As we have attended more than a few birthday parties, Karina was more than ready for it to be her turn. Her birthday dream, to paraphrase what she repeatedly told me, was for her to stand on one side of the table while everyone else stood on the other and then sang “Happy Birthday” to her before she blew out the candles on cupcakes. It was quite hard to convince her on her actual birthday that this would not in fact be the day that all of her friends would be on the other side of the table and that she would have to wait 4 more sleeps, the unit of measurement we use for far off events.

4 sleeps happened quickly enough and Chris occupied her in the morning with a new scooter we acquired from our church’s yard sale the day before, while I finished the preparations. The scooter probably also helped to make her tired enough that she actually took a decent nap before her party started. A quick change of clothes and a hair re-do and she was off to her very own princess party.

We had a wonderful afternoon with friends out back in our common area. Our neighbor lent us a table, which was good because I didn’t account for the space needed for all of the food. And thankfully my mom had sent some princess party goods so we could cover the grill we used as the drink station with a princess table cloth and don the kids with princess paper tiaras. We also rented an inflatable and small tables for the kids to paint and play playdough at with birthday money from Karina’s uncle and aunt. At the beginning of the party I happened to look over and the inflatable was void of children because they were all sitting around the table sharing the playdough and its accessories. Don’t get me wrong, it didn’t last long but it was a memorable moment.

The time finally came for Karina’s special moment and she was ready. She was also vigilant about ensuring everyone was singing.

As a parent, it filled my heart with so much joy to see Karina having such a memorable day.

I asked Karina that night if her party was everything she had hoped and she said, “Yes, but not all the kids sang to me”. Hopefully she will forgive them.