On Second Thought ...

My poor Millie has been shortchanged soooo many times in her life—not the least of which is when it comes to birthday parties!  I don't know if it's the case with every family or if it's just something unique to us, but our firstborn has a way of demanding—and getting—all of the attention, while our youngest seems to get overlooked all the stinkin' time.  In fact, we never even got around to having a birthday party for Millie last year.  So when July rolled around and it was time to plan Hannah's, we said, "How are we supposed to have a party for Hannah when we haven't even had Millie's yet?!"  The solution?  We just tacked Millie onto Hannah's and did a "two sisters" birthday bash.  And Millie never complained.

So this year, we made it a point to give Millie her very own birthday party.  A real birthday party.  A birthday party that took place within a week of her actual birthday.  (Gasp!)  Greg listed a few options (Chuck E. Cheese's, the bowling alley, the skating rink), and Millie immediately chose the skating rink.  Sounded like a good plan to us.  She went to a skating party over the summer and did fine.  No problem, right? 

WRONG!

The party we went to over the summer was a private party where the parents had rented out the rink.  When we showed up for Millie's party today, there were kids all over the place.  And some of them were really big ... like 9-year-olds!  (Well, c'mon, if you had just turned 5, they would look big to you, too!)

We got everyone's skates on and were ready to get them onto the rink, when Millie burst into tears.  She said, "Mom, instead of skating, I want a Chuck E. Cheese party.  Can we please go to Chuck E. Cheese?"  Of course, I told her we couldn't because we had already paid for her party, but I felt terrible for her!  The poor kid finally gets her own party, but she's too afraid to participate in it!

Fortunately, a guy who works at the skating rink saw the birthday girl crying and came to her rescue.  He took her onto the rink and gave her private skating lessons pretty much the entire time she was on the rink.  By the time we left, she was skating all over the place—even with all the "big kids" flying past her.

I know that gem of a man was the highlight of the day from our perspective, but here's a peek at a few other memories.  (Savor them, people ... she might not have another party of her own until she's 10!)

Doing the hokey pokey in the middle of the skating rink.

Sooo cute ... Eli is explaining the nursery to her.  A sign of things to come???  ;)