More on the big birthday!

A couple of months ago, Josh and I started discussing how we were going to celebrate KayTar's birthday this year. Five is a milestone birthday, after all. She has been asking for a surprise party since she was 3 going on 4, so we started toying with that idea...who would we invite, how would we pull it off, so on and so forth...and after all of that hypothesizing, we were completely in love with the idea! We invited all of her special people; family, our pediatrician, her teacher, her speech therapist, her best friends from school and other places, and some friends she really loves but hasn't been able to see in a while. We have a rather small house, so we planned to have activities outside for the kids...but the weather had other plans which left us scrambling to make indoor room at the last minute. We had a great showing! Of course, a couple of people couldn't make it due to illness or other plans, but overall, it was AWESOME. I think there were 13 kids and 15 adults, which is quite a group for our little house. KayTar had everything she wanted because she was hypothetically planning her party aloud for WEEKS and I was busily taking notes.

It was SO tricky to pull off. You'd think that surprising a nearly 5 year old would be a piece of cake, but not KayTar. I emailed her teacher to find out if any of the friends we were inviting came from Spanish-only homes, so I could invite them properly and she replied that one of them, Ix, did come from a Spanish-only home. The next day KayTar says to me, "Did you know Ix's parents speak Spanish?" I said, "Yes, I did. How do you know that?" She replied, "My teacher said it!" I asked, "Really? When?" KayTar replied, "IN YOUR EMAIL!" I almost DIED! The kid was reading my email, where all the Evite RSVPs were and discussions of parties and whatnot. Oh my! We started speaking in code after that, using terms like "library reading session" or "seminar" instead of party.

Then when I sent the secret invitations to school for her friends, I put them in an opaque envelope with her teacher's name on it. When KayTar was putting her backpack away that day, she OPENED the envelope and read her friends' names off of the invitations. She asked her teacher what they were for, who said (God bless her) that they were secret invitations to the school Valentine's party. WHEW! I had just pulled back into the driveway from drop off when I got a call from her teacher, she led with, "If you pull this party off, it will be a MIRACLE!" and then she told me the invitation story.

Finally, the day before the party, my mom called and said, "What do you want me to bring to the party?" And what did we hear in the receiver? KayTar on another phone in the house, "What party?" AGH! Josh quickly collected all of the extra phones in the house and we told her it was for the Cub Scouts Blue and Gold party. We got really lucky that this is a big party time of year!

In the end, she WAS surprised and it was worth every ounce of effort. She was so thrilled to see all of her special people there and it was a priceless moment. It was a wonderful way to celebrate our big five year old, who has come so far, so fast, that it almost seems unbelievable. We are so proud of the child she has become; outgoing, hilarious, intelligent, and beautiful. I can hardly believe that my once slumpy BABY KayTar is now FIVE.


She requested that the birthday banners stay up for 16 days, but now she has changed her mind to 30. She wants to milk this birthday for all it is worth!
KayTar TV! Our cable lets us play slide shows of photos from Flickr.
Brain cupcakes, as requested.
The reaction! She was just about to start jumping up and down here.

We had everyone sign a big photo mat for her, so we can put it in the frame with a photo from her party and hang it in her bedroom.
Most of Josh's family was MIA, but his mom called to tell KayTar "Happy birthday!" during the party. KayTar told her, "One of those gifts BETTER be my Snow White cleaning set!" LOL! It was, but it happened to be from my mom.
She tore through her gifts at warp speed. In fact I'm STILL not sure who a couple of the gifts came from!
She needed a little helping aiming to get those candles blown out!
PINATA! Somehow the ones we buy are always defective and the men have to forcefully rip it open for the kids.

The kids seemed to have a great time, a few of them even sobbed when it was finally time to go, and the adults were able to sit and have conversations while the kids entertained themselves in the kids' rooms. I think overall it was a big success, but regardless of that, we surprised the heck out of KayTar, and that was what really mattered. She told us, "I thought I was just coming to my sweet home like normal, but it WASN'T!" She is still basking in the glow of her party and that makes all of the extra work to keep things secret worthwhile!