Happy Birthday, Elliott!

Wow, Elliott is three years old now! We had a party with her friends last week and she told everyone, "I three!"
If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I am not the mom who plans the super-cool theme birthday parties. I have decided I am okay with this. As long as the kids are happy, then I am happy... even if the party is planned at the last minute and held on a Wednesday morning.

I saw an idea for a birthday cake on a cake mix box and thought it didn't look too difficult... and it wouldn't have been, if all the cupcakes had come out the same size, and if some of the layer cake hadn't stuck to the pan, and if I had food coloring in the pantry when I was frosting the cake at 10:00 the night before.

Looks pretty cute and simple, right?

So let's take a look at how my version turned out...

Almost exactly sort of the same.

But you know what? I didn't even care anymore once Elliott came in and saw the cake and did this:

"That a cupcake cake!!!!!"

Things did not go exactly as planned for the party. I had ordered a purple backpack just like Dora's for Elliott, and drawn a map for the kids to follow to get to the birthday cake. And of course it did not arrive here until after the party, even though the other part of that same amazon.com order arrived six days earlier. (I hate Amazon!!) So, the kids just followed the map and didn't really make the Dora connection. I had them hop through some hula hoops on the ground, run through a bubble cloud, and "that's how you get to the birthday cake!" They were pretty cute running around in the back yard.

Elliott holding the map.

(The very cool bubble machine is still going behind them.)

Not sure what's going on here.

Then of course it was time for the cake, which was a hit despite being lopsided, and some snacks. After that Elliott opened her presents, and did a great job saying "thank you" to her friends.

Opening a cool Kai-Lan tea set.

(Unlike our current tea set, it does not make annoying sounds- yay!)

Then, in keeping with the birthday party theme of "no theme," we just went back outside to play.

Abbey tries hula hooping (she got to come home from school for a bit to join the celebration).

Elliott and "D" are so cute together.

Due to a mix-up with one of my friends about the party time (this happens when you invite people at the last minute, via e-mail) we sort of did the party a second time when she and her girls arrived. Elliott didn't mind. You can see that she changed clothes because she was so excited to wear the Dora outfit they brought her!

Say CHEESE!

After a much-needed nap, and some more cake, Elliott opened some more presents from us and her grandparents. She got her first pair of (pink!) cowgirl boots, a music box and necklace, and a book written and illustrated entirely by Abbey. She was excited about everything.

A big new hardcover copy of her favorite book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

All in all it was a great day. Elliott is so blessed to have wonderful friends and family to celebrate with, and we are so blessed to have her!