Lilli is officially four!

Well! Lilli had her birthday and I think we can safely say that she was well celebrated. Brace yourself, as this is a lengthy post, and here are some disclaimers:

1) Yes, I know my camera is not that great

Oh. Alright, I guess one disclaimer is all I have in me. Let's begin with the recap!

On Lilli's actual birthday, which was Thursday, my mom took them to the splash area at the park down the street from us:


They had a blast.

When David and I got home from work we gave Lilli all but one of her presents (saved one for her party).

Here she is opening her card:

The funny thing about that card (a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic card. MLP: FiM is her current favorite show) is that she picked it out herself. Like as in "pleeeeeease can that be my birthday card, and pleeeeeeeease can we buy it right now". But if you look at the picture she's just as happy as if she'd seen it for the first time. Funny kid.

Here she is with her Dora guitar. Every time we've gone to Target in the last 6 months we've had to visit it, so I figured it would be a good present. I was right. It goes everywhere with us, and she actually asked me to put it in her closet during her party so she could "save it".
She asked for "Old McDonald's (as the girls call it)" for her birthday dinner. Since she could have picked anything, I was kind of bummed that is what she wanted. When I get to pick, I pick Joe's Crab Shack. Or Bahama Breeze. Or MacGregor Cafe. NOT McDonalds. But she was happy.

The other thing she picked (and again, she could have picked anything so she was a really cheap date) was to go to Coconut Pointe (which is a local outdoor mall) and play at the "Castle Playground".


Oh yes, she has a sister, see? One who has always been super supportive about her sister's birthdays and pretty much is just as excited as if it was her day.

NOW.

Let's talk Panda Party prep. David said something to the effect that when he was little he had a couple of balloons at his parties, and that this was elaborate. But I have to tell you, when I was thinking Pandas, I really didn't think my ideas were that elaborate. I did some little things that I personally thought were very cool, and I think it came together nicely, and I have definitely been thinking about this pretty constantly for the last two weeks, but I was in bed by 12 last night! Elaborate means staying up until at least two. Anyway, here is some of the prep.

Theme: Panda Party!
Colors: Black, white, hot pink
Food requested by Lilli: Bagel pizzas, sour chips (salt and vinegar), Cheetos, potato chips, Capri sun, pink and white cake with pandas on top, chocolate cupcakes
Additional food added by mama because that's a lot of items in the chip family: pasta salad, veggies and dip, soda. Also, I upgraded the cupcakes to Panda cupcakes.
Games: Pin the Tail on the Panda, Bamboo Bamboo Panda (Duck Duck Goose)
Activities: Panda pinata, Panda dance

Tissue balls? Puffs? Fluffs? Not sure, but we hung these from all the light fixtures, and Lilli adored them. In this pic, most of them are still piled on my counter.

Panda Pinata! The "pee-nah-ta" problem as you may remember, was that I couldn't find one under $30. So I decided to make one. In retrospect, I should have researched how to make one, and not just gone for it, but it worked out, and that's the important thing. Oh yes, and it cost me exactly $2. A dollar for a little bottle of white acrylic paint, and a dollar for a roll of white crepe paper (which we didn't even use a third of). The newspaper was free, the balloon was still inflated from my birthday, and we had flour in the pantry and water in the tap. HOWEVER. It took a while. Not in hands on time, but in waiting for things to dry. And as I have problems with instant gratification, I'm not sure I would make one again. Ask me how I feel in September when Elizabeth's birthday comes around though. Special thanks to David for hand fringing the majority of the crepe paper. And if that stuff can be bought pre-fringed specifically for making pinatas, don't tell us, we (and his hand cramp) don't want to know.

Pinata in process:

Pinata soon to be destroyed (and looking worried about it). *sigh*

Pin the Tail on the Panda. Before I filled in the black parts of the panda, my friend asked me if I'd drawn a hippo. I was a bit worried. However everyone else knew it was a panda, so I think she just doesn't know what a hippo looks like.

The board ready to go:

The game nearly done. That's a lot of tails on that panda. And only one that nearly got in the right spot.

Panda cupcakes! I like to call this picture "Pandas in Progress" in my head. I don't know why that is.

Finished pandas. I really badly wanted to do a status update on Facebook that said something like "just finished making 2 dozen really apprehensive looking panda cupcakes".

Pandas ready to be eaten.

Party Day! Lilli is wearing the shirt that inspired the theme.

The girls with their friend Sprite, wearing their panda hats.

Lilli and Papa:

Playing Bamboo, Bamboo, Panda. From looking at the picture it seems like a bunch of the kids found the playroom more attractive than the game, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Here's how that cake turned out:
They only unnecessary touch with the cake was that I dyed the batter so that the inside is pink, white, and black, just like the rest of the party. It also tasted pretty good if I can toot my own horn a little.

Cake time!


Thanks for coming, here's your goodie bag! Ok, I have to toot my own horn again, because this might have been my most favorite thing at the party. I do the hair bow thing, so the bows on the girls' goodie bags (the black, white, and pink ones) are wearable. AND COORDINATE WITH THE PARTY. Yes, that pleases me tons.
Lilli had such a blast, that its no wonder that she had no problem going down for a nap afterwards. But she gave grandma a nice big hug first, since my mom helped put up the decorations and did a fantastic job on everything she did to assist. Thanks Mom!


Anyway, I had a nap, but I'm still ready again for a snooze myself. If you made it through this whole post, you're probably ready for a rest yourself.

I'm glad my big girl (my baby!) had such a good time, and I had so much fun planning her celebration!