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...

Before She Turns Four

In case you are wondering where I've been since Halloween night...no, I'm not in a candy induced coma {we left all that for the Switch Witch-love her!}.  Actually, I'm up to my eyeballs with my last minute to do list for Maggie's birthday celebration.

My sweet, precious, and first born baby girl is turning four.  How could this be happening?  What's left to do, but celebrate?...and get to work.

I imagine I'll be back sometime post party.  Prepare for some colorful fun.

Halloween Evening

I have to be honest here, I was a little worried about how this evening was going to pan out.  Between Maggie's party pouting and Lucy's nonstop clinging I wasn't expecting the best.  

But, somehow it turned out amazing.  I think quite possibly one of my favorite Halloween nights to date.  

For starters, post nap Maggie shed her grumpella attitude and was all smiles and then some.  And little Lu finally got a proper diagnosis from Mommy.  After bouts of Vick's vapor rub, a humidifier, and nose suctioning, I realized it was actually just a new tooth troubling my littlest.  Yes, I swear she is my third child, and I swear I know what I am doing.  Geez, that was a pretty bad Mommy foe pa.  At least I wasn't drugging her up with cold meds...just yet anyway.  So once we worked through that {i.e Motrin and teething tablets}, Lu was ready to celebrate.

I'd like to consider this her 1st Real Halloween.  A Halloween tee and stroller last year don't really count.  I would assume you agree.  

So I present to you Lulu in a Tutu...

And yes, that is my baby girl walking...solo.  She's been up to it for about a month now, but she is taking it nice and slow on the progress.  I'm not sure when I should make the big "Lucy is walking" announcement.  {In case you are wondering, this isn't it...that's a whole other post in itself}

And although the Motrin hadn't quite kicked in to it's fullest, Lucy was enjoying some lessons on how to be a proper Mermaid from her big sister, Maggie.

All the while, Batman was up to that whole protecting the Gotham Cottage again.  This time in full garb.  Fierce isn't he?...if you don't count the Crocs that he insisted on.

Like I said, the Motrin hadn't taken its full effect yet.  But, also like said, duh teeth, not a cold.  And this is why we take very imperfect family pictures and post them.  Because, I have learned there is no such thing as a perfect day, but I still want to remember every last minute of them.

After neighborhood party hopping, we hit the streets for treats!  This is the view I had for Trick or Treating.  Just try to tell me you are not jealous?

And because every first Trick or Treating experience must be documented...here is Lovely Lu's.  And let me just tell you this...she LOVED it.  I know because every house we passed, she "mmmm"ed, "uh uh uh"ed, and excitedly pointed.  She threw in a couple "more" baby sign language moves in there too.

The other fabulous part was Mermaid Maggie waiting in the wings with Lucy's bag.  Maggie talked her little sister through the whole process and had her bag waiting for her.  Melt my heart you sweet little mermaids.  I think these two are going to be great gal pals.

And then we were off.  I took Lucy to a handful more houses and then returned home.  Daddy stayed with the bigs.

And now it gets even better.  Just when I thought the cutest part of the night had happened {Lu trick or treating}, my girls surprised me again.  Lucy and I made it home first to pass out candy.  Never did I imagine how much she would adore this task.

If you came to our house, Lulu greeted you with a "hiiiiiiii".  Then she put candy in your bag {what she hadn't thrown all over the porch}, and if you were really lucky, you got a wave "bye" and kisses blown to you.

Yes, I told you, it got even better.

And then Maggie showed up.  Oh, and believe it or not, at that moment better turned into the BEST.

This is the first year Maggie has helped pass out candy.  And to be honest, I think she may never Trick or Treat again...she loved it that much.  I'm pretty sure it had something to do with everyone oohing and ahhhing over her undeniable preciousness.  My Maggie, who has never turned down a compliment, batted her eyes, gave her sweet grin, and said, "tank you", at least 493 times Halloween night.

And then she put 4 {which she counted very carefully} pieces of candy into each bag.

And look at this handsome hero who showed up at our door, but not for long.  He and Daddy were off again for another block of saving the city one piece of candy at a time.

As the crowds slowed down, Maggie sat very patiently waiting for more costumed kiddos.  It was finally 8:00 when I had her turn in for the evening.  And what an evening it was.

My best moments of Halloween night were spent right there on that porch with my girls.  Thankfully they aren't big enough {yet} to run off and leave me like big brother.  That day will come, I'm sure.  But until then, this was definitely one of my happiest Halloweens ever.

Happy Halloween!  Hope yours was full of sweet memories and treats, just like mine.