everybody was kung fu fighting - panda style

or... prepare for awesomeness!

even though the princess kitty turned 9 at the end of may we didn't have her birthday party until today. usually we do a joint party for both kids because they are about 1 1/2 months apart. this means that the princess kitty hasn't had her own birthday party since she was 2. (her brother was about 1 1/2 months old for her 3rd birthday).

she's asked for a theme party for years now and hubby and i have avoided it up until this year. i don't have any recollection of how i came up with the idea of a movie party, but that's what we did. she had 9 of her friends (though i was expecting 11) go to the movie theatre with her to see kung fu panda.

i've been stressing about this for weeks now. first of all... it's expensive. far more expensive than putting hot dogs and burgers on the grill and asking grandmom to bring a salad while the kids run around the back yard until it is time for cake.

at first we were going to see narnia; prince caspian, but wound up deciding that kung fu panda was a better choice. this is fine except that kung fu panda just came out and i wasn't sure of the exact showing time until yesterday. i put a deposit down weeks ago and was told that i could use the party room... no problem. i even stopped by the mall yesterday to make certain that we were all set since everytime i called or went by no one seemed very on top of things.

when i arrived there today with 10 minutes to set up there was another party going on in the party room. i was livid. i had been planning this for weeks and no one did more than write my name down on a scrap of paper and assure me that they would be ready for me when we arrived.

at 1:00pm, when the party was supposed to start, they were roping off a corner of the lobby next to the bathrooms and the video games for us to use and were setting up tables for us. i wanted to be mad, but the manager was so flustered because the other party was supposed to be there the week before and changed their plans and no one informed him that we were also coming. when i asked what my discount would be he told me he wouldn't charge me for the party room to which i responded, "that's good because i wouldn't pay you for the party room."

strangely enough after that everything was great. one mom stayed and they refunded her her money for the ticket she bought and moments before we were supposed to go in to see the movie they invited us to see a 3:00 showing and took us on a tour of the projection room where the manager showed us how movies are loaded onto these enormous projectors and then cut pieces of film and gave each girl a piece.

they then ate up $30+ (i lost track) of quarters playing video games and went in to see the movie each with a box of popcorn, drink, and skittles.

the movie was great except for the 1/3 of the middle that i missed taking girls to the bathroom. and best of all the princess kitty had a blast and said her day was, "AWESOME!" which fits perfectly with the tagline of the movie: prepare for awesomeness.

all the girls had a great time. and this just makes me so happy since the kitty has been having trouble with friendships in school. there weren't any spats or fights or tears. she even had 3 girls who she desperately wanted to come say they could come at the last minute. (one family had trouble with their answering machine and called us this morning hoping they could still come.)

and now one friend who she doesn't ever get to see is spending the night.

and i feel like a good mom who was able to make her daughter's day really special.

God's peace y'all!