The Rainbow Part Two

You've seen the decor.  Now it's time for my favorite part....Maggie.  The most rewarding detail of this celebration was my happy birthday girl.  That smile did not leaver her face {even when the November temperatures dropped}.  But then again, how could you not smile in that outfit?  I'm hoping this was a taste of things to come in Maggie's year ahead as a four year old.  If so, I see a lot of colorful days ahead....thank goodness.

I played around with how to do this post.  I did have 200 plus pictures to peruse through.  But, I decided to pick a few of my favorites and go from there.  Naturally, a few turned into, well, a lot, as you will see ahead.  And shockingly, I was able to post all of them.  Who knew?  I for sure thought this blog would cap me at some point.  As luck would have it {if you call that luck}, it didn't, and therefore here comes a very picture heavy post.  If you can make it through...enjoy a very "Mag"ilicious day!

We started the party with a little free play.  All that equipment in the front yard came in handy.  I'm pretty sure all the kids enjoyed it to the fullest, especially {and most importantly} my Mags.

When the Fun Bus arrived we started it with open play.  I highly recommend this.  It gave all the guests a moment to get acclimated.  The kids entered through the front and up the steps...

...and exited out the back down the slide.

Somewhere in the Fun Bus's visit, we did an actual closed bus, where the kids had "gym class" and the parents sat outside and enjoyed the calm before the storm.  I couldn't resist spending precious birthday time with Maggie so I jumped on and took a few pictures of my sweet little rainbow.

Little Lu was way in on the action too.  I could definitely see a rainbow gymnastics party in her future, although I'm not one to do the same party twice.  I'll have to get creative on that one.

We were blessed with both Grammy and Grandma in attendance.  And hold on to your hat, my Mom was actually early AND showed up wearing green, one of the missing colors in our family rainbow.  She earned major props from this hostess {if you know my Mom, you know the early part is a big deal} And of course, major props to Grammy for driving all the way up from sunny Florida to celebrate Maggie's special day.  We love you G's!

We picnicked out on the parachutes in the front yard come lunch time.  Maggie's favorite course was the jello trampolines.  She showed all her guests how you could bounce your finger on the top "like a real trampoline!".

Then it was time for Happy Birthday, cupcakes, and lots of family pictures.

Jack and Maggie got the biggest kick out of Lucy walking off every time we got the sibling shot set up.  We finally gave up on that one.

Jack had the all important duty of passing out rainbow lollipops to everyone.  There was no way I was getting left with twenty of these.  Although, I can guarantee my kids would have loved that.

We ended our party with a little more free play in the yard and an open Fun Bus before it headed off down the lane.

Happy Birthday to my most favorite Magpie in the whole world!  You are the rainbow in our every day and I couldn't imagine loving you any more!  I am anxiously awaiting to see all your beautiful colors shine as a four year old!  xoxo

Over The Rainbow With Maggie

I sat down to document Maggie's 4th birthday celebration and realized I had taken over 200 pictures.  Yikes!

That is one of the many downfalls of not having a photographer there.  The others being the obvious-my pictures are no where near as pretty and I forgot several things.  Things being the key word.  As in decor.  But, I absolutely did not forget to take a plethora of my rainbow darling, Maggie.  And that was without a doubt the best part.

That being said.  I decided I am in quite a colorful debacle and to do this day justice, I need a two part post.



Part one being the party.  I'll save the best for last...My Maggie of many colors.

However, it only seems proper to start this post with at least one image of the shining birthday star...I just couldn't resist.  Is she absolutely adorable or what?  And that smile did not leave her face.

Okay, now let me explain how this party came about.  The birthday girl asked for a "gymnastics party".   We've yet to have a party away from home {except for Jack's airplane party, which was uniquely at an airport, so I like to think that doesn't count} and I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

I mean we got to gymnastics every Wednesday, what was going to make it feel any different?  It's her birthday for goodness sakes and I hold it very sacred.  Not to mention, I get my kicks off of planning parties.  And I get over tired, over whelmed and over worked...I'm a gluten for punishment, but I adore it.

After a little research and figuring out how to please both of us, I presented Maggie with the ipad and a video of the Fun Bus.  It's a gymnastics activity bus that comes to your house and actually parks in your driveway.  Maggie was sold.  As for colors I got my inspiration from the parachute at her weekly gym class.  Before I knew it, we had a Rainbow Gymnastics party in the works and both Maggie and Mommy were happy.

Now on to the party...

I had to make sure I kept the whole "gym" theme going.  This was Maggie's party after all and that was her request.  I contacted my most trusted paper pal, Tracy at Sweet Peach Papiere, and explained my vision.  Parachute colors which translated into rainbow and somehow the incorporation of stars.  With a little drafting and tweaking this is what we came up with.  Did I ever mention she is amazing?  We are so on the same page and I love it!

I covered our yard with these things.  Seriously, twenty-six pom poms in rainbow colors.  It was a labor of love, but brought everything together perfectly.

