Oh-Bla-Di

This weekend, we invited some friends and family to come over the rainbow with us and celebrate Ava’s fourth birthday.  It’s been quite the extravaganza ever since Thursday, with something new and fun every day to help celebrate.

We kicked off the celebrating with a little birthday fun at Ava’s school.  If the birthday boy or girl brings in a cake mix and some frosting, the kiddos will whip up the cake in the morning and then they get to eat it for snack time in the afternoon.  All mommies and daddies have to do is come witness the fun.

This was the look on her face while her friends sang “Happy Birthday”….

this kid LOVES to have people sing her “Happy Birthday.”

Friday is our day at home (and was my prep day for our big party on Saturday), but we had a fun treat delivered late Thursday night for Ava to play with on Friday.

We imported a 5-year-old from California to come play with us for the birthday fun and it was awesome.  Thanks to the Traynors for letting us borrow your kid!  Ava and Lauren played so nicely together that it made it easy for me to get ready for the party.  After all, this was on my task list for the day….

After we had a pizza party on Friday night, Matt and I tucked all three kiddos into bed and then got the house decorated for Saturday’s party.  We were able to re-use some of the puffs from Noah’s party and hung a few extras.  And, the giant balloons were such a big hit last time, I figured they’d be a perfect fit for a rainbow party also.

Turns out, six 36″ balloons is a lot of balloons and a lot of helium.  They’ll really take off on you in the Albertson’s parking lot on a windy Friday night!

Saturday morning, Ava woke up to fun birthday decorations and grandparents!  We started her celebration with a (now traditional) donut and breakfast casserole breakfast.

Then, after sending the kiddos outside with Grammie & Granddad, Matt and I rolled up our birthday sleeves and got her birthday present all set up for the big reveal.

The bed Matt built for her (and I painted) was pretty much a hit.  Ava said, “It’s just like a hotel!  With boards and everything!”  She’s been sleeping quite soundly in it every night, but it’s amazing how high off the ground she seems now!

After the big gift, it was basically party time.  We got the food set out and the music on and our friends started to join us.  The party started with a craft…sweet sun catchers made by each of the little girls (with a little help).

We had fancy (cut into stars, hearts, & butterflies) PBJ sandwiches, chips, fruit, and veggies for lunch and then did some running around to make room for cake while the sun catchers baked in the oven.

When it was finally time for cake and ice cream, Ava loved (again) to hear “Happy Birthday” and blow out her candle.  And, then, she wanted to see her rainbow birthday cake!

After some more running around to get rid of some of that excess sugar (hooray for nice weather so the kids could be outside!), we got around to opening some birthday gifts.  Ava received such thoughtful presents this year, and it’s clear that her friends know her very well – a fancy tea set, a book with a picture of her on every page, a Tiana doll, a book about everyday princesses, a unicorn backpack (as promised by CrayCray), and a follow-the-directions game – have all been oooh’d and aaaah’d and played with to death already.

Even though the real day isn’t until tomorrow (with another whole day of fun planned with just Daddy & Mommy), I think it’s safe to say that Whoozers has indeed had a very happy birthday.  We love you, big girl!