After the last 3 days, if Alayna doesn't feel thoroughly honored, pampered, spoiled rotten, and celebrated -- I can't imagine what more it would take.  The birthday festivities began on Thursday. We spent the day preparing for our care group, which doubled as Alayna's 1st Art Show. She had sent out invitations at the beginning of the week which read,

Dear Mr. and Mrs. _____,

You are invited to my first art show on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Artwork will cost 25c each. I hope to see you there.  

First, I dictated this to her and gave her a chance to write it as well as she could. Then, I showed her the correct spelling, etc., and had her rewrite the paragraph. I cut 2 cardstocks in half, folded them, and had her copy the invitation onto the 4 homemade cards. She then drew and colored a different picture on the front of each card. Finally, she learned the proper way of addressing an envelope.

This exercise was wonderful! I had her total cooperation and excitement. She was happily learning spelling, grammar, handwriting, formal letter writing, etc. -- and didn't even realize it!

So, Thur. night, thankfully, we had 10 people show up. Alayna's artwork went fast! It was fun to see who chose what. She had helped me make cupcakes, and she "artistically" decorated them w/ the gel tubes I bought for her. (After all, it *was* her art show, right!) We sang "Happy Birthday" and she blew out her #8 candle. Then, I ushered all the little ones outside with cupcakes in hand. Whew!

The next morning, el cinco de mayo, Alayna awoke to the sight of a gift by her pillow. It was just a Mad Lib, but it made her happy. She climbed in bed with us for a few minutes, then I made pancakes for her, with apple pie filling stirred in.  Next, Nana & Papa came over with Leah, and brought some nice clothes and a really cute Bible companion...a great complement to the Bible I gave her.

Right after that little visit, Mammaw & Pappaw came over for 2 hrs (while I took Liddy to the podiatrist). More gifts...clothes, a Barbie, and a really cool Barbie wall clock with Barbie clothes hanging off each number. So, I spent quite a while pounding holes into Laney's wall to hang that thing up. But she loves it.

For supper, I made her favorite: Mac-n-cheese! Then, she and Abby were off to the drive-in w/ M&P to see "Ice Age 2" and "The Wild," followed by a sleepover. When we picked them up Sat. morning, we went straight to the Mall at Robinson for the grand finale.

Let's see. First, they got to experience Japanese food (and attempted to eat with chopsticks -- a belated go-along to "A Pair of Red Clogs"). Then, it was on to Build-a-Bear. Those women are hardcore salespeople! But, Alayna didn't go ridiculously crazy. She picked a white kitty to stuff ("Casey"), bought one outfit for her, and a kitty bed. They gave all the other kids each a fuzzy photo frame, just to be nice.

Then, we suprised her by heading over to the Piercing Pagoda. The first time we stood there, she chose her earrings but then chickened out. So, we started to walk away and I saw how crushed Abby was. She had been dealing with Alayna's hoopla so well that I couldn't bear to make her miss out on yet another thing. So, I convinced Roy to let Abby get hers done without Alayna.

What a plucky kid! Six years old and she marched right in there and took it like a champ. Alayna wasn't feeling so brave about it still, even seeing Abby's reaction. But, the "buy a pair, get a pair 1/2 off" sale gave me the motivation to work on her a bit until she finally agreed. Besides, I knew she'd really regret it if she came home with naked ears and had to look at Abby's pretty pink flower earrings all day, every day.

Well, they both look darling now. Lydia wanted to do it, too, but we told her she had to wait until she no longer screams bloody murder every time we brush her hair.

From there, it was onward to Brewster's for some ice cream. And finally, the 3 girls got in one of those photographing contraptions and had a cute picture taken. I was so proud of them. They really behaved themselves. And Connor was a perfect little baby for most of the day. God bless Roy's parents for keeping Trevor during that outing, or things might have been a LOT different.

So, you would think that concludes Alayna's birthday festivities, right? Wrong! She'll be spending all of next weekend with Mammaw, Pappaw, and Great-Grandma Row-Row at Auntie She-She's in Columbus. And so the spoiling continues...