Georgie's Donation
Georgie loves to talk about her birthday party. Loves it! At least six months beforehand she mentioned that maybe she'd ask that her party guests not bring her presents. Her explanation was that she has "too many toys" and that she never plays with them. Georgie actually has very few toys so that part wasn't true but she was correct that she never plays with them. Georgie is all about scissors, paper, tape, markers, crayons and glue... she can entertain herself for hours with these things. Anyway, I mentioned to her that maybe she could ask her guests to bring donations for something... she thought for a second and then said she'd like to ask them to bring things for "dogs and cats that don't have homes".

Over the next couple months, we'd talk about it occasionally. I was thinking that she'd change her mind. But no, as her birthday drew closer, she became more and more committed to the idea. Even as we were getting ready to send out the invites, I gave her another chance to change her mind. Nope. She stuck with it. Although I still worried a bit about what would happen when her guests arrived without gifts for her.

Finally, the big day arrived! Georgie's friends generously brought cat and dog food, pet toys, a kitty litter box, cat treats, old towels and throw rugs, and even kitty litter. My concern that Georgie would be unhappy with no gifts was completely unwarranted; she didn't seem to mind at all. A few friends brought small things anyway so that was kind of nice but G enjoyed opening the bags of pet supplies.

We were a little busy but finally got the time to make a visit to the local animal shelter to deliver the items a few weeks later. It was nice. We carried all the stuff in and I mentioned to the clerk there that this was a donation from Georgie and how the items were accumulated. She told us to hold on and a few minutes later the supervisor and another clerk came out and they all thanked Georgie and told her how helpful it would be to the animals to have the things we brought. Georgie had a big smile on her face and it was obvious that she felt proud of herself. Then, which was a big surprise, they brought Georgie out a stuffed animal. Jackpot! Georgie loves nothing more than stuffed animals so she was pretty much in heaven :-)

I don't know what Georgie will do about gifts next year. I kind of hope she does the donation thing again... she really doesn't need any toys and I think its good for her to learn to think outside herself a bit. But, I'd be fine if she chose differently.

Under the Sea birthday party
We arrived home on a Saturday, sick as can be, with Georgie's 5th birthday party planned for the following Saturday. There was so much to do and not nearly enough time or energy to get it all done.

Georgie had chosen the the mermaid theme months and months before. I had two additions to the plan: first, it wouldn't be a Disney mermaid but rather a general mermaid and, second, pirates for the boys. I'd been scouring Pinterest for months! Bobby and I worked tirelessly on the party prep every evening and some of the days. Not enough hours in the day!!! Finally, the day had arrived! Georgie couldn't have been any more excited than she was.

The food was made: "shellwiches" deli croissant sandwiches, "seaweed salad" chinese chicken salad made with ramen noodles, "octodogs" hotdogs cut into the shape of octopii (super cute, so sad I have no pic), "shell" macaroni and cheese, "mermaid nectar" lemonade, "ocean water" water bottles wrapped with mermaid labels, "grotto grub" chips, "fish" goldfish crackers, and "sushi" rice krispy treats topped with swedish fish with fruit roll nori!

These little guys were a Pinterest find and came out pretty cute even though I wasn't thrilled with my choice of cookie. But wow!!! were they time consuming to make!

We didn't get a picture of the "sushi" on the day of the party so we made these a few weeks later for fun!

I absolutely loved Georgie's cake. I had the same wonderful custom maker as last time. Fantastic! I took a grocery store candle and blinged it up a bit with gold glitter to make it more fun.

 I ordered a digital party pack off Etsy and made the invites, birthday banner, and other decorations.

 I love the way the snack table came out. The photo of Georgie above was the crowning jewel.

Georgie showed off her princess pose while waiting for her guests to arrive. Her mermaid dress from Halloween was the perfect attire.

We covered one entire wall of the garage with underwater bulletin board paper. It really set the undersea mood.

The mermaid and pirate characters kept the kids well entertained and active for a full hour. The mermaid was pretty good but the pirate guy was awesome!!!

I'm not sure if its apparent from the pictures but Bobby and I blew up over 300 balloons! The created a fun atmosphere.

