Birthday Fun

I took over 100 pictures on Eliza's birthday to document the day she probably won't remember when she's older. Thought I had better share some of them to sum up her day.
Eliza was pretty tired when she woke up. We wanted Brooklyn to see Eliza before Brooklyn had to go to school so we got her out of bed and opened a few presents. Eliza was happy it was finally her birthday, but was not prepared to jump into the celebrations. She had an "it's my party and I can cry if I want to" sort of attitude. She didn't want to open the presents so she asked Brooklyn to help her.
She picked which present she wanted to open first and it was not what she wanted. She had picked some puppets out from Costco and had been waiting anxiously to get them. I made sure she opened those next.
She was a bit happier after she got her puppets.
While Brooklyn was at school we made the birthday cake. Eliza enjoyed helping and licking the batter.
When Brooklyn got home from school (it was an early day), she gave Eliza her birthday gift. Eliza hugged every present she received.
My mom had watched the girls the night before her birthday because Marty and I went to an advanced screening of Breaking Dawn Part 1. She spent the night and let us stay out late, though we were home by 10pm. She was here to enjoy breakfast with us and spend some time with Eliza.
She gave Eliza the Leapfrog Tag Reader. Brooklyn has this and they were always fighting over the pen. Now we have two pens and they can share the books. Perfect. Eliza went straight to reading.
Next we needed to buy a birthday gift for Brooklyn's friend who was having a birthday party the following day so we went to Toys R Us. We decided to let Eliza celebrate with Toys R Us and let them do the whole birthday thing they do there. Well, that was a mistake. The place was packed and their customer service was horrible. After waiting in line for at least 30 minutes, we were told they had no helium for balloons (which was the one thing I promised her because she loves them). They didn't offer to sing to her or anything. All she received was a paper crown and a magazine. I was frustrated because I had wasted so much time and we had a previous bad experience with this store on Brooklyn's birthday.
We quickly took her over to Build-A-Bear to use her $5 gift certificate she received from their store. She picked out a pair of "roller skaters" as she called them. We paid a $1 of our own money and it worked out. Brooklyn had a royal (and I do mean royal) fit in the store because she got nothing. It's hard to be the girl who isn't having the birthday.
Next we went to Fat Cats to go bowling. Our friends had a Groupon they were selling so we decided that would be a fun thing. We originally were going to go swimming, but our rec center doesn't have open swim until 1pm. Well, buy the time we waited at the above stores, it was about 1 before we got here. Oh well.
The customer service here was horrible as well. There was a company who had rented out the entire place from 1-3. We arrived at 1:07 and they told us they would have no lanes for us until 3 pm. I started asking the man where I would find this information out because it wasn't on their website. He immediately went on the defense and told me I should call daily to hear their schedule. I was beyond frustrated at this point. I wasn't about to wait 2 hours and I wasn't going to go home and come back. I explained I had a birthday girl and a voucher that was expiring. I hit my breaking point. He told us to wait a few more minutes to see if they would have any open lanes after he checked everyone in. I was crying at this point. I had tried to make Eliza's birthday special and I felt like I failed. I was frustrated over the poor customer service we had received everywhere as well.
Fortunately they found us a lane. The man apologized and we were able to go bowling. It wasn't as fun as it might have been though. The place was packed and full of kids. It was hard to bowl without worrying you were going to kill the child in the lane next to you because they were running everywhere.
Eliza had a blast though and that's all that matters.
Proud of my big little girl! I think she won both games too.
Marty was good to help the girls over and over.
Brooklyn got a strike and I actually caught her celebrating. Too cute not to post.
Then it was time to leave. Eliza got in the car, grabbed her build-a-bear bag and fell asleep.
After her short nap, we had dinner and prepared for her grandparents to come see her. She wanted Little Caesars pizza for dinner (her favorite) and they gave her a balloon. Thank goodness for Little Caesars. I let the girls have fun with our Backyardigans stickers while they waited for their grandparents. I had this stuff left over from Brooklyn's 3rd birthday party. My girls really love The Backyardigans.
I didn't have a friend party so this was their own little party.
Next we let them pin the bow on Pablo. Eliza didn't want to be blindfolded yet she still put the bow in Pablo's hand. I should have explained the purpose of the game I guess.
Brooklyn loved it and wanted to play again and again.
Finally the grandparents arrived. This is Eliza with Grandma Pat.
Eliza got these dolls from Grandma Pat and Grandpa Ted. She loves them!
Brooklyn has sort of taken over the purple hair doll. My dad bought them mainly because there were two dolls and could be shared easier. Brilliant!
Next was her present from Grandma Connie. Grandpa Doyle was at home sick. Eliza was ready to open her presents by herself this time, but Brooklyn still wanted to help.
Eliza and Grandma Connie.
She got 4 pairs of Princess dress up shoes. The girl was in heaven! She loves wearing these types of shoes.
Next was the cake and ice cream. Eliza didn't like the spotlight and clammed up. She didn't want to blow out the candles. Brooklyn helped her.
She did enjoy eating the ice cream and cake. By this point, she was done with the camera and sick of all the pictures.
Here are her presents (minus the books in the case).
Plus these that she is snuggling. It was past bedtime by this point and she was zoned out!
She loved her birthday! I enjoyed it too after calming down about the poor customer service.