We'll start with the colorful buffet.  Again in keeping with the Rainbow Gymnastics theme, I had to get a little crafty with the food.

Such a score finding these little star boxes at Oriental Trading {along with the water bottles above}.  I filled them with Chex Mix and they were a hit with the little gymnists.

For the dessert table, I went really simple with a white table cloth and clear cellophane star wrapping paper.  I let the contents on top bring the color.  Cupcake toppers, napkins, rainbow lollipops, and medals, of course.  {if you can believe this I forgot to take a picture of just the table, so I had to crop this out of another one...excuse the embarrassing blur & wind blown table cover}

Obviously, the most anticipated part were the activities.  And can I just say, this is the easiest party I have ever planned?  I'm usually setting up stations and crafts and check lists and on and on.  However, this time, I threw a bunch of gym equipment out on the lawn and the kids went to town.  We had two trampolines, two tunnels, two parachutes, rainbow balls, a pogo stick, a purple Rody, and gymnastics twirly ribbons from the Dollar Store.

We luckily had most of these items in our playroom and others I borrowed from neighbors and friends.  {Thanks Cristina and Alison!}

And of course, we had the Fun Bus.  Which perfectly matched our color scheme.  The kid's definitely loved the free play of the open bus the best.  On and off they went.  I think the adults liked the closed bus where the little ones were in for "gym class".  I even got to have a couple real conversations during that time.

And finally, the favors.  All the sweet guests took home a water bottle, a rainbow star lollipop, a twirly ribbon, a medal, and one of these.  I found this to be perfectly fitting for a gymnastics party theme.

And on that note, I'll close with just one more of the precious birthday girl.  I can't believe she's four.  I just blinked and it happened.  In case I haven't mentioned it before...I am absolutely head over heels for this little gal.

There are plenty more where that came from.  Be back soon with part two!

Maggie's Birthday Preview

I must share a tiny preview of the start of my Maggie's birthday celebration.  Normally, it seems like we are celebrating birthdays for a week around here, between school, the actual day, and the much anticipated party.

This year, and I think this may be a first, Maggie's fourth celebration is wrapped up into a nice two day package.  And as helpful as that was, I could have honestly celebrated Maggie for weeks.  She was an absolute shining Birthday star complete with a "Mag"nificent smile.  I really didn't want it to be over.

It all started on Friday with the festivities at school being about Magpie.  We sent in a new sweet treat and Maggie came home adorned in her 4th Birthday crown {which had to peeled off of her head come bath time}.  She was darling and I could hardly believe there was a "4" on her head!

Okay, and now for our "new treat"....

So, I'm sure these are not new to you, but if they are I'm happy to share some tips.  First off, they were super easy and fun to make.  And such a nice change from doughnuts {which Maggie has notoriously chosen in the past}.  And second, you can't deny how cute they are upon completion.  I felt it necessary to share the picture above, so you can see the transformation a little pink icing and sprinkles can make.

Tip number one...if you have a mini cupcake pan, it works beautifully.  Tip number two...lower your oven rack.  For the obvious reason that the cone raises up the batter and you must be careful about the tops getting too brown.  And tip number three... fill the cone about three-fourths of the way up with regular old cake batter.

Then comes the fun part...decorating!

Maggie chose pink icing, naturally {which was everywhere and a pain to clean, but Mags is so worth it}.  We used an icing squirter thing to make the ice cream look alike top {clearly I'm not a baker by trade, therefore I'm not exactly sure of the correct terminology}.  Maggie did a few and then decided her expertise lied in the sprinkles.

And wah lah..one precious birthday girl and sweet treats to match.  I'm assuming I was not Maggie's teacher's biggest fans on Friday when 14 kiddos were covered in bubblegum pink icing.  But, hey, that's what birthdays are for.

And they are also for this...

I must admit there was one extremely hard thing about these cupcake ice cream cones...transporting them.  Ugh!  I swear I drove under the speed limit with a sign on the back of my car that read "cupcakes on board".  Still somehow when we arrived at school, a good amount had toppled over.  So for my final tip...buy one of those aluminum baking pans and cut holes in it so that you can insert the cones at least three-fourths of the way in.  I will most definitely do that next time.  And I'm sure there will be a next time...Jack was a huge fan.

Post pink icing trauma, it was Saturday.  Maggie's real deal birthday and her party.  I call that luck of the calendar when the actual day falls on a Saturday.

And although, I don't have party pictures ready to show you {and only because they are all on my camera and waiting to be uploaded, boy, did I miss a professional photographer}, I do have Happy Birthday Morning pictures!

We all busted into Maggie's room at 8:00 am on Saturday, November 9th to wake her up with a Happy Birthday tune and video camera in her face.  To my pleasant surprise, she was eating it up!

She even "read" us a book, because, you know, she's four and all now, and she can.  My big girl just gets sweeter with age.

We followed that happy wake up call with an absolute amazing and happy 4th birthday celebration.  I can't wait to share all of the fun and most especially my Magpie's smiles.

Coming soon...