Haha! Georgie and friends Gracie and Cora putting forth all their effort on the tug of war game against the boys. At one point the girls started losing ground so Bobby slyly grabbed the end of the rope to seal the deal :-)

I thought the water wall looked a bit sparse... every ocean needs fish! The night before I drew about 20 or so sea creatures. As a gathering activity --or whenever-- the kids would color them in then we'd tape them up on the wall. G enjoyed it so much that she continued to add to the fish wall for the next few days :-)

 Loot bags

Finally, surrounded by pirates and her fellow merfolk, Georgie regaled in her birthday song!

I asked Georgie later what she wished for... I've always told my kids that the best way to have your wish come true is to let people in on it. Georgie's wish?? That "my family will be happy forever". She is truly the most beautiful person I've ever known.

As a party favor and just for fun, I made the mermaid tails for the girls. To be honest, it was quite the undertaking involving sewing and lots of hot melt glue. I think they turned out awesome! The tiaras were a dollar bin find from Joanns

This is about half the group of kids... I have no idea where the rest of them were at the time of this pic. As you can tell, Georgie is no stranger to the camera. She's pretty much always ready for a photo.

 My beautiful, beautiful girl...

We had one tail left over so I altered it a bit for Maria. Doesn't Casey make a cute pirate? I had hats for all the boys but they didn't seem to care for them. They did like the eye patches and, of course, the balloon swords made by our pirate.

After the characters left and lunch was over I pulled out a bin of sidewalk chalks and let the kids go wild.

Later that night, I asked Georgie what had been her favorite thing about the party. She answered without hesitation; having all her friends there.

In my opinion, the party was a huge success. Fun was had by all and Georgie smiled from ear to ear all day long. Yay!!!

About a week later, Georgie shared with me that she'd chosen the theme for her 6th birthday party... better hurry, only about 340 more planning days to go :-)

Day 4: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGIE!!!
Its official! Georgiana is 5 yrs old! I can’t believe it. Even though Bobby suggested to her that perhaps she should just spend another year being 4, she decided that she’d go ahead and be five. Darn it all. My baby is getting older. So wonderful and yet so sad. Sigh.

Even though today’s port was Grand Cayman we decided to spend the day on the ship instead. We’ve been to GC twice before. Plus, I’d heard that port days can be awesome days to stay on the ship; everyone is off doing excursions and tours leaving the ship pretty empty. We had a late breakfast, visited with a few characters then hit the pool. It was great! Whereas the day before there was not a single open deck chair, we now had our choice! G was able to enjoy the Mickey pool and other water activities without a crowd. It was a very nice change.

We returned to the room to get ready for the evening and G watched part of a Disney movie. Its nice that there’s an On Demand station that shows Disney films. For the 45 mins or so before dinner they have quite a few characters available. Bobby and I are becoming experts at timing the lines to ensure we obtain maximum character coverage  Then it was off to dinner at the third and final restaurant in our dining rotation, Animator’s Palette. Wow! Super fun place. The animation artist theming is great! From the pencil shaped columns to the paintbrush-shaped butter knives its just cute, cute, cute. We had a great table right next to one of the video screens allowing G to have a great view of the show. Our food, especially my salmon tartare starter, was super tasty as well. With few exceptions I’ve been very impressed with the food in the dining rooms and the quick service places.

Dinner included a round of “Happy Birthday” which thrilled G to death. By this point, G was exhausted and could barely keep her eyes open but we really wanted to see the evening’s show “Buckets and Boards”. We decided to make our way to the front of the ship where the theater is located and let Georgie take a daddy nap… you know, sleep on daddy’s shoulder. It worked out pretty well. By the time the show began, G had slept a bit and was able to enjoy the show. Actually enjoy is putting it mildly, she absolutely howled with laughter. The show is a musical comedy duo that’s a bit hard to describe but suffice to say, they’re funny!

Once the show was over, G was completely done and started asking if we were going to go back to the room to sleep. Poor baby. I think we wore her out.

This was the craziest and most energetic Peter Pan I've ever come across. He ran around, screamed and jumped up onto stairway banisters. At a few points I was actually concerned for him and the safety of some of the passengers. G and all the kids adored him and thought he was the greatest thing ever. Truthfully, he was quite entertaining but wow!

Happy Birthday to Georgiana!  

I'd always wanted to see Belle in her Christmas dress. Usually you have to be at WDW at Christmas time but, I guess since the ship was still decorated for Christmas, they brought her out. G and I saw her and ran!!! Yes, we're crazy. 

With the Buckets and Boards guys. They were so fun!