It's Party Time!

This year we had many birthday celebrations! On Friday, May 1 was Ainsley's birthday. Brad and I took the day off and we went to get updated photos (post to come soon) and spent the day hanging out with the girls. We gave Ainsley her presents from us and I made her an Elmo cake, as she loves him so!

Here is Ainsley looking at her Elmo cake.

Here's the happy birthday girl; she's holding her My Little Pony doll she got.

Here's Ainsley enjoying her cake....well mostly the icing!

She likes to share her food....here she was offering me a bite. Yum, Yum!

On Saturday we had a joint family party for the girls. This was the first year I did this and will probably continue to do so. I had planned to do it the weekend in between their birthdays but Brad had an outing to attend for a friend who is getting married so we bumped it up a week early which turned out nice. It was a princess theme party, chosen by Kaylee. Kaylee decided she wanted to be Sleeping Beauty for the party and I got a fairy outfit for Ainsley. Ainsley wasn't in to wearing hers so Kaylee was the only "dressed" princess.

Here is Sleeping Beauty waiting for the party to start! She was VERY excited!

Here was the cake I made for their party. I had contemplated using fondant, but opted for regular icing. I didn't have a lot of time to experiment with the fondant, and didn't want to spend the money buying a lot. So maybe next year, but for this year it all turned out just fine. The girls were impressed and since it was for them that's all that mattered!

I also opted to do some punch this year, instead of juice boxes. I used the heart and flower ice cube trays I got at IKEA, and also did a Cinderella mold for the ice in the punch.

Here were the princesses royal seats for them to open all of their gifts. I also had their photo collages above the fireplace.

Of course none of our parties would be complete without a pinata.

We also went outside to find some more gifts. They each got one of these Big Wheels from Grandpa and Grandma Busing (notice in this photo Kaylee has changed from her Sleeping Beauty dress to her Ariel wedding dress, and in the pinata photo above she had her regular clothes on; it wouldn't be a party without wardrobe changes).

Grandpa and Grandma Duffy got them this Barbie Jeep. It even has a radio that scans real stations. Now they can cruise in style by bike or car.

The next day Daddy spent a lot of time running after Kaylee while she learned to drive. She has gotten much better; I can't imagine what it's going to be like when it's time to drive a real car.

Fast forward 2 weeks...on the Friday before Kaylee's birthday she took treats to school and had the birthday story read to her. For those unfamiliar with this the parents write a list of various accomplishments, or milestones, the child has reached from 0-12, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, and then 4-5. When the child celebrates their birthday at school they place a sun in the middle of the circle and the child holds the Earth. The teacher reads the child's birth date and stats when they were born and begins to read the 0-12 mos notes, as the child walks around the sun and when the make it all the way around it represents a year, and so it continues. They then sing and the child gets to blow out a candle. I asked Kaylee what she wished for and she said "I wished I could stay friends with everyone except for (insert name) in room one" (there's a girl in Classroom 1 that Kaylee says is mean to her, I take this with a grain of salt because knowing this age, and having first hand experience, it could have easily been a one time occurrence that has left a lasting impression, but regardless I thought it was funny)

Then on that Saturday, the day before the "big day", Kaylee had her first all friend birthday party. We held it at her self-proclaimed "favorite park", Walt Bittner Park. She was so excited, and opted to wear her Sleeping Beauty dress again. She had told me earlier in the week that some of her friends were coming as various princesses, I just said "O.K.". Then I got a message from a parent RSVP'ing and asked if her daughter was suppose to wear a princess dress, as her daughter was apparently adamant she was. I called and left her a message back saying she was more than welcome to wear one, but that it wasn't a necessity and that there would be boys at the party and I was pretty sure they wouldn't be wearing dresses. It made me laugh as I thought of the playground conversations that must have taken place, and the at-home conversations that must have followed.

I figured that Kaylee would want to change at some point, especially since it was windy and somewhat cold so I brought clothes to change. It was really windy, but not raining. The majority of the week it was calling for rain, so I was gladly willing to accept the wind. I had toyed with the idea of going to some place for it, but a lot of places are somewhat expensive. With her birthday being in May, when it is generally nice, and we should be able to take advantage of the nice weather, those places seem even more expensive. So I took a chance on the park and thankfully it worked out. It was so fun to see Kaylee with her friends. She hugged them all when they got there and thanked them all for coming when they left.

Finally it was Sunday, Kaylee's birthday. We had so many birthday celebrations that Kaylee kept asking when "When will I be 4" or "Am I 4 yet?" So she woke up on Sunday she was so excited she was finally 4! She came downstairs and opened her gifts. Ainsley tried to assist but was good about watching.