It takes a village...

Party prep went really smoothly.

So smoothly, in fact, that I was able to attend a rehearsal I had originally planned on missing.

My cupcakes even looked like the ones I had seen on Pinterest.

We had confirmed the bounce house delivery the night before.

They would arrive at 12:30 and the party started at 3.

Womp, womp.

They never came.

We knew that one of Maia's friends had a small bounce house, so Aleks called and asked if they could bring it with them.

It was the warmest day we've had yet and in typical Kansas fashion, was incredibly windy.

*Lots of little girl screams*

It's a grasshopper!

And when I got there, my little girly girl was holding that sucker in her hand.

Another family arrived, heard the story, and just happened to have a bounce house as well.

They graciously offered to run home and get it for us.

I often hear Maia say "this is not how I planned!" when she's frustrated.

I most definitely felt like throwing a tantrum when it became apparent our main party feature wasn't going to happen.

But it was also a really good teaching moment for our girls.

When we told Maia the bounce house wasn't coming, she did say "This is the worst birthday ever!"

But I also heard her later say "the Sternfeld-Dunns can fix anything."

Pink cheeked and wind blown.

It all turned out ok.

It was a good lesson for me as well.

Sometimes thing don't go the way I planned and I've got to swallow my pride and ask for help.

I really hate asking for help.

I'm deeply grateful for the little village of friends we have around us.

People who step in to help out and are willing to roll with the punches.

 I think all the kiddos slept well last night.

I know ours did!