Cotter turns 5

It is so hard to believe that Cotter is already 5 years old! I don't have any babies anymore! Up until this year, Cotter didn't really care what we did for his birthday. He would pick his favorite character and then we would invite our closest friends and have a party. Well this year was different. He had it all planned out. He wanted to start his day eating pancakes with sprinkles, then he wanted his 2 little buddies from kindergarten to go with him to McDonalds for lunch, then he wanted to meet other friends at his favorite park. He even said that he wanted to eat at TGIFriday's for dinner, but we have to draw the line somewhere! The kids have had 7 days off of school for the Easter holiday, so we were really late in giving everyone the invitations. We gave them out on Wednesday and the party was on Friday! To our surprise, everyone (except one) could come, so he had 8 friends at the park helping him celebrate his big day. He could not have asked for a better day and I absolutely loved the joy and happiness all over his face!

But, I'm not going to lie and say that I had just as much fun. It was a hard party for me. 3 of the moms stayed for the entire party and we all sat down at the picnic table for the 3 hours that we were at the park. This was the first time that I had met these women, so I was so excited at the opportunity to get to know them. One of the ladies spoke with such a strong dialect that I could barely make out any words. Another mom talked so unbelievably fast that she barely stopped to take a breath! I sat there trying my hardest to keep up with the conversation, and it wasn't until they would stop and direct their attention to me that we all understood that I just couldn't keep up. Several times they would be talking so fast and then ask me something and I would have to ask them to repeat the question because I just didn't understand it. I think after awhile, they stopped trying to include me, because they knew I couldn't keep up. So I just sat there with these strangers, missing my friends and my family deeply. I was fighting back tears most of the time. I know this party was not all about me. It was entirely for Cotter and he had one of the best days of his life! It was still one of the hardest 3 hours that I have had in a long time.