Featured on Birthday Girl Blog!

The Birthday Girl blog is dedicated to uncovering party details and product ideas for all kinds of birthday celebrations for people of all ages. She does beautiful inspiration boards for all kinds of themes. And from time to time, she does "Real Parties" features. It's so much fun to see what other people have done, and I actually got a lot of ideas from her blog for Anna's recent princess party.

Well, guess whose "Real Party" was featured today?!
http://www.birthdaygirlblog.com/2010/03/real-parties-tutus-tiaras.html

If you have the time, go check it out and leave a comment!

Kingwood

Mackenzie Wheatley of Chubbyfoot Photography had a Matilda Jane trunk show. (Still with me?) She very generously offered a free micro-mini photo session to anyone who bought from her show. And that's how me, MawMaw & Anna wound up in Kingwood yesterday afternoon. To get a few pictures of Anna in one of her new Matilda Jane outfits!

I'm excited to see what Mackenzie got. She had a really cute chair with beautiful chocolate brown fabric in the middle of some really high grass. She's so great with kids. Bubbly. Giggly. And Anna just smiled and smiled the whole time Mackenzie was shooting away at her. But I don't have Mackenzie's pictures yet, so for now, you'll have to settle for a few that I took myself after Mackenzie was done. (Why not? Anna was already all dolled up!)

We were at a little nature preserve, and Anna really enjoyed picking the wildflowers. And smelling them, too. . .

I enjoyed our little field trip, and I can't wait to share Mackenzie's pictures once I get them!

Little Ears

We got to church early this past Sunday because it was Palm Sunday, and the seats at our church have a tendency to fill up really quickly - especially on holy days of obligation.

Anna had to go potty, so after we found our seats, Derek held them while I took Anna to the restroom. There is a small restroom in the cry room, which was conveniently right behind where we were sitting, so that's where we went. Unfortunately, once we got in there, we realized that it smelled awful. Anna grabbed her nose and said, "Mommy, it's stinky!" then refused to use that potty.

So I decided to take her to the bigger restroom in the back of the church, but I first wanted to let Derek know where we were going so he wouldn't worry. We went back to the pew where Derek was sitting on the end and I very quietly whispered to him, "Someone let the dogs out in there, so I'm taking Anna to the other one." I thought that was discreet enough.

Then we start to walk away, and Anna says loudly, "Mommy, who let the dogs out?"

Let's just say I'm very thankful that we were early and that there weren't too many people there yet.

A "Girl" Cut

On the way home from Anna's doctor appointment today, I decided to call and see if the hair salon near our house could accomodate her for a quick cut as a walk-in. I was told that "Gabe" was available and to bring her on in.

Derek had gotten his hair cut by Gabe at lunchtime, so after I hung up the phone, I explained to Anna that the same guy that cut Daddy's hair today was going to cut her hair. I thought she would like this, but she immediately got very upset and started demanding that a "lady" cut her hair because she's a girl.

I didn't really understand why it was such a big deal, so I kept asking Anna questions, and it turned out that she was scared that Gabe was going to cut her hair really short like Daddy's. And nothing that I could say would convince her otherwise. It was hysterical.

When we got to the salon, she refused to even look at Gabe, which was pretty embarassing, but she ultimately got her way because she got her hair cut by a very nice "lady" named Linda.

Three Year Checkup

Anna had her three year checkup this afternoon, and she was very cooperative for Dr. Leonardo. She brought her baby Zoe along, and played doctor on her to pass the time while we were waiting.

Here are her stats:

• Height: 38.5 inches
• Weight: 34 lbs.

No shots this time, but we were warned it would be 4 shots when we go in for her check up next year. Yikes!

Tutus and Tiaras

Anna's third birthday bash was this past weekend, and although the weather didn't cooperate and we even had to push the party back a day, everything was wonderful. And I know that at the very least (and the most important), the birthday girl had a pink, sparkly blast!

Anna has been really into dress-up and princesses, so I wanted to do a "princess" theme, while avoiding the cliched Disney Princess route. So, I designed these invitations, and pulled those colors throughout the whole party. I had them professionally printed on a beautiful pearl paper, and I put self-adhesive pink gems on each of the little white flourishes for an extra little touch. . .


This is the "Happy Birthday" banner I made with my new cricut, over the main dessert table. The little floral arrangements are pink tulips sitting in a vase with pink & brown m&m's (Anna's favorite!).

I made these really cute cupcake toppers using my cricut, pink & brown cardstock, and lollipop sticks. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the tiaras even have little self-adhesive gems on them.

The cupcakes themselves are from a modified out-of-the-box cake mix, but they're filled with a delicously addictive strawberry whipped filling. Check out the recipe here.

My mom and sister Katie were cake ball-making maniacs, and they made all of these cute & delicious yummies in the pink & brown color scheme. I decorated the cake stand with some pretty ribbon, then topped it off with some tulle & a tiara.

I made a "royal wardrobe" with pink & brown tutus & wands for the girls, and gold prince capes and swords for the boys. My intent was for this to be outside, but it was just too chilly and windy.

The kids were also able to decorate tiaras & crowns using all different sizes and shapes of gems.

