Imma's 7th Birthday!

We were in the middle of the ocean on a cruise ship when Imma turned seven. I didn't have the chance to post anything about this year or how amazing my little girl is.  So, this post is a few days late, but I hope to sum up a year of progress, of growing, of challenges, and perseverance.
Imma did really well in school this year.  She still struggles with abstract concepts but she is becoming a great reader. She has amazing spacial skills that have allowed her to take her own approach to math and excel in some areas that are really difficult for other children. She did really well with Mrs. Medford and I'm so happy she had such an amazing teacher.
Imma has played softball and basketball this year and done really well in both.  She also did great in dance and did an awesome job at her recital.  She has shown she knows how to play as part of a team and can contribute to a winning effort.
Imma has made new friends this year and grown existing friendships.  I don't know where she would be without her bestie Peyton.  She also became very good friends with another little Peyton this year as well.  I couldn't possibly name all of her friends but we are blessed to have each of them in our lives and it isn't surprising to me that so many of her close friends are boys (like Chrisopher, Donny, and Bradley to name a few!) I have also seen a blossoming friendship between Lucy and Imma this year.  They become closer and closer as they get older.  Often, it is the idea that, "no one better mess with my sister, except for me!"
Imma continues to enjoy music and dancing.  She started music therapy at school this year, which was a blessing for her.  She continued speech and also added some OT back in.  All of these therapies continue to help her improve her language skills.
I will still be the first to say that Imma is the hardest working child I have ever met.  She has to do so much just to know what is going on around her. The fact that most people have no idea that there is anything different about her is remarkable and a testimony to just how incredible she is.  I am so very lucky to have been chosen to be here mother!
Now, for the fun part!  Imma wanted a lalaloopsy party this year.  So, since last year's theme was, "Imma in Wonderland,"  this year we decided to go with, "Imma in Lalaloopsy Land."  We invited a ton of people again and had a great turn out.  We went ahead and did the petting zoo and bounce house, even though I wondered if the kids were getting too big for that.  My sister Kinley made the cakes, which turned out super-cute, and of course I took the decorating a little too the extreme.  Our family friend Priscilla dressed-up like Jewels Sparkle and Imma dressed up like Crumbs Sugar Cookie because she wanted to! She had a really great time with a whole bunch of her friends. Here are some pics from the party!

Imma blowing out her candles.

Imma's birthday cakes.

The Candy Buffet

Some of the decor

Crumbs Sugar Cookie!

LuLu checking out the snacks

We hope all of our guests had as much fun as we did!  We got to meet some parents we hadn't gotten to know before and that's always a plus.  I'm not sure if we will do "Extravaganza" again next year or not but Imma had a good time, we got to see a lot of her friends from school one last time before summer, and I had an excuse to make lots of cute decorations! :)

I am excited to see what Imma's eighth year has in store. I know she will continue to inspire and amaze all of those who are lucky enough to get to know her.  Happy Birthday, Imma-Jane!

