The Houghs: Abby Turns Six

And it begins. . .

Today was a long, long day.

Lil' baby Abby, the runt of our litter, has finally turned 6. This year Kris and I decided to throw the girls a combo birthday party at Plymouth Park in early June (stay tuned - it'll be between their respective birthdays), so as to capitalize on all the kids who could make it out and to cut down on all the party planning stress.

Consequently, this left Abby's legal birthday - today, if you'll remember - completely open.

Kris and I knew we had to acknowledge the kid's birthday on the actual date, as to not do so would just be downright cruel for a child. In the end, we decided to let Abby call all of the shots for the entire day: the menu for each meal, the activities for morning, afternoon, and evening, and surrender unto her complete control of the TV. Alas, I feel this set a precedent that we may have to repeat for either child's birthday, every year until they move out of the house.

(Thank God it only happens twice a year.)

Smurf it, Internet: Abby's Sixth Birthday

Kris, hard at work in her office, making cupcakes for Abby to take in to her class on Friday (technically not the kid's birthday, but. . . whatever.)

Carrie Fisher cupcakes.

See those skates on Abby? For the last month or two, she's been putting them on the minute she wakes up in the morning and leaves them on throughout the course of the day, tearing up and down the hardwood floors of the house. To say its annoying would be a grave understatement indeed.

All ready for her big day

We figured we had to give the kid some of her presents on her actual birthday, instead of waiting to give her everything until the girls' combo party on June 5th.

Following a breakfast of pancakes and strawberries (Abby's favorite), our family hit up the library here in town to return books and check out new ones - one of our most popular weekly family activities (we're all avid readers 'round these parts.) The iPads downstairs in the Kids Section are always fan favorites.

Following our stint a la biblioteca, Abby decided we should all go rollerskating at Midland's Roll Arena. . .

This kid spent 90% of our time at the Roll Arena tearing around the rink. . . unlike her sister.

Kris ended up renting some skates so Abby had someone to skate with (I sure as hell can't roller skate), since Alayna, despite owning skates of her own, usually refuses to skate out on the hardwood. This kid loathes feeling unbalanced, which is one of the reasons why she still has frickin' training wheels on her bike.

Abby really wanted to try out this claw machine, and Kris really tried explaining how the whole game is basically a giant scam meant to swindle quarters from little kids. . .

But, ultimately, Abby got her way. . .

. . . and learned a valuable lesson in the futility of placing one's hopes in a claw machine.

Alayna moped about the snack and game area of the Roll Arena the majority of the time while her sister and mom skated (and I took pictures.) She wanted money to play the games, but we told her she couldn't play anything until she spent some time skating with her sister, since that's why we were there in the first place: to celebrate Abby's birthday. Kids suck.

(Abby and Kris are at the far end of the rink, at center.)

Alayna, watching the skaters go by from the dining area.

Elvis Chimp is cooler than you.

Thumbs up from the Cannonball

See the DJ booth up to the right, there? That setup hasn't changed since the early '90s, when my friends and I used to request jams from Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch or Cypress Hill. Today, there would be no Funky Bunch requests: Alayna and I made a birthday announcement request, along with Pharrell's Happy, which is one of Abby's favorite songs.

Kris said 'screw it' and ordered an entire pizza for the kids, along with a pitcher of Sprite (which we hardly needed, since there was so much grease on the pizza it technically counted as a beverage.)

A medium pizza for a family of four might not sound too crazy to some folks, but we Houghs generally eat pretty healthy. . . Kris and I felt like garbage the rest of the day.

Par for the course.

(Note the absence of Alayna's skates.)

Hough gals

After eating, Kris again tried getting Alayna out on the rink. It took quite a lot of coaxing on her part, but eventually Alayna grudgingly agreed to go around the rink. Once.

They're going just as fast as you can imagine, folks. Abby lapped them four or five times.

Bored skating with her sister.

After the Cannonball's one time around the rink, I let her play a few games in the arcade. She ended up winning about 70 tickets, which was just enough to buy 5 cents worth of pure garbage on our way out of the Roll Arena.

When we got back to the house, Kris had to go to her good friend Kim's baby shower for a few hours in Harrison (also known as "Michigan's Butthole.") Abby wanted to spend part of the afternoon watching her favorite movie, Return of the Jedi. I was somewhat cool with this.

About an hour into the movie, Mom and John brought my niece and nephew, Scarlett and Owen, over. Mom had wanted to bring over one of Abby's presents and visit for an hour, and had my brother Jeff's kids in tow because Jeff and his wife, Annie, were downstate at our cousin Rachel's wedding (I didn't go because it was my daughter's birthday, and I wasn't about to ruin my kid's big day.)

We brought up a bunch of the kids' old kitchen stuff for the younger kids to play with, and made sure that we had the living room clear of any and all things valuable and/or breakable.

After about an hour or two, Mom and John took the kids back over to Jeff and Annie's (you forget how much little kids require naps throughout the day.)

Abby asked me to take this picture and send it to Kris, who was still at Kim's Baby Shower in Harrison after a couple hours. I think the guilt angle must've worked: Kris came home shortly thereafter.

The girls prepare to chow down on some nachos (Abby's pick for her birthday dinner.)

With two batches of cupcakes for Abby's kindergarten class yesterday, and four cakes to make ready for the girls' combo party on June 5th, Kris didn't feel like baking any more crap. So Abby got a leftover Princess Leia cupcake, with a '6' candle in it.

Singing 'Happy Birthday'

After the celebratory cupcake/song routine, we brought the presents into the living room so Abby could open them up in front of a camera. This is one of those books on CD, of which Abby has a ton. She loves these things, especially the Star Wars ones, so we picked her up The Force Awakens.

Some more Disney Infinity figures for the Wii U (I think this one in her hand is Chewbacca.)

We got her a few more figure sets from the Star Wars Galactic Heroes line, too. She had been complaining that she didn't have any girls, and since I couldn't find Princess Leia (her favorite) ANYWHERE, we had to settle for sets featuring Padme Amidala, Rey, and Captain Phasma. Meh.

Reading a card from Mom and John

They got her some pads for her wrists, elbows and knees so that she could safely roller skate outside on the uneven sidewalk (and cease riding around the house like a crazy person, driving all of her roommates insane.)

More Playmobil (the girls are obsessed with this stuff.)

(She had her eye on this Adventure Treehouse thing for awhile.)

Testing out the new pads. . .

Of course Alayna isn't roller skating. . .

While the girls were outside burning off energy, this is what the Man of the House was doing: assembling a ridiculously intricate Playmobil play set.