Happy birthday Frankie

Frankie's sixth birthday was today, and we had a lot of fun. Frankie's pre-birthday wish was to sleep in the Big Bed with me, so she could wake up next to me on her birthday morning. How could I resist that? I tucked her in our bed. Then when she was asleep, I decorated the living with balloons and birthday banners, and Matt installed an awesome swing chair that hangs from the ceiling in her bedroom.

Frankie was very excited for her birthday. In the middle of the night, she woke up twice. The first time was at 3am when she woke me up to tell me that it was her birthday. The second time was at 4am when she woke me up to tell me "I CAN'T STOP SMILING!!!"

When it was finally morning, she was thrilled to see all the decorations and the new swing in her room. We opened a few presents, and then it was time to catch the bus to school. She had a great day at school, and Frankie's teacher did all kinds of special activities for her: a birthday crown, a birthday song, Frankie got to choose the activity at afternoon recess, and so forth. When Frankie got home, she told me it was THE BEST DAY EVER.

After a quick after-school snack, it was time for her party at Chuck E Cheese. Five out of six of her guests showed up, and the kids spent the whole time running around, playing games, and just generally bouncing off the walls. Uncle Mark was there (Yay!), as was Matt and the parents of the kids Frankie invited to the party. We had pizza, cake, and ice cream. Chuck E Cheese himself made an appearance at the party, and Frankie also got to take a turn in the "ticket blaster" booth. (It's kind of like a phone booth with a big fan at the bottom that blows prize tickets round and round while the kid trapped inside the booth tries to catch them.)

The sixth guest that didn't show up, sadly, was Frankie's old friend Brookie. Frankie and Brookie were best friends two years ago before we left for England, and she hasn't seen Brookie since. Frankie told me that the only present she wanted for her brithday was to have Brookie come to her birthday party, and I tried so hard to make it work out. I tracked down Brookie's mom through the school Brookie and Frankie used to go to. I called Brookie's mom, left messages, and played a near-endless game of phone tag with her. When I eventually got a hold of her via text messaging, she said that she and Brookie would definitely be at the party... But, alas, they never showed up and never called to cancel. Frankie was really heartbroken. Seeing Brookie was the #1 thing she was excited about today, and it's all she talked about all afternoon. It broke my heart to see her get stood up like that. It's especially hard because I know that I can never call Brookie's mom again. It's too hard to get a hold of her, and it makes me feel like a weird stalker. (Plus, now I'm mad at her.)

Despite the Brookie drama, Frankie had a really good time at her party, and it was great to see her having a ball with the other kids. Me? I'm pretty pooped! Think I'll have a piece of cake and crawl into bed.