Festivities Part 2

Pieces, I love you very much. I'm glad you are mine. I'm glad you're my first. You are a freaking awesome kid. Happy Birthday!

It's killing me that I failed to take a photo of the aprons I made for each of the kids to wear and take home. Most of them were covered in frosting by the time we were done, so they had taken them off.
Cupcakes were devoured.
Presents were opened.
Meg vs Royal Icing take 3. It is supposed to be RED. At least Reese was totally thrilled that it was bubble gum pink, and really, that's all that matters.

A few shots from the party:
It seriously kills me that you can't see how cute those aprons are! Some of them were the full size and others were the tie around the waist kind. The kids loved them.

Reese's gingerbread palace. I love it so much. This photo will be printed and added to our collage of holiday photos from over the years.

Quincy's cookies. Not a whole lot of cookie under all that frosting. You can't tell from the angle, but it was piled almost an inch high.
And the candy, well she ate that before it made it to the cookie.

While we waited for Mom's and Dad's to come, I read Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett to the kids and they snacked on (of course!) gingerbread cookies.
Happy Birthday to my BIG little girl!

A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes...

2 Cinderellas
3 Sleeping Beauties
2 Snow Whites
1 Princess and the Pea
1 Princess Fairy
9 little girls waiting for cake and juice boxes...

I haven't figured out how to dump photos from my new camera onto the laptop, but here are a few pics that Kasey took.

Meg: Make a Wish, Cinderella!
Reese: I wish to eat one of those glass slipper cookies after my cake is done.

My first (and probably last) homemade birthday cake. Strawberry cake, with Strawberry cream cheese filling an pink strawberry frosting. That is a glass slipper on the top. We just took the princess toys out of the dishwasher today and Reese asked me why we couldn't have just like them all clean. gross.

Thank goodness for Abby. Q wanted to be held all weekend long. She seems to be fine now, but by Saturday, I thought my arms were going to fall off or my ears were going to break from hearing her cry for anyone to "carry me up, pweeeeeease?". When I put the Snow White dress on her, she gushed, "ooooh pretty princess" and looked at herself in the mirror smiling, until she saw that Reese was wearing Cinderella, and Q quickly changed her mind and pouted, "I don't like this dress, Mommy! I want Thinnnernennnaah...(more unrecognizable whining)" Unfortunately, her Cinderella dress is still covered in chocolate something (at least I hope it is chocolate) from Halloween, so Snow White had to deal with it. Abby came just in time to the rescue. I can't wait until she is old enough to babysit. My girls adore her, and she is a great mothers helper.

Aren't these cute? Reese handed each of her guests a blue, purple, or pink glass slipper sugar cookie (made from scratch and iced by hand at 2am the night before, by her wicked stepmother/evil queen/yours truly) tied with a princess ribbon and a pink note attached that read, Thank you for coming to my party! Love, Reese. She also gave out scented glitter lip gloss and Disney princess fruity snacks for party favors.

Reese was so excited that her friends were there to dance and play and celebrate with her. She was so cute when opening her gifts, and loved every single one of them. We made her wait until friends went home before she could play with her new toys, and I think she started to get a little antsy toward the end of the party. Once she had access to her loot, we didn't see or hear from her the rest of the afternoon.

I have more pictures, with the rest of the little princesses in it that are pretty dang cute. I'll add them later. I can't believe she is four! It just doesn't feel like it has been that long since I was spending hours a day swaddling, rocking, feeding, singing, snuggling, wiping, and reading to my teeny tiny little newborn baby girl. One tiny little baby to get all the love and attention that a mommy had to give. This lucky girl had her parents to herself for two whole years before baby sister came along. I say she was lucky, but I think we were the lucky ones. Reese, you are wonderful firstborn, and a great helper, friend, and big sister to Quin. I am grateful everyday that you were our guinea pig, and I am even more grateful that we haven't screwed you up beyond anything a little therapy can fix later. I am so happy to be your mommy. You've given me the ability to feel more emotions than I knew I had in me, and have stretched my ability to give and care and love more than I knew I was bargaining for when I signed up for this job. I wouldn't trade it for ANYthing. I am the lucky one. You are a blessing of great worth.