Miss M Turns 4!!

So, we celebrated Miss M on November 3rd in style. She woke up to her over-sized dollhouse that took lots of square meters out of Daddy's office, but it has been so worth it! She loves the dollhouse, even though the K Man broke the sink within 30 minutes of seeing the dollhouse. She has lots of dolls and Minnie's to play with inside of it, but she said she needs a pink sofa to go with it to match the purple sofa it came with. Since we have two small couches her dollhouse needs two small couches. If only our apartment was as big as her dollhouse... After birthday family fun, the K Man took a nap and Mama went to the party room to decorate and prepare for her Minnie-chan party. It was the first birthday party for her where I actually planned games and such and we had a lot of fun. Initially I was only going to invite four kids because she was turning four years old. It seemed reasonable at the time, but then she kept asking if so and so could come and well, I just could not resist it. So, we had 8 kids total that were Miss M's age along with parents and a few older siblings. Everyone seemed to have a great time. We started with a Cake Walk with Disney character sheets to walk on. When the "Hot Dog" song stopped, the kids froze and I picked a character. Whoever was standing on the character got a sticker. We also played Pin the Ring on Minnie Mouse. Then, we went on a scavenger hunt for Pluto's dog bones in the park behind our building. Please do not give me much credit - all I did was google Mickey Mouse Club birthday party games, found one fabulous blog of a mother who really out-shined me in her birthday preparedness, and I basically copied a few of her game ideas. I would have loved if she had come and just organized the entire party for me, but I do not know her and she lives some 7000 miles away. After the park fun, we came back in for cake and snacks. I planned the party from 3-5 so I would not have to do lunch or dinner. I basically loaded up the kids with sugar and then they went home with their parents. Now, for the cake, I had these high hopes of doing a Minnie cake, with a hairbow and all, but once Miss M saw the Minnie pan, she wanted to help decorate the cake. She wanted Minnie to be pink - full pink - with lots of candied Minnie's on top of her face. So, it was her party and this is what we did. Again, my cake did not look like what I saw on the internet, but Miss M LOVED it and that is all that matters. We cleaned up, loaded up the stroller with the goodies, and came home. As soon as we got inside the apartment, this mama crashed. I had woken up with a bad headache and sore throat and it only got worse throughout the day. It felt like someone was banging my head against the sidewalk. I fell asleep on the couch around 6:30 and did not wake up until 10 the next morning. Thankfully it was only a 24 hour bug and I was able to bathe the kids the next night. Lord knows for as much as the hubs works in this city, he cannot take off work because his wife is a bit sick. He does not even take off when he is sick, but that is a whole other post. Miss M is amazing...full of life, smiles and energy. She can be oh so dramatic and oh so sweet. Since her birthday she has continued to thank us for her dollhouse and tell us how much she loves us and her house. She loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (praise God for utube) and her imagination and commentary throughout the day often come from adventures that she has been on with Mickey. We are still happy with our decision to keep her out of yochien. Do not get me wrong, we have some bad days. Who doesn't? But our house is running a bit more smoothly and I am really enjoying my time with both of my kids and watching Miss M blossom. She is fairly bi-lingual now. It amazes me really. She will translate for me sometimes. English is obviously her first language, but when asked a question in Japanese she will answer in Japanese. She will even converse with me in Japanese. Her Japanese teacher is helping her write hiragana and she can read some words - she reads more Japanese words right now than English words. We are having some issues with being scared of the dark and wanting to come sleep with mama in the middle of the night. Some nights we work with her and she goes back to bed. Other nights I am too tired and she sleeps with us. Miss M, you are such a delight to be with each and every day. You amaze me. Just tonight you were so kind and loving to a friend who came to have dinner with us, hugging her and telling her she is welcome back anytime. We love you so much. Our lives have been so enriched having you in them. Happy Birthday sweet girl.