Princess for a Day...or Two

Well, the Rapunzel Tangled party won out. And as long as it won out, I wanted to go all out. This is the year when Emma Grace is old enough to feel about birthdays as I did as a child...counting down to the big day with baited breath (and then taking it a step further than I did and beginning to count down to her next birthday the day after the festivities were over.) Emma's fourth birthday began with her preschool teacher and preschool Spanish teacher making a very big deal of her birthday. She felt like a star and was able to wear a crown, be sung to a couple of times, and share a treat with the class. I spent the whole morning at preschool with her while Grandpa and Grandma graciously watched Lily.

 

In the afternoon, we had a few close friends over to celebrate. It was Emma's first birthday party with friends, and she really enjoyed getting to listen to princess stories with friends,

 

having each of them decorate their own crowns,

 

color Rapunzel, race through a tunnel like in the Tangled movie, do a Rapunzel beanbag toss, dress up like princesses,

 

have a dance party, play instruments as the royal band, eat some of Emma's favorite foods, and feast on cupcakes and ice cream. Decorations included balloons, a "Happy Birthday" banner, paper lanterns like in the movie, a Rapunzel tablecloth and paper goods, a banner with pictures of Emma every four months from newborn to almost four,

 

and long blonde hair with pictures of Emma measuring up at the apple orchard the past four years with a caption entitled "Four Years of Being Tangled Up in Life, Love, and Laughter. Q: What has grown even faster than Rapunzel's hair? A: Emma and our love for her." My parents were troopers and spent quite a while with me braiding “Rapunzel’s hair” for our front door.

 

I got this idea at www.supermommoments.com. Though the braid took her ten minutes, we worked on it for a good hour…guess that confirms my hunch that I am a mere mortal and certainly not supermom. I also saw the cutest boats there and decided to add orange boats to the plate of princess wand fruit kabobs. I got the fruit kabob idea from Emma’s friend’s birthday.

 

Though a few of the ideas were mine (games, decorations, activities, and picture banner), I am grateful to the many more creative moms than me who shared theirs. For the little siblings at the party, we had a Little People palace out and a sign asking them to “Play at the Palace.” We also had building blocks with a sign saying “Build Rapunzel’s Tower.” For our family party a few days later, we had brunch and enjoyed time with some of our favorite people. Emma woke up that morning joyfully proclaiming, “I’m four again! I was four yesterday, and I’m four again today!” Emma’s uncle surprised her by wearing his number 4 Green Bay Packer jersey for her fourth birthday. The back even had her name rather than a former Packer's. As Emma finished lunch, she looked at her daddy and me and said, “Thank you so much, Mommy and Daddy, for making this delicious meal for my birthday!” That was one of those parenting moments that left us in minor shock and made all of the work so worth it…total appreciation in front of the entire family!

    

I had fun planning around a theme and reminiscing about Emma's four years. Drawing on sentimental memories from my own childhood, I borrowed the cakestand my mom used when I was little and decided to make Emma the cake that was my favorite as a little girl: a doll cake. My mom is an excellent cake decorator. I, on the other hand, am an amateur cake decorator. Two days before her birthday, Emma informed me that she really wanted cupcakes for her birthday rather than a cake. For a day, I thought that I was off the hook. I would just create a tower of cupcakes, in keeping with the Rapunzel theme. The next day, though, the allure of challenge and nostalgia came back, and I decided to create both the tower of cupcakes and a surprise Rapunzel doll cake. Thankfully, Emma loved her cupcakes and was sweetly surprised by her Rapunzel cake. I enjoyed creating something for Emma that had meant so much to me as a child.

 

As Emma turned four, I had a realization that was even more exciting than all of the festivities. As people asked me, "Can you believe that your baby is four?,” the standard answer of "No, time flies" just didn't seem to fit. Instead, I absolutely could believe it because I have been fortunate to be there for almost every moment of her four years. For her birthday, she got to be princess for a day or two, but I have gotten to be with her most of the moments of her life. Though being at home is no perfect fairytale and certainly isn't possible or ideal for everyone, I feel like I have been richly blessed with moments and memories through the past four years that have been royally special. And, since I am the four-year-old princess' mom, I guess that makes me a laundry doing, mom’s taxi driving, meal making, house cleaning, story reading, character developing, birthday planning, rule enforcing, cheerleading, schedule keeping, hug giving queen.