(Guys, can you tell that I’ve been on a blog rampage trying to post as much as possible before June starts? 😂). It’s been exactly one month since E’s 11th birthday party/birthday so I need to get this post published before the details start to get hazy on me. Let’s go!

american girl store

A & E’s birthdays are roughly two weeks apart so in the weekend in between their birthdays, we decided to take the girls to the American Girl store for some shopping! Really, this trip was more for E as she’s the bigger doll-lover but A loves to copy her big sister so she enjoyed herself too.

Since it was our first time going to this store, I wanted to make it as special as possible so I booked the private party room for a “pizza party” for the five of us. I’ll just tell you now – it was WAY overhyped and overpriced (the party, not the store). For an exorbitant fee, we got nasty frozen pizza (not even GOOD frozen pizza, like limp, gross, frozen pizza), FLAT soda, basic salad greens with dressing on the side (literally just the greens, nothing with it). It was the most MEH experience of my life, even the food at Chuck E Cheese is better. BUT! The kids didn’t notice and they enjoyed themselves. Plus, part of the party package included a hairstyle makeover for the dolls so that was fun for them, too.

They also got to do a friendship bracelet making activity … which again, cool, but I could do that for them at home without the drive to the store and the expensive fee 😂

Darren’s reaction the entire time in the store was this:

Anyway, the point of the trip was the SHOPPING and shop they did! These girls came home with bags and bags of goodies.

Tell me this man doesn’t love his daughters 😂

the day of

Unlike A, E’s actual birthday was before her party instead of after. You guys know the drill by now … birthday balloons and presents waiting at the birthday kid’s door.

Special birthday breakfast with candles and Happy Birthday song …

I brought some personalized cupcakes to school pick up…

And after school, we opened presents …

It’s getting a bit harder to shop for E as she gets older because she’s still got very young interests (Disney princesses, dress up) but she’s also getting bigger so a lot of those things (like princess costumes) don’t come in her size anymore. Some highlights for gifts she got were a pink beret and an Encanto book (the only two requests she made). She’s getting an Apple Watch as a graduation gift so we didn’t feel like she needed a “big ticket” gift for her birthday. Funny story though – my sister in law asked what E might want so I told her to get her some LEGO Friends sets, referring to these:

But my bad because I didn’t really clarify so my sister in law sent THIS instead:

I was CRACKING UP but also was really excited because I really wanted to build a set of the Friends TV show themed Legos hahahahaahaha. No harm no foul, E got plenty of other Lego sets to use and I can use this one 😉

For dinner, E wanted Tomatina so went there for dinner.. I brought the rest of those personalized cupcakes for her to blow out candles on. Easy peasy 🙂 I’m a kid birthday pro hahahaa.

the party

E’s birthday party was the last birthday related event in April before I could catch my breath a bit (but then in May it was ALL the end of school insanity so did I really even get a break?). Back in 2020, for E’s 9th birthday, we’d been toying with the idea of renting out a movie theater for her friends/class to come and celebrate. Obviously that didn’t happen with the pandemic and what not so I thought about doing it for this birthday. The problem is that there was only a small group of girls she really wanted to invite (not worth renting out an entire theater) so in the end I settled for doing a backyard movie night style party at our house. I hired an event planner to come and set it up … it was an OKAY experience on that end. She brought the projector/screen/some decorations but honestly, it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t do on my own. It was convenient, though! So I guess I was paying for the convenience. There were more things that the event planner was supposed to do, like hang string lights, have a backdrop with fairy lights, etc but the weather on the day of ended up being super windy. Totally not her fault but I feel like good/experienced party planners have contingencies planned for things like this? Also, she hung up a few lights (not exactly the ones we planned) and I didn’t realize they were made of glass, the lights FELL both during set-up and during the actual party and I had broken glass all over the patio walkway which really irked me. The last thing I want is for a girl to have a cut up foot at my house, you know? Okay, okay, but anyway! The party! Here is the final set up we got (which was cute, I’ll admit):

I gave the party coordinator the list of snacks E wanted … coincidentally, they were all red packaging and the movie we chose to show was Turning Red LOL! The planner also made these personalized popcorn tubs for each of the girls to take home which was sweet. Word to the wise – the blankets and set up in these pictures are aesthetically pretty but were NOT sufficient for a mid-spring evening out. One of the moms of the party guests actually ended up running home and bringing 10 sleeping bags for the girls to share because once the sun set, it was FREEZING. So if you’re planning on doing this, make sure to have sleeping bags ready!

This is the party favor station that I set up on my own! Each girl got to pick out a cookie, press-on nails, a mini pinata, and hair claw clip to take home 🙂

We served pizza and cake, let the girls just hang out/chit chat for a bit then I started the movie!

I had to start the movie before the sun was fully set because I wanted the party to end by 9pm (mama gets tired!). It was a little a little hard to see in the beginning but as it got darker, it was more enjoyable to watch. Eventually the girls were all quiet and engrossed in the movie. Cuties 🙂

E invited the sweetest group of girls to come and every single person she invited came and wanted to celebrate her (a few couldn’t make it because they were traveling out of town for sports or because they caught COVID 🙈). I had a bittersweet, slightly sad revelation during this party … when E started school, my big prayer was for her to have friends. I wanted her to have friends because I didn’t want her to be ostracized or bullied – I wanted her to have the fullest experience possible. God has been so faithful in answering my prayers; in our entire 8 years at her local school, I’ve never had a single bad experience with staff or peer. The entire campus embraced our daughter and made her feel welcome and celebrated. But the truth of the matter is, E is different. There are social nuances and sophistications that she cannot grasp, and as her peers get older and more mature, the gap gets bigger – she can’t keep up with it. We’re so blessed that these girls showed up when invited and were SO happy to celebrate E but I realized during the party that that’s probably the extent that E’s friendships will go. I overheard a small group of girls chatting during the pizza part of the part and they were talking boys/friend drama. “I thought you liked so and so, I thought you didn’t like so and so.” E was off in a different part of the backyard (there were girls all over, some playing basketball, some just cuddling, some chatting, some eating, etc etc). It struck me that these girls are heading off to middle school and the way they bond is… well, just like the way that I’d bond with my friends. Sharing thoughts, secrets, crushes, rivalries. All things that are sort of above E’s capabilities. E’s a happy kid but she’s a simple kid; what you see is what you get. I think of the adults around me, maybe at church or in other settings, that are a bit different or special needs. I can be kind to these people and say hi, chat with them when I see them, be welcoming where I can .. but they’ll never be able to carry an equal friendship with me. I can’t share with them the deep struggles and burdens I’m carrying. You get what I’m trying to say … there’s a depth and intimacy to friendships/relationships that I don’t think E will ever get to reach because of her autism. It was a sad realization but a necessary one. God has been faithful and yet, autism still exists. There’s probably more to explore here but I’ll leave it at that for now. She had the best time at her birthday party and I’m thankful that people have been willing to love on her when asked. Happiest of 11th birthday, E! I hope you have fond memories of this party 🙂