Isabella's Strawberry Shortcake Party

When I asked Isabella a few months ago what kind of party she wanted for her birthday, she said, "A Strawberry Shortcake party." And you know how I can run with a theme. With last year's beautiful day in mind, I started planning and buying. I bought everything strawberry I could find...candy, cookies, clothing, decorations, even hand soap!! I started searching for strawberry dessert recipes. I hired a DJ and a Balloon Artist.

Everything was going according to plan. And then came Irene the hurricane. All week long I watched the weather and Irene get closer scheduled to make landfall in Maryland Saturday night. And that meant rain all day on Saturday! At first I was worried...my baby deserved a beautiful summer day just like last year. But that was not in the cards. When I told Isabella that it was going to rain on her party day, she said, "It's okay Mommy. It won't rain inside." So we cleaned out the garage and set up tables and decorated the inside of the house. We put the DJ in the mudroom - not ideal but it worked. We thought maybe people wouldn't come because of the weather - we should have known better - people filled and I mean filled our house. We ate and danced and Isabella had so much fun. She played with her friends and opened a ton of gifts and smiled when everyone crowded in the dining room to sing happy birthday to the sweetest girl in all the world.

Last night when I was putting her to bed, I asked if she had fun at her party. She said, "I loved my Strawberry Shortcake Party. Thank you for my party, Mommy."

You are welcome, Isabella. Anything for you.