The Rationale Behind Imma's Extravagant Birthday Party

I invited every single kindergartner to Imma's birthday party.
I invited a lot of our family friends, new friends from school, teachers and administrators who work with her. I invited a lot of people.  If I didn't invite you and you'd like to come, message me and we'll make it happen. I have been working on invitations and decorations for over a month and I will be working on them until the very last minute.
I have booked a petting zoo, a bounce house, and Alice will be here (It's an Alice in Wonderland party.)
I have bought new apothecary jars for the Candy Bar.
So far, the reaction from parents has been something along the lines of, "Did you make these invitations??" Yes. Yes, I did.  "I can't believe you wrote their names in calligraphy!"  Yes, yes I did.
The reaction from the kids I have talked to is, "I'm going to Imma's birthday party!!" I've heard from parents that it's been more of a demand than a request.
The reaction from my very close friends and family members has been a little more like, "Are you insane??" and I guess they have a point. So let me attempt to explain my thinking.
Earlier in the year, I often heard other students talking about Imma, and not in a good way.  She has been called "mean," "weird," "different," "trouble-maker," and those are just the things I have heard. While I will admit she is different, she is none of those other things.  As the year has progressed, a lot of that has changed, though I do still hear other children make comments like, "She doesn't talk to anyone," or "She only swings at recess and she won't play with us." That's better, but it's not good enough.
Imma has recently started reaching out to other children besides her friends in her class. She has three or four friends in her class that she adores and they adore her, too. I refer to one little girl as her best friend because I know, if Imma could express such an abstract concept, that's what she would say, though I'm not sure the other girl would say Imma is her best friend. I know she would definitely say she is her friend though.  She is constantly looking out for Imma, as are two or three other children in her class, and I love that. I want other children to have the opportunity to get to know Imma the way that these children have. Now that she is reaching out to some of these other children, I wanted to give them the opportunity to come and play with her, too.
But it goes beyond that. I want Imma to be in a situation where she can feel completely comfortable (at her home) doing something that she loves (bounce houses and petting animals!) where she will have the opportunity to share this with other children.  We live in a small town.  These kids will be with each other for the next 12 years. Most of them will go all the way through high school together. I want her to always be in a situation where she has a friend. I don't know who will be in her class next year but if she knows most of the kids in her grade, then, hopefully, she will always feel like there is someone nearby who can help her if she needs help.
I also want to know the other parents. I want them to know us, to see what we are about, to make them feel comfortable enough to ask the questions they need to ask or find out from talking to us what is going on with Imma so that they don't make assumptions. I know from watching the other parents and coaches at softball that some people want to know what the nature of her disability is but they haven't asked. As I have gotten to know some of the other parents better, we've talked about it and that has been helpful.  I want to know that the other parents will be supportive of her and help her out when she needs it, particularly in situations when I'm not there or I can't help her.  We had a mighty village in McKinney but our village here is not as strong yet so I am  continuing to strengthen those connections and I hope to create new ones.
I also have a hard time letting go of all of our friends from our old life. I want to share these special occasions with all of the people that we have always shared them with. So of course I invited them as well.
I also know that, whenever we have a party, usually less than a quarter of the people we invite are able to make it.  This party happens to be the day before Mother's Day so it's very likely that some people won't be able to come. I don't expect 150 people to show up.  If they do, that will be great, but I think we may have 25 kids--and hopefully there parents will stay. I can live with that.
As for the insane amount of decorations I am hand making, well, that's just my budding Martha Stewart.  I know I didn't have to hand make her invitations, address them in calligraphy  spend 10 hours making various photo props today, etc. But it sure was fun!
So, that's my explanation--take it or leave it.  At the end of the day, as long as Imma has fun, it'll be worth all of the time, trouble, and goat poo!

All day today, she kept saying, "make Alice, make Alice!"

Planning a Birthday Party: I Only Have Three Months!

If you don't know this about me, this may come as a shocker. I am a planner. I like to plan things. You're shocked aren't you.  I know, it's hard to believe.
Imma's birthday is June 13.  We will be having her birthday party a few weeks early because otherwise she won't be able to invite her friends from school so I was thinking the weekend before Memorial Day Weekend. Which is in about 3 months.
So I have a ton of planning to do.
Did I mention I like to plan?
I think we've decided to do Alice in Wonderland this year. At first I was thinking maybe she would like to do the Lizard of Poz but she's really in to Alice right now and I think that would be easier --although in a lot of ways it will also be harder.
I have a lot of great ideas and I've been looking at Pinterest, which sometimes makes it worse. But I need to start a list and get things organized so I can start doing things and checking them off.  I know the cake is going to be extremely important and I have some ideas but I don't know if I can make it happen without spending way too much!
Afte Imma's birthday, Lucy's is the next month so I kinda have to plan that at the same time, though we've decided not to do them together this year like we did last year. I've yet to come up with a theme for Lu. . . .
How do you go about planning your child(ren)'s birthday party?
Do you have any cool Alice in Wonderland ideas?

Alice is pondering what we should do for our party!  Courtesy of Disney