Party of the Century

Olivia's birthday party was held on Saturday at the location of her choice, "our new house" and with the theme of her choosing as well... Strawberry Shortcake. I was more than happy to help fulfill those wishes especially with Aunt Cara's help. Cara, Bill's step-sister, drove in from Long Beach, once again, on Thursday to hang out and help with the party. It was so great to have her visit and to have her help with all the things that needed to be done. We had a great time together as we always do and I "hired" her as my apprentice for decorating Olivia's cake. I loved having Cara's help with the cake! It was so great to have another woman's opinion as to how something should look and to mix all the colors for me. Note to self: Never do that much detailing on a cake without an apprentice! It turned out FANTASTIC! All the girls loved it...especially Olivia.

The party started at 2 on Saturday with the girls doing foam sticker door hanger art. (Bill took Aaron for some male bonding time, with instruction to arrive home in time for singing "Happy Birthday".) It was very quiet with all the girls at first simply getting used to each other and the 

situation. Hailey, one of Livi's friends said, "Olivia, aren't you going to

  introduce me to your friends?" It was perfect.

The first game was Musical Chairs. It was cute to watch, as many of them had never 

played before. Naomi was the first one to get out and was GREAT! She was so excited to sit on the "comfy carpet"(later confirmed by her mom). She ran and jumped on to it then lay down to watch 

the rest of the game. As each of the girls got out she would excitedly tell them to come join her. By the end all the girls were just as excited to lay with Naomi as they were to keep playing the game. As it was, Livi and Brea were the last 2 standing... a little rigging was needed to insure the game prize. Livi was upset for a split second but thrilled when she realized she got to give her friend a prize (a shower loofa with a scrubber fish attached to it- Livi's choice).

The "Silly Dance Contest" was the best part of the party. I had

borrowed wind wands from the kids' music class for the girls to dance with and blasted the "Silly Dance Contest" song. They had a blast! It was so much fun to see all the girls participate with so much enthusiasm and spunk. Their little 

personalities really shone through. The song ended with having them get as low to the ground as possible... no, I didn't have them take a nap.

We wanted to be able to play some type of pin the ____ on the ____ so we did pin the strawberry on the cupcake, because of the whole Strawberry Shortcake theme. It was cute. the girls all tried fee

ling where the target strawberry was and in doing so got it confused with Livi's 1st placed strawberry. Because of the mix up, Ashlyn, who went

 towards the end won because her berry was furthest away from Livi's, thus closest to the target.

Lastly we painted toe nails. Let me just say that Cara and I agree, we know without a doubt why her mom never did pedicures in her nail salon! It was all good... little girls feet, what can you say.

 

At last it was time for presents cake and ice cream, strawberry of course. It was so fun to hear 8 little voices saying, "Livi, Livi, I want to see. Oh Livi, that's cool..." She's never had a group of girlfriends before. It's fun to see her starting to get into that social realm.  Olivia sent her guests home with pink bags decorated with a strawberry (colored by her and Cara), a pink bow, and lip gloss and nail polish inside. What FUN!

Cara, thanks for all of your help. I couldn't have done it without you! We Love You!