All Wrapped Up

Wowza...

What a week of birthday shenanigans!

I am talking about a whole week of birthday girl fun.

Three days later, now that the dust has settled, I am still tired from all of the planning, pieces and fun we had. But most importantly, I am pretty sure this was an awesome birthday week for my Brown Eyed Girl (not sure how we are going to top it for next year...)

Last Saturday we kicked off the week with a Girls Day! Just a Mommy and a Brown Eyed Girl and a Grandma Day. We spent the morning painting with a Princess. This part of the day was a surprise for my Birthday Girl. In my head, I thought that she would jump up and down and be super excited to "meet" Rapunzel in person and paint a picture of her and the floating lanterns.

Instead, she clammed up and would hardly even smile. I couldn't tell if she was even having fun for most of the class - although she kept pace with us on the painting and did an excellent job.

She must have just tapped into her inner artist in order to remain very, VERY, focused throughout the class.

Grandma even got into painting those lanterns.

When we were done, we had three beautiful paintings to take home. She still looked so serious.

Rapunzel finally got her to crack a smile when they took a photo together. 

After painting, we went to lunch and then headed to our next stop of the day - the highlight of our Girls Day - the piercing place! Our Brown Eyed Girl really wanted to get her ears pierced this year for her birthday.

This was the main reason her birthday was stretched out so long. I was afraid to let her pierce her ears the same day as her party in the off chance that it was a complete disaster.

We received a lot of very helpful and educational information before she climbed up in the chair and was ready for glittery ear lobes!

She was ball of nerves mixed with sheer excitement!

The piercing lady got everything set up and organized. She squeezed my hand and I tried to casually comfort her nerves. I told her to take deep breaths and to squeeze my hand if it hurt.

A little marker on her ears as guides and she was all ready!

And the first one...

was done!

You might be asking yourself right now, "Where is the bulky-gun-thingy they use?" Well, after a lot of research and talking to other parents and friends, I decided not to take her to the typical mall kiosk or boutique to get her ears pierced. I took my beautiful daughter to a tattoo/piercing parlor.

(gasp... she did WHAT???)

Here was my reasoning:
- Boutiques and malls are not regulated by anyone. They are not required to sterilize their equipment between piercings. The piercers aren't required to obtain any official training or certification. And, I honestly did not want some high school girl piercing my daughter's ears.

- Piercing and tattoo parlors are regulated by the Health Department. They have standard procedures, are required to work with sterilized equipment, and are required to be licensed and certified as a piercing professional. In fact, they required a copy of her birth certificate and my ID to prove I was her mother and legally allowed to make the decision to allow my daughter to alter her little lobes. I felt comfort in that level of professionalism and cleanliness.

Not to fret, as you can see the lady was not scary looking. Her parlor was not scary looking. There wasn't heavy metal music playing in the background and scary dragons and skulls all over the walls. In fact, I almost felt like I was at a nail salon or something like that.

Okay back to the day...

So the first one was a shocker. It hurt, of course. But the second one is always worse! The element of surprise is gone and you know what is coming.

After the count of three, I watched my Brown Eyed Girl's face turn red, eyebrows wrinkle and her little chin quiver as she held back the tears.

This brave little cowgirl never shed a tear. She is tough as nails my friends! One tough cookie!

I will admit, after both ears were done she had this deer-in-the-headlights, whose-stupid-idea-was-this-piercing-thing-anyways kind of look on her face.

Holding a mirror, the woman asked my Brown Eyed Girl if she was ready to see her new pierced ears. She quietly nodded yes. The woman then looked up at me and said, "I don't think she wants to see them. Do you want to see your new earrings?"

A little louder, my Brown Eyed Girl said, "Yes."

And in a split second her dazed look changed to that of sheer joy as she took the first look at her sparkling new look.

It was all worth it!

She checked her ears out the whole way home!

The next day, I had to bake two dozen cupcakes for school. Because in Kindergarten, EVERYONE's mom brings cupcakes for their kid's birthday.

So we made and frosted 24 chocolate cupcakes with purple (duhhh) frosting.

I had to call one of my super star domestic friends in order to borrow her cupcake carrier thingy so that the cupcakes made it to school in one piece.

Pretty sure this contraption will be on my Christmas list this year! I foresee that this was only the first of many cupcake expectations in my furture.

On the REAL Birthday day, my Brown Eyed Girl requested pancakes for breakfast. I surprised her with some flowers and she got to use the "You Are Special Today" plate.  

In our family, of course she had to get her picture taken in front of the door.

The cupcakes were a success. All the kids loved them and there were 4 left over that I got to recycle at dinner for another round of Happy Birthday and candle blowing out after dinner.

She floated through the rest of the week collecting cards and some cash she planned to use towards new earrings.

This last Saturday we wrapped up the birthday shenanigans with her friend and family party. This year, she did not want a huge party with all of her classmates at one of those jumping bounce places. (wahooo) She just wanted to share the day with her blond sidekick and do more girl stuff.

Last month before going to Mexico I got a mani-pedi, she thought that was pretty cool. She asked me if she could have a "pedal-core" for her birthday. You bet! So I made an appointment for her two blonde buddies to join her for mani-pedis.

They looked so little in those spa chairs!

Boy did they think they were pretty cool!

Toes...

Nails...

When did they get so big?

They loved every minute of their mani-pedi's. I think I might regret this when she thinks she needs a polish change...

They are becoming the cutest little ladies!

After all the polish was dry, we headed back to the house for pizza, ice cream Sundays and a party. Mr Blue Eyes was super excited to see the girls. He had been patiently waiting for the Girls Day to be over.

I made sure to load the kids up with as much sugar as possible.

Another round of Happy Birthday.

The everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Sundays were a hit!

I hope my beautiful Brown Eyed Girl enjoyed her birthday week of fun. Six years have gone by so darn fast. But each day that she grows a little bit taller, a little bit older, I am amazed at what an amazing little lady she is becoming. These are the very best days of my life!