My little princess went a little crazy with the gems and put just about as many that would fit. Then started stacking them on top of each other. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? ;)

And for the main attraction. . .royal carriage rides! The beautiful white horse was named "Goliath", and he was very sweet about letting the kids pet him, too.

Anna really loved riding the carriage so much that for a while, I was a bit concerned about whether she would get to enjoy any other part of her party. She stayed on for 3 or 4 rides around the block with her friends before I was able to convince her to get off for a while.


When she finally did get off, it was to get her face painted by Maw Maw. Maw Maw's face painting was a big hit at last year's circus-themed party, so we decided to ask her to do some princess faces this year. She did an amazing job yet again. . .

Another really neat thing that my mom put a lot of work into was turning Anna's playset into a castle! She designed the whole thing, then recruited my dad & sisters to help her finish the painting. The wind kept us from being able to put the top pieces on the tower, but it still looked so cute!

I designed this cute little "Kiss the Frog" game, and had it printed as a 18 x 24 poster. Then, I used my cricut to cut out pink lips so the kids could see who could come the closest to "kissing" the frog prince on the lips. We didn't get to it until a lot of the kiddos had already left, but I have no doubt that they had plenty to keep them busy without the game.

To close the party, we brought everyone outside for the pinata - also custom-made from scratch by my talented mother. . .

And in following with our annual tradition, I had a framed picture of Anna displayed with a pen for everyone to leave her some 3rd birthday wishes on the matte.

Thanks so much to everyone who came and to everyone who shared their time and talents to help make Anna's birthday so special!

A Royal Affair

After so much planning and lots of work by lots of people that love her dearly, Anna's princess party went so well this weekend!

Every night, I promise myself that I am going to edit the pictures so that I can do the big party post, but every night I've been falling asleep when I'm putting Anna to bed. I think I'm still recovering! More to come very very soon. . .

Tres

More coming later.

Two Times

Anna has eaten Chinese food many times. She loves lo mein noodles and fried rice, and she can seriously put away some edamame.

Tonight, I took her to a Chinese restaurant, and I ordered some won ton soup. Here is the conversation that followed once my soup arrived at the table:

Anna: "What are you eating?"

Me: "It's soup, and it has noodles in it. Do you want to try some?"

I shamelessly used the word "noodles" to play on her love of all things starchy.

Anna: "Yes" (tries the soup with big piece of won ton)

Anna: "Can I have another noodle?"

Me: "Well, it's actually called a won ton."

Anna: "No, two times!"

Me: "No, it's a won ton." (annunciating more clearly)

Anna: "No, two times!"

It was terribly cute and I got a really good laugh out of it.

But I can't help but think. . .
We're still a good ten years away from teenager, and she already thinks I don't know anything. That can't be a good sign, right?

My "Big Girl"

With her third birthday only DAYS away, I have been thinking a lot about the fact that my "baby" isn't such a baby anymore. Apparently, I'm not the only one. . .

Tonight, Anna and I went to dinner together, just the two of us since Derek was driving back from a fishing trip. When the waitress came to take our drink orders, I told her that I wanted iced tea and Anna chose water. Not too long after that, another waiter asked our waitress if he could help her, and she asked him to get our drinks.

Within ear-shot of us, she said, "Iced tea for the lady, and water for the baby."

I didn't think anything of it, but when she walked away, Anna looked at me and said, "Mommy, where's the baby?"

I tried to convince her that the waitress was talking about her, but she just kept saying, "Nooooooo!" like it was the most preposterous thing she had ever heard.

Stick a dagger in my heart, will ya?

I Love a Good Theme

These pictures are from back in November, they just never got posted because of the craziness of the holidays. I recently re-discovered them, and decided I need to share them because I just love a good unifying theme - and these pictures have two very obvious ones.

Let's see. . .

1. Playing with water
2. Trying to ignore me

1. Playing with Water
2. Probably ignoring me as well, although I can't prove it

1. Playing with Water
2. Ignoring me

1. Playing with Water
2. Ignoring me

1. Playing with Water
2. Ignoring me

1. Playing with Water
2. Ignoring me

1. Playing with Water
2. Not totally ignoring me (But only because I was threatening to make her leave!)

Moral of the story?

Anna likes to play in water, and she does not like to be disturbed by a camera-toting freak (aka. Mommy). Threats may make her look, but they can't make her happy about it.

Duly noted.

One More Week

In one more week, my baby - my princess - is going to be three years old.

I can hardly believe how quickly time has flown.

Bedtime Prayers - Revisited

Last night, I again asked Anna after her bedtime prayer if there was anything else she wanted to thank Jesus for.

To be honest, I really thought that since I "guided" her the night before to include the PEOPLE that she loves - Mommy & Daddy, MawMaw & PawPaw, Omi & PawPaw, etc - that she might actually go there on her own. But yet again, it was immediately, "Elmo". Then "Oscar". Then "Abby".

Then just as I'm thinking it's about time we get to some of the PEOPLE in her life, she says:

"Mommy, what's the name of Oscar's friend?"

And that's how we came to pray for Grundgetta, Oscar the Grouch's girlfriend. A puppet that she didn't even know the name of. Before Mommy & Daddy.

Not that there's anything wrong with that ;)