Revolving Door Birthday

Yesterday was Stella's birthday party celebration. It's always chancy in the summer when you send out those invitations. You never know who will be around. It's a busy time of year. Last year, she only invited three girls, so I called each family to find a time that worked for all involved. This year, her list of guests was longer, and since she wanted a sleepover, I didn't really care if not all could make it. This year we decided to take the girls swimming at an outdoor pool nearby, and then back to our house for a sleepover. This was what Stella wanted.

The only thing I did do was to call a neighbor whose daughter is a friend of Stella's, and whose birthday is the day after Stella's. I thought we should have the parties on different days. But she hadn't decided yet when to have the party for her daughter ("...we are going out of town the 17th, and my birthday is the 12th, so I just don't know...I don't think it matters..."). I felt stupid for calling. So I just chose the Saturday before Stella's birthday, and sent out the invites.

But like I said, this is a busy time. Stella invited seven girls, and this is what played out:

Skylar-Never RSVPd, assumed to be out of town

Anna (friend from our old neighborhood)-couldn't come as she was going camping with her grandparents

Erin (the neighbor with a birthday the day after Stella's)-This was weird. I tried to coordinate parties. Plus, Stella delivered an invite before Erin even got her invites out. But, Erin (meaning her mom) chose that same Saturday anyway to have Erin's bday party. And Stella was invited. Well, Stella couldn't go. Erin, though, did come to our party later that afternoon after we got back from swimming, but didn't spend the night, as she felt she needed to catch up on her sleep...What kid thinks like this? So she left about 9 pm.

Julia-came later at about 2 pm while we were at the pool. She had gone to Erin's bday first. She spent the night and left the next day at 11 am.

Brittany (BFF)-Came at 12:30 on Saturday, and left at 11 am on Sunday. The only person who stayed for the whole designated bday party.

Kaleigh (the most complicated)-Came at 12:30 to go swimming. Her mom picked her up at the pool at 2:30 to go to a soccer game. Another woman brought her back to our house at 6 pm. But since she had a soccer game on Saturday, she didn't spend the night and was picked up at 9:30 pm that night. There were many phone calls from her mom about all of this...

Rebecca-Due to some 4H and family commitments, Rebecca wasn't slated to arrive until about 9 pm that night and was to spend the night. But she couldn't wait that long, so her mom brought her over at 7pm.

In all, only three of the original seven girls spent the night, but that was fine with me. It was fairly quiet that way. As far as I know they are still sleeping.