It was fun planning Elora’s little party. She was so excited, about a month before her birthday she told me she wanted a party “with lots of kids!” We were going to go to the zoo, but alas, the day before the party it SNOWED. Ugh. Nice spring weather. So we decided to have the party at our place. 
There are quite a few pictures in this post, so we put it on two pages. Click the “finish reading” to see the rest.
I made Elora a chocolate cake (no carrots… she didn’t mind) and since we don’t have food coloring, I dyed the frosting using blueberries. Not too bad since I didn’t have any cake decorating materials… (False modesty, I was totally proud of myself for this one…) Would you believe those butterflies are made of frosting and rock candy?Me neither…
Here are the kids rolling out and cutting out cookies. Charlie is taking his cookie duty very seriously, whereas Elora saw the rolling and baking of the cookies as a needless step in the process, and proceeded directly to eating the cookie dough.
After the cookies were baked, the kids decorated. Elora, who had already eaten her share of cookies via the cookie dough, proceeded to eat the toppings. So while the kids were decorating, she was munching on gummy bears and chocolate chips. After awhile Grace gave in too, and started to eat the sprinkles. (In the pic, left to right – Elora, Charlie, Grace, and Sarah).
We hung little butterflies all around the room, as you can see Ollie really loved them. We tried to put Oliver down for a nap just before the party, but he would have none of it. He came out and thoroughly enjoyed the party (and also ate his share of sprinkles and frosting).
Here is Elora singing Happy Birthday to herself (so cute! She loves the Happy Birthday song). Guess which word is coming out of her mouth and notice how she’s pointing to herself.
I love this pic, all the little kids crowding around the cake so they can lick the frosting. They were all so excited.
Elora refused to eat on the floor with the other kids, she had to sit in a chair at the table. Strange kid. But, as you can see, she was really excited about all her treats. Note, in the lower right hand corner, I made rolls filled with ham and three kinds of cheese. SO GOOD. I really want one right now…
Present time! All the kids pitched in to help Elora unwrap. It was funny because all the parents tried to stop the kids, but Elora didn’t seem to mind. She was opening her cards first (she LOVES birthday cards. Where did this kid come from?)
Elora getting some help from Grace opening the paints she got from Sarah.
Elora picked out all the goodies for the gift baskets herself, and was so excited to give them to the other kids. Here she is with Charlie, looking lovingly up at him. I think she has a little crush…
While we were cleaning up, Oliver helped himself to some leftover sprinkles scattered across the table and the floor.
Elora surrounded herself with all her presents and proceeded to read her birthday cards again. She still sleeps with them every night, and “reads” them to me. She will open one and say, “This says, Happy Birthday, have a great day!” or some other similar message.
I am so happy that Elora had such a great day. She was totally excited the entire week leading up to the party, and the days afterwards too. She loves to know who gave her each present – she can even tell me which grandparent or Aunt gave her every item of clothing in her wardrobe. Wow. And my very favorite part was when Grace (the last guest!) was leaving, Elora gave her a hug, and said, “Thank you so much for coming to my party. It was so nice of you!” We are so lucky to have our sweet little girl.We have a lot more pictures, but didn’t want to put them all in one post. For more pictures of the Birthday Party click here.
