Party Time

I had to mentally and physically (no joke) prepare myself all last week for what I had planned for Friday and Saturday. What does 9 two-and-a-half to three-year-olds plus 6 babies equal? Fifteen of Ella Ann's closest friends! That's how many kids, I can't forget about the 8 moms not including myself, we had at our house Friday morning to celebrate Ella Ann's 3rd birthday...a little early I might add. I decided to do a cooking theme because I thought the kids would be entertained for a little while with organized activities and really have fun...which they did! I sent out the invitations on recipe cards and had a few decorations to go along with the theme around the house. I served coffee and water, along with a couple of dips for the moms and fruit and crackers for the kids. I had an apron for each child, which we all gathered around the table for them to decorate with fabric markers once they all arrived and we got settled. The kids then put their aprons on and they decorated a bear sugar cookie with icing and all kinds of toppings, which was their take-home gift. After that I brought out the pink and blue strawberry cupcakes (Ella Ann has requested a pink and blue cake now for 2 full months) that we made the night before and the kids again decorated their cupcakes with an array of toppings. Ohhh you should have seen them covered in sprinkles, chocolate chips, icing, gummie bears and marshmallows...and I'm not talking about the cupcakes, I'm referring to the kids! It was a glorious mess...but SO fun and SO worth it! Every child ate their cupcake in about 2.2 seconds, except for Ella Ann and Mara Kate who took time to enjoy them. They loved the treats! Oh and if you were wondering where all the babies were during all of this, they were, for the most part, rolling around on the floor or playing in the room next to us...being so good!

After I de-iced every single mouth, hand, arm, pant leg, etc. (yes I make sure each child was free of any remnant of food since it was in my furniture's best interest to keep them clean!!) we played pin-the-hat-on-the chef. Once all organized activities were over, the kids took over the house and my friends and I just sat down, ate, and caught up!

We had a blast! My friend, Janelle, had made a birthday shirt for Ella Ann, which she will wear often all month and to her family party next week, and she was SO excited to put it on when she woke up! Of course she was even more excited when all of her little friends started arriving. I felt sorry for all my friends because I pumped their children FULL of sugar (not like me at all you know) and sent them on their merry way! Oh well, that's what birthdays are for, right? Ella Ann was so wound up after the party that she did not take a nap, which I figured would happen. She couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had and all the fun things she did at the party. It was so cute and it made me so glad that I had done all that work because it was well worth it to see a grin from ear-to-ear permanently planted on Ella Ann's face for hours on end. :) I have to admit, though, my house looked like a kid tornado blew through it a few times and then left! ha! It wasn't THAT bad...no icing where it shouldn't be, no broken toys or anything else, etc. It was organized chaos for sure! I know it sounds crazy, but there were no fights, tantrums, screaming of "MINE!" by anyone, or tears! Ella Ann has such well-behaved friends! :)

On Saturday my sweet friends, Megan, Jana, and Ruth, threw a baby shower for me at Ruth's house. We had High Tea at 3:00 and several of my friend came, which was so nice! The food was so good and looked so pretty I hated to mess it up! We had finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and lemon curd, cupcakes, shortbread cookies, brownies, and two different kinds of teas. It was a beautiful spread and I ate a ton! My present from Ruth, along with the lovely shower, was an amazing foot bath/massage that I got to enjoy during the shower. I received very nice gifts but most of all I got to enjoy company with good friends that were there to celebrate with me in this baby's birth. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams with such amazing people in my life here in Atlanta. I am thankful everyday for each one of them and all they have done for me and my family. Thanks to all of you sweet girls who threw the shower and to those of you that attended! I am SO appreciative!

I took over 50 pictures, so click HERE to view them.