The other day Lindsey sent me a picture of a flyer for a Princess Party at the Richland Fire Hall. I was like “that looks cool, you should take Payton.” Lindsey responded that she had to work, but that I was off. Oh and no one would be able to watch Logan, so I would be taking him as well. Look, I can handle my kids. I have no problem going somewhere with them, but I could see this going horribly wrong. I just imagined Payton not listening at all and trying to keep track of her, meanwhile Logan would be in one of his moods and either be extremely shy/scared of everything, or just grumpy and cry the entire time.
Fortunately, the party was at 4:30, so I was able to watch the Penn State game. I figured PSU would be up big against Illinois so I would have plenty of time to get the kids ready and head over. Yeah, I was wrong. Fortunately, I got Payton’s costume on and Logan dressed during timeouts. And I ended up having to listen to the final few overtimes on the radio while driving over. Not really important for the story, but I just want you to know that I managed all of this while being on the verge of throwing a brick through the TV because of the game. I also ended up being totally wrong about the event. It was fun and the kids were actually good. Logan was hyper and being crazy while we waited for our table to be called to go up and meet the princesses. He was being silly and had the people around us laughing.
There was a person there selling stuff and naturally Payton had to have a Jasmine bag. She loves bags of all kinds. I tried to convince her to get the autograph book, so the princesses could sign it for her, but she did not want it, she wanted a bag. Naturally when we were in line to meet the princesses, the girl behind us was talking about having her book signed and then Payton wanted one too. I had to explain that she chose the bag. She started to cry, but I told her that next year when we come she can do the autographs and that made her happy.
There were a few other moments of sadness during the event. First when she realized that Jasmine was not coming. The princesses came out and did some songs, then came the meet and greet. As we were waiting, Payton leaned over and asked “will Jasmine be out soon?” I had to tell her that Jasmine must not have been able to make it this time. She looked so dejected, but I told her that she at least got to meet Anna & Elsa, as well as Tiana, Ariel, and Moana. The next sad moment was at the end, they had us write our kids names on paper and put it in a bucket. They then raffled off the pumpkin centerpieces (they were painted like princesses). Payton did not understand the concept of a raffle and thought they would call everyone’s name. The first girl that won was from our table (and a friend of Payton’s from preschool) and a few names later, the other girl at our table won. Unfortunately, Payton did not win. I had to explain that not everyone wins during a raffle. Fortunately, one of the moms at our table felt bad and asked the organizer if she could have one of the decorative pumpkins that were around the room. They brought it over and gave it to Payton and she was happy. Although, did that hurt her in the end? Does she understand that sometimes you lose…ugh, parenting is hard.
Anyways, back to the princess meeting. While we were in line, Logan was still acting crazy (probably had nothing to do with the three cookies and two cupcakes he ate). He was lying on the floor and sliding around like a snake. When we finally got to the front, he went up to Moana and said “I love you Moana.” It was so cute! He ended up being a big hit with all the princesses since I believe he was the only little boy there. During the group picture though, things turned ugly. I think Anna was trying to hold him, but he could not see me, so he freaked out. I had to hold him and he would not stop crying. Hence the look in the picture.
Once it was over, we went to mommy’s restaurant for some dinner and then came home. It was a great evening with the kids. I hope they do the event next year and maybe some more princesses come, especially Jasmine (look, if anyone can dress up like her and sing “Speechless”, I would probably pay money for an appearance on her birthday, haha).
