happy early birthday!

i wish we were the sort of parents who could put together a thoughtful, themed, homemade birthday party, but we're not. (when i asked amelia if she wanted me to bake her cupcakes for her birthday, she even said, "no thanks, let's just buy them." it is true, my baking skills are rather lacking.) so instead, we went with the "pump it up" option, this indoor arena of inflatable slides, jumping houses and the like, where you actually sign your child's life away through legal waivers in exchange for climbing hills like these:

and going down slides like these:

by the end of the 1 1/2 hours of play time (and before pizza and cupcakes), most kids suffer from one minor injury or other--a bruised knee here, a stomped-on-toe there, but all the kids are worn out and (more or less) happy, and all the parents were looking forward to the long nap the kids will take that afternoon.

amelia has been to a few parties at pump it up and knows the routine. she had been reminding us about the "throne" the birthday kid gets to sit on, and she was quite insistent about not sharing it with anyone:

here she is, attendants at her feet:

after the party, as we were getting ready for amelia's nap, she turned to me and said, "momma, can i have my five year old birthday party at pump it up?"

***

we got many lovely presents from our friends--lots of games, puzzles, i.e., toys that i like. we also got this lovely skirt that mimi yiyi made. amelia put it on after the party and said, "this goes well with my princess crown, right?" she's already asked if she can wear it tomorrow to school.