For Aubrie's twelfth birthday I wanted to do something special. I gave her a pack of 50 invitations and told her to invite whomever she wanted. I envisioned a big Luau party, with a DJ, lots of food and swimming. That is not what she envisioned. I was a little sad about it, but it's about what she wanted. I just wanted it to be memorable. She invited about 12 girls, and wanted it simple. She decided to repeat the Hawaiian themed birthday party she had when she was nine. She had so much fun with that one, and she wanted to do something here at the house, so that made planning easy for me. The weekend before we went to Party City and picked out some really cute decorations and the night before she helped me shop for food.
We had her party the Saturday after her actual birthday. When everyone started to show up they were just hanging out on our stairs talking. I thought, "Wow, this is going to be a lame party." Once they got in their swimsuits and outside, the girls started to loosen up, and have a great time. We played some of the same games we did at her first Hawaiian party, which included the dress up relay race, eating donuts from a string and cutting the flour around the quarter game. I wasn't sure if the girls would have as much fun as they did when they were younger, but that wasn't the case. They all had a great time with the games. They were even daring enough to smash each others faces into the flour when they were trying to fish the quarter out. For dinner I made pulled pork sandwiches and a fruit platter. We mixed up the night with food, and then some more swimming, and then a game, and then more swimming, and another game, etc.
After all the games were done and the swimming was wrapping up, the girls headed back to the trampoline. I was on the patio trying to spray the flour residue off the patio. I looked over and saw there were too many girls on the trampoline and thought, "I should probably go say something," and decided I would after I put the hose back. As I turned around to put the hose back I heard a blood curdling scream from Aubrie. I turned around to find her body collapsed on the ground by the trampoline. I rushed over there, and she was crying in pain and yelling, "Mom, Mom, Mom, I think I broke it!", as she was reaching for her ankle. All her friends came rushing to her, and I picked her up and carried her to the back patio chair. We iced it and elevated it for a few minutes but she still was in so much pain. There was still 45 minutes left for her party, and she still hadn't opened gifts or had her cake and ice cream. I put her in a chair and elevated her leg with another chair, and she opened gifts that way. Every card said, "I hope you have a great Birthday", which eventually brought her to tears, as she sat there in pain opening her gifts and reading those words. Then it made everyone laugh, and helped her quickly come out of her tears. After opening gifts, she sat in the recliner, and watch her friends play the Kinect. She started to cry again, and she told me she was sad that she ruined her party for her friends. We all convinced her that she didn't ruin it, and everyone still had a great time. Besides that, this would now be a party she would never forget. With about 10 minutes left, we remembered we hadn't sang Happy Birthday and had cake. So we quickly did that, before everyone left.
Aubrie was still in so much pain, and I wanted to run her to the ER, but she had two friends that were staying later, due to other family obligations. Luckily one of the girls parents showed up earlier than expected, so after she left, I took Aubrie and her friend (Kim) to the urgent care down the street from us. We were in there for about 2 hours. Luckily it was only a sprang, but that didn't make the pain any better.
The following morning she was being promoted to Young Women, and we were wondering how in the world she was going to go to church, and walk up to the stand to give her article of faith. Luckily we tracked down some crutches, but when it came time for her to walk up to the stand, she just hobbled on it. The Bishop mentioned something about her being able to make it up there, and then Aubrie gave the 13th Article of Faith. She did a great job, and I was proud of her for not taking the easy way out, and doing the Article of Faith she liked the most.
So while she may have not had the type of party I thought would be the most memorable, she definitely made it a memorable party!
