Birthday, Round 1

Sylvia turns three on Monday - THREE, people, THREE!  So, since this is only the third time I've planned a kid's birthday party, I think it's safe to say I still have no clue what I'm doing.  However, I am learning and I'm pretty happy with the way things are turning out, not counting the car puke.  I'll get to that in a minute. 

We decided to do two things differently this year. 
1.  Have her party at the beginning of my spring break instead of the end, so I wouldn't spend a week trying to get all Martha up in here and thoroughly disappointing myself.
2.  Have a separate and SMALL friend party so I don't have a house full of people to look after.  We decided to stick to the "invite as many friends as your age rule."  Just another attempt to keep the total number of bodies in this house to a minimum!  We might have to rethink this rule when she turns 16. 

So far, I'm very glad we did both of these things.  I was still up until midnight last night doing all the things I thought wouldn't take very long, but oh well.  All of my plans were EASY and I actually had time to sit down for a few minutes before guests showed up.  The party was a hit, everyone had fun, and both girls took a nice, long afternoon nap, (so I did, too)!  Here are the pics:

Sylvia waited patiently for her friends.

Baby Claire (who's not a baby anymore!) had no problem keeping up with the big kids.

Okay, so maybe I made some Martha pom poms, but they were super easy.

AJ was digging his heart shaped ring pop!

Margot's all dolled up for big sister's party!

Minnie Mouse dress from Brooklyn.

Hugs for Charlie - thanks for the Rapunzel doll!  (She's sleeping with it at this very moment!)

The Princess Bike.  I could write a whole post on it.  Let's just say it's her dream come true and leave it at that.  She is one happy kid!

Steering practice.

We took a break from biking to hunt for treasures in the backyard.  When you're three, every rock is a treasure.

Lighting the candles on her princess cupcakes.

"Happy Birthday to Sylviaaaaa!"

It took them forever to blow them all out!

Stuffing our faces.  Those cupcakes were g.o.o.d!

He loves my ladies.

This is the best we could do with the grandkids.  They aren't all looking at the camera, but they aren't crying either.  Good enough!

Now, the party was great and everyone had fun and everyone took naps and all was right with the world.  Sylvia woke up from her nap complaining of a belly ache, but what else is new?  She complains that her belly hurts every. single. DAY!  All day long.  "My beeeeeelllllly hurts."  Okay.  Usually, to counteract the whining and complaining, we need to get out of the house, so we decided to take some books back to the library.  On the way home, Sylvia was reading her new library book in the back seat and WHAM!  Out of nowhere she starts projectile vomiting all over the inside of the car, the back of Sylvain's neck and the pages of her book.  Awesome.  It was then that I realized she had eaten nothing but potato chips and cupcakes for the last six hours.  Epic. Parent. Fail!  I felt terrible for the poor girl!  I started yelling at Sylvain to pull over, even though we were two minutes away from our house.  All I wanted to do was hold her and pet her hair and tell her it was going to be okay!  She cried because...well, because she was covered in puke, and we changed her clothes on the side of the road.  I knew she felt better immediately, but I was very concerned about the lack of any food at all in her belly!  I made her some toast when we got home, we snuggled on the couch for a few minutes, and she ate all of her dinner without any problems, so I think it's safe to say she's better.
Tomorrow we have the Family Party.  Just grandparents, cake and ice cream!  Here's to hoping she doesn't wake up with a fever, or an ear infection, or a disease caused by eating too many cupcakes!