Piper's 5th Birthday

Piper had decided she wanted to have her 5th Birthday party at the zoo, just like she had her 3rd and 4th Birthday parties. Piper had invited all the girls from her class to her party, plus four girls from her Sunday school class. With all the invitations there was a potential of having 16 girls at Piper's Birthday party, plus her three brothers. Wow! That's alot of little kids! I was a little nervous about the amount of children that could possibly be at Piper's Birthday party. What if all their parents decided to leave them at the party and come back to pick them up when it was over? This could be a disaster!

The weather man had been forecasting rain for Saturday, the day of Piper's Birthday party. I had three people ask me if I had a backup plan if it rained. I told them I did not. I thought "How many times has the weatherman forecast rain for the past week or so and it didn't actually rain? Surely it won't rain." I woke up that morning around 6:30 to the sound of pouring rain and loud thunder. Oh no!!!! I thought, "Maybe it will stop by 10:00 when Piper's party is supposed to start." I knew that also at the zoo that day was Zoolute Day. This is the day when all the military and their family can get into the zoo for free. I thought that if it was raining at least the zoo wouldn't be crowded. I looked at the weather radar and there was no sign of it letting up. I thought, "GREAT! Now what do I do? Where are we going to have Piper's Birthday party?" My friend, Lauren, texted me and asked if I was going to move the party indoors. She asked if I was going to move it to the church. Ding! Ding! I hadn't thought of having it at the church! Great suggestion Lauren! Ok. I have a location, now what about entertainment? I have to think of some kind of entertainment because before when we were going to have it at the zoo, I didn't need entertainment. We had the zoo! Lauren said she had a Disney Princess Sing-a-Long that I could use. She also suggested a pinata. Lauren saved my day and Piper's party with her suggestions. Thanks so much Lauren! Now I had to call all the parents of the girls who had called with their RSVP. I started looking at the incoming calls on my cell phone. I was able to figure out the numbers, but didn't know which number belonged to which girl. It all worked out and everyone was notified of the change of location. I was still stressing out because Jeremy had been up all night making the cake. He went over to his parent's house because their oven was bigger than ours. I was by myself with my four children and still needed to get a pinata to the church within an hour and a half. I had to also get my four children dressed and feed Rilian. I knew I was not going to go out with my four children to purchase a pinata for the party. So I called Jeremy's mom and asked her if she could do it. I felt really bad that I had woken her up and almost didn't ask her to get it for me, but I knew it would make the party better if we had one. Joyce was great and was able to find one. Thanks Joyce! Jeremy came home just in time to fix Finn and Seven's hair for the party and then we left. I am not very good at fixing their hair. I am not able to put enough product in to make it stay and look right. We all got loaded into the van and arrived at the church five minutes after 10:00, when the party was supposed to start. Whew! I could start to breathe a little now. Birthday parties should not be this stressful!

Here the girls and Seven were watching the Disney Princess Sing-a-Long. It was a big hit! They all enjoyed singing and dancing with it.
Piper had decided she wanted an Ariel Birthday party. She is really into Ariel, the Little Mermaid, right now. Jeremy is a wonderful dad and a wonderful cake maker. Look at what a wonderful job he did making her cake! He stayed up all night to make it. One of the moms asked where we got Piper's Birthday cake. I told her Jeremy made it. She was very impressed as well as the other mothers who heard me say that.Piper is getting ready to blow out the candle after we finish singing to her. Looking at the picture, Addison is on the left. She is Piper's best friend from school. Lindsey is on the right. Lindsey and Piper go to church together. They say they are sisters. They are BFFs. It helps that Jeremy and I are such good friends with Lindsey's parents, Robert and Lauren.
Piper is eating the icing off her cake. She really only cares about the icing. We make a great team, because I really don't care for icing, so I eat the cake. Lindsey is waiting on her piece of cake.
Finn was a pretty lucky boy that day. He was the only boy sitting at a table full of girls eating cake. Rilian is in the background.
There wasn't enough room at the table for Seven so he sat at a table with Papa Bud and Dadabe.
I think Papa Bud's job at Birthday parties is to hold the baby. Here he is holding Rilian. I also have a picture of him holding Seven when he was six months old at Mabrie's 3rd Birthday party. Mabrie is my neice.
All of Piper's friends crowded around her as she started opening her presents. It's kind of funny that Lindsey is on one side of her and Addison is on the other side. Her two best friends.
We decided to put Piper in a chair and let everyone sit on the floor around her so EVERYONE could see. It wasn't working so well at the table.
This was Piper's favorite gift. It was a dress Nannie got her. She was so excited to wear it to church the next day. Piper loves dresses! She picked out the dress she is wearing. She wanted to wear that one to her Birthday party.
Now it was time for the pinata! Everyone was sitting on the pew waiting for their turn. Addison had her feet on Piper's head. Everyone got to hit the pinata three times and then go sit back down.
Piper's turn at hitting the pinata. Granny Joyce said the store said it was a shark. I didn't know sharks had legs! Granny Joyce thought a shark would be good since it was a Little Mermaid party.
Finn swinging at the pinata.
Seven's turn to hit the pinata. He was so cute because he really tried!
After all the kids got two turns, the pinata was still intact. There was a gash, but it wasn't dropping any candy yet. So Jeremy gave it a try.
Jeremy went a little easy so Robert could also have a turn. Robert was the one who got to bust it open. Look at all the candy fall!
I was very thankful for the rain, but did it really have to rain during the party? It caused a little unneeded stress. I was so glad when the party was over. It turned out to be a good party. Now my little baby girl is five-years-old! It is really hard to believe how fast time has gone by. She will be in kindergarten in the fall. This week is her last week of preschool. Sniff...Sniff...