The Lee Family: Sofia's 6th Birthday Party

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Sofia's 6th Birthday Party

Yesterday was Sofia's birthday and her birthday party! The past few years we've had a pool party at our house in the morning to celebrate her birthday and this year we gave her the option of having another pool party and inviting whoever she wants or holding it at a trampoline park or Ride with Pride or somewhere else but with the understanding that it would be a limited guest list. Sofia decided on having a pool party once again and asked that her friends Thomas, Isabella, Gigi, Milani, Lily, and Chloe attend, all eight of the girls from her soccer team, as well as her friends from school Allen, Annabella, Caroline, and Jack and a few of her friends who she's met at horse camp, Ainsley and Camila. All said, we were looking at inviting over 20 kids which meant that we would likely have around 40-50 people in our house! Instead, we decided to cut the soccer team and invite the rest of her friends and our neighbor/friend 2-year old Antonio. Instead of gifts, we asked that those who attend bring a book and we would have a book swap during the party since we would rather Sofia focus on the fun of the day and the fact that she received gifts from family and didn't need a bunch of other toys. She wasn't happy with it, but she understood our reasoning. After all the agonizing over her guest list, only six of her friends were able to make it. It really turned out to be a very fun party though, I think because we weren't running around crazy the whole time!

Amazingly on the day of the party, it was 78 degrees and a high of 85! It's never been below 104 on her birthday in the past five years and yesterday was one of the best weather days of the year! It was amazing out. The party was from 10am until noon and CK picked up the cake and balloons just before Sofia's friends arrived. Before our trip to California, we stopped by Market Street and Sofia flipped through the cake book and decided on her favorite birthday cake - dinosaurs! The cake looked great and we later found that it tasted as good as it looked. I made peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, a fruit and cheese tray, and a veggie and dip tray. We had small bottled water, juice boxes and ice tea.

Sofia's friends started arriving and they all went straight for the pool. The girls had so much fun swimming, making up stories, going down the slide and it really was such a great size party. Antonio, Olivia, Stacy and I hung out in the hot tub for the most part so the little ones could play and swim without being bombarded by the big girls. It was such fun and everyone got along well.

All the girls enjoyed getting at least one dinosaur tattoo, and Sofia decided to get six, since she's now six. The girls got out of the pool after about two hours and ate sandwiches and snacks before we sang happy birthday to Sofia and all enjoyed cake and ice cream. I nearly forgot about the book swap and the girls decided on books they wanted, said their goodbyes and our party was over. Sofia enjoyed playing with her new books and enjoying the pool a bit more.

Sofia with her 6th birthday cake!