juliet turns three - a rainbow princess party

Our big girl is three. Just typing this out triggers all kinds of crazy (somewhat sappy) emotions, but the words just aren't coming. We are so blessed. Juliet is pure joy. So very thankful ... and I'm tearing up.

Man, am I an over emotional pregnant lady or what?

Our celebrations were low key. Yes, I said celebrations. We celebrated twice cause Aunt Dan, Uncle David, and Aunt Deb were going out of town for a mission trip ... and who doesn't want