F's B-day party

2 weeks after her b-day, we finally celebrated F's b-day. She turned 5, unbelievable. Such a big girl.

Summer is definitely over here. We turned the heating on, the night temperatures are just above zero and the sun is loosing its strength. The backyard is full with dead leaves. We called our party 'Good Bye Summer BBQ', hoping it to be one of the last warm days of the year. When we decided over the date, it was still quite warm outside. I just couldn't imagine that the fall would arrive so soon. We planned everything to be outside, so I was checking the forecast everyday. No, this is not going to be the '....and it rained the whole time' story, we were lucky. Yesterday (Saturday) was a lovely day. Cold but sunny, and without the wind, sun warmed us up.

At three o'clock, the first visitors came. One after other, everybody arrived. People from kids' school, neighbors and P's colleagues. We had over 40 people and half of it were children. The kids were playing so nice in the yard. We all had a very nice time chatting, drinking, eating.... Around 6:30 it started getting quite cold, the sun was already on the wrong side of the trees. 7 p.m., as we said in the invitation, the last people left. A little different than our Dutch parties where we end up sitting till 2 a.m. and realize we can never finish the booze, but this was a real kids party. Both girls had a great time and just before the end F realized her best friend from school, Rowen, never showed up. With all the tiredness and everything, she started crying. That was her goodbye to most of her guests. Well, then you know it is time to finish the party.

Early next morning - before 8a.m. on a Sunday -, I had a call from Rowen's mother. She couldn't sleep the whole night. She and her husband had a party down at Chicago and she was supposed to bring Rowen to us and she forgot. I could tell she really felt bad. She was sad that F had to cry and miss her best friend on her b-day party. Her husband had to persuade her to not to call us last night at 1a.m.

Just half an hour ago, F started crying in bed, she wasn't sleeping yet. She was so upset. She said she misses her friends in Holland. She was actually meaning her cousins. This is the first time she says she misses them. But I think she also understands that she met all those new people in the last months and so many of them are also special for her. We talked about how we miss people, but we also meet new people and the ones we knew before, especially family, stays with us no matter how far they are. It is nice to have such a grown up conversation with F. She really understands what I mean - yeah of course, she is no baby, she is 5 years old!