica Marie was too tall to be allowed with the little kids. I tried to split my time between them, but I was technically supposed to be watching Love Bug. They both had a good time but they would have had a better time if they had been allowed to stay together. After they jumped for over an hour, Chica Marie got some of the foam stuff in her eye, so we had to use the first aid eye flush, which she made a big deal about. Then, we went to find the bathroom, only we found Santa instead. So, after our impromptu photo session, the kids used the bathroom and we went to the arcade area. We found where Primero works and he challenged me to the hot seat. It was fun but I did not win. The kids ran around playing games and I worried about Love Bug melting down, since that is what has happened every time we’ve been there. He did really good and didn’t whine at all when I said it was time to go home and have cake. I had to finish the icing first and then I let the kids decorate the cake, which they loved. Copious quantities of icing were consumed. We sang to Chica Marie and then it was time for baths and bed. As we were in bed trying to get the kids off their sugar high and to sleep, Chica Marie sighed from the top bunk and declared, “Mommy, this was the best birthday ever!” Bless her sweet little heart!