The Big 5

In just a few short weeks, Ya-Ya will be turning the big 5. I have, at this point, pretty much gotten over the denial and just come to accept that she is a very big girl now and not much of a baby at all. Though there are days when I swear she acts like a two year old...... then again, I have a few of those days myself here and there, so who am I to judge?

She has been pretty consistent about wanting a princess themed birthday party. Not just any old princesses, either, the Disney ones. We went shopping today to let her pick out decorations. This will be the first year when *hopefully* there will be other kids attending her birthday and not just the usual boring round of adult relatives. I'm really hoping that all of the friends we have with kids her age will pull through and come out to help us celebrate.

About a week ago, right after I had power cleaned the whole front end of the house, Ya-Ya asked if she could play with her barbies and ponies. I said sure, and then watched in mute horror as she pulled out the 20 some odd barbies and 5 HUGE plastic, barbie-haired ponies that we somehow came to own. Apparently, every time she leaves the house with my sister-in-law, she is losing shoes and gaining barbies and ponies. That doesn't even touch the BUCKETS of "my little ponies" in various sizes that are around the house, the plastic animals, the farm ponies and horses, the play food, the huge box of dress up clothes, hats, and accessories.... it is.. in a word, RIDICULOUS. And all I could think was... she is getting ready to have a birthday and undoubtedly people are going to get her MORE of this junk!

When the hubby got home we had a big discussion about the birthday thing because people are already beginning to ask what they should get her. One thing that she has been asking for, which would be practical and OUTSIDE is a swing set. We decided that rather than purchasing more of the same things we already have that outside play things would be the way to go this year. A few of our friends have those glorified, mini-park, wooden sets with all the bells and whistles which, while VERY NICE, are WAY outside of our price range. We had considered asking all of our questioning relatives to contribute to the swing set fund, but then decided that would be tacky, so we decided to settle for something not as pricey, but just as effective.

I'm kind of cheating, because even though she really wants this, I'm getting ready to have three kids, and having something outdoors for them to play on will be AWESOME. We let her pick out the set today while at the store. We settled on just a simple set that has room for three swings and comes with a nice sized slide. We are headed out to Marvin's this evening to get the makings of a larger and nicer sand box to go with it, as well as mulch to fill in around the play area and cement to secure the posts of the swing set. We got her one of those plastic turtle sand boxes last year and in my opinion it was a waste. We get a good bit of rain here, and the cover was not very efficient at keeping the water out. Because it's a plastic tub, the water DOES NOT DRAIN, and so we really just had this standing water, mosquito pit in the back yard that she rarely got to play with. So, we're just going to build one over the ground, so the water can drain out, and make sure that our pest control guy sprays around the outside when he comes to do the house, to help keep out the ants and things. Has anyone ever done this sort of project before?

In any case, we are all excited about the upcoming birthday party. The weather here has been in the lower 70's ALL WEEK, and I for one am THANKFUL. It's been nice to spend more time outdoors and this whole swing set thing is going to be wonderful for when the kids are going nuts indoors.