Big Sister Party

Brad has been off on use it or lose it vacation time these last few days. So we took the opportunity to suprise Brooke with a Big Sister Party today. Odd timing you may think? That most kids get these things right when the new baby is born?

Well, we decided to give her some kudos for how wonderful she has been the last 5 months. I cannot begin to explain how wonderful she has been. She really takes care of Brenna...more than a 3 yr old should. I could list the numerous things she does throughout the day, but it would go on and on. The bottom line is she is 3 years old and she helps out TREMENDOUSLY. I find myself actually depending on her to do the things she has willingly taken on that I never asked or expected her to do (with regard to Brenna). Then I have to make myself stop and remember she is only three and deserves to be a kid too - not just a little mommy.

So today, we celebrated her. For no reason other than to give her praise for what we appreciate in her every day. Too often we find ourselves telling her 'no' or pushing her away to have to do other things. She asked me the other day if 'no' was a bad word. I told her that it can be used badly, but that the word in itself wasn't bad. She told me then, 'well, since no can be a bad word, I think you need to stop telling me no.' (she's got brains too!).

Daily life sometimes gets in the way of fun with the kids. So today was about her. We told her nothing of it and took her to school like normal. Then Daddy and I got everything ready to surprise her when she got home from school. I baked a cake ("Brooke is the best!" cake), we had small presents laid out for her, and a ton of balloons filling the house, silly string, etc. Brenna and I put on our party hats and waited for her to get home to yell "Suprise!"So, she was definitely surprised! You could tell she was wondering what on earth was going on? But she loved all the balloons and all the PINK of course. : ) So after she walked in and saw everything, she sat down and we explained what we were doing all this for.

She got to open her presents - just small things that she probably would've gotten anyway.. ; ) - Little Mermaid DVD, a Sisters book, and a cross necklace that she's been BEGGING for (she wanted one like Mommy's). I secretly had that one stashed away for some time waiting to surprise her with it when she did something special or extraordinary. So, today was the day!
So, we had tons of fun eating cake for lunch, opening presents, blowing party horns and attacking each other with Silly String in the backyard. She kept saying randomly and out of the blue - "I was so suprised today!" Or commenting on all the balloons or her presents or how she was a big helper and it pays off, etc etc.... I am so thrilled to see her so happy and so glad we were able to do something special for our sweet Brooke. To spend the day really loving on her when she has all too often in the last few months gotten pushed off to the side. Today we focused on her. She's napping now and when she wakes up, we promised we'd all watch Little Mermaid: The Beginning and pig out on popcorn. : )