I'm having major photo uploading issues, so I'll just have to do this piecemeal. We had such an awesome time at Maura's party, but I'm not having an awesome time posting these photos. Here's some of the photos from the day. More to follow.
A boy and his
Pappap. My dad was the official baby holder of the day. I was so glad that I could leave Bennett in his capable hands and focus on the party. He was exhausted from his trip to Japan, but he was able to be at Maura's party. He managed to fly out of Japan just fifty minutes before the giant earthquake and tsunami hit that country. We were so relieved to be able to give him a hug!
Brent was my official Tristan wrangler. Tristan needs someone to be assigned just to watch him or else he could get into some mighty big mischief! I could just picture him poking his fingers into the cake!
I was so glad Mom was at the party. I COULD NOT have done a party like this without my mom, Katie and Lorie. They helped me decorate, and make food for two days before the party!
All the kids assembled for a quick group shot. This is the one thing I've always meant to do at a party and never managed. There was NO WAY that I was going to let this group of fabulous fairies fly away without a group shot! We had just played a game where they went on a hunt to find their wings and tutus. We hid them all throughout the auditorium and the girls had a wonderful time looking for them. They were so cute all decked out in their fairy finery. Top: Wesley, Gabby, Gracie, Addia, Sarah, and Lily. Bottom: Maura, Lainey,
Jentry, Anna Kate, Alexandra, Tristan, Noelle and Reagan.
After we were all dressed up, we played Fairy, Fairy, Fly(Duck, Duck, Goose). The kids loved it. They were so
competitive that I was pretty sure we'd be taking someone to the hospital! Maura got tagged quite a bit and it was fun to see her running full out with her tutu streaming out behind her.
We played Pass the Fairy Wand(Hot Potato) next. The kids loved squeezing the button and making the sparkly sounds. We had to actually pass the wand around the whole group so everyone could have a turn before we ended the game.
Lunch time!! The kids dug into their fairy food and loved it.
Maura had her constant shadow of Wesley and Tristan. Wesley and Maura became fast friends on this trip. I'm really happy that they enjoyed each other's company so much. She was sad when she realized that Wesley wouldn't be at her school again this week.
Jill and
Jentry enjoyed some lunch. I'm pretty sure that Tristan has a little crush on
Jentry. He talks about her an awful lot! She is pretty cute!!
Alexandra was pretty happy to be a the big girl party. Dressing up in tutus and wings and putting sparkles on her face is right up her alley! Lorie was such a huge help to me before, during and after the party. Thanks Aunt Lorie!
Pretty soon, it was time for birthday cake. I cannot believe that my baby girl is five. It seems like I brought her home from the hospital yesterday. She has grown into such a precocious and creative little girl and I love her so much. I truly loved providing her with such a fun party. She loved every minute of it and told me later that it was her favorite day every. She LOVED her cake and literally gasped when she saw it for the first time. That just made all the hard work worth it to me!
Happy Birthday, dear Maura! I hope all your wishes come true!
Maura LOVED opening all her presents. I really don't know for sure who gave her what gifts, but I suppose it doesn't really matter. She loved it all and has been having so much fun playing with all her new toys.
We've been blessed with the nicest weather on Maura's birthdays! One of the biggest benefits to having her party at the church was the ability to use the playground. I wasn't sure if it would happen for her March birthday, but we got really lucky and all the kids had a wonderful time playing outside at the end of the party. We snuck in a few family photos, which of course turned out awful! Can't blame a girl for trying. I would have been sad if we had missed out on taking a photo with our big birthday girl on her big day!
Spring is HERE!! We loved our chance to soak up some sunlight, especially with Daddy pushing the swing!
One of the most fun moments of the day was when Aunt Emily arrived. She was returning for Spring Break and it just so happened to fall on the weekend of Maura's party. We were so pleased that she was able to make it!
I had two of my best friends together at the same time. We were so excited that Hannah, Anna Kate, and Wesley were finally able to make an Allen party while they were visiting from Florida. Angie helps me to make sense of this crazy life we call Motherhood. Very few days go by
that we don't talk at least once on the phone. I'm so grateful for the presence of both of these ladies in my life! God has blessed me!
Carrigan enjoyed the party too, even if she was just a little young to be a fairy!
I wanted to make sure that I documented the decorations and set up of the party for posterity! We worked really hard to make everything Fairy perfect and I felt like it paid off when Maura walked in and saw it for the first time. She gasped and said "Oh, it's so beautiful!" Precious! It made it all worthwhile! My friend Rachel helped me with the cake. I had the cake all made and iced and I went to her house on the Thursday before the party for some help with the fondant. It was my first fondant experience and it really wasn't as difficult as I expected. I was so pleased by how the cake turned out--it looked exactly like how I pictured it would. What a relief! Maura LOVED her cake and I felt like I made her day! She couldn't wait to eat a toadstool! 
The food table turned out awesome. I hate that this photo is so dark. It was so beautiful with the window in the background. We had all fairy themed food: Fairy flower sandwiches, fairy fruit wands, Fairy wing pasta, pixie sticks, Fairy pretzel wands...etc. Delicious! 
My favorite was Tinkerbell's Garden with the teeny tiny veggies. 
We had beverages and cake on the other table. 
Katie suprised me by bringing fresh flowers she had left over from a shower the previous weekend. They were perfect and made the party even more special. 
We set up the kids tables with crafts in the middle of the room and it was the first place that the kids stopped. They made shiny bead braclets, decorated their favor bags, got fairyfied with glitter and nail polish and made fairy snow globes with glitter and sequens. That was a highlight for most of the girls. They had so much fun doing their crafts that I think they were sad when we cleaned them up and moved on. By then, everyone was quite glittery, even Alexandra. 
Sarah and Gabby were hard at work on those favor bags. The kids loved the fairy and flower stickers. 
Lily and Noelle were concentrating HARD! 
Lainey and Gracie were all about the glitter and face paint. 
Perhaps we didn't supervise the face paint and nail polish station QUITE as closely as we should have! Addia looked as if she was auditioning for the blue man group! 
We were thrilled that Hannah, Wesley, Anna Kate and Carrigan were visting from Florida and could attend the party. Maura was especially excited to have them there. She and Wesley hit it off right away and became fast friends. I hate that they live so far away and we see them so rarely. I had so much fun with the kids, whether painting faces, fixing snow globes or tying off the bracelets. This is my favorite party that I've thrown thus far. Now, I just need to get started planning for Tristan's, which is coming up before I know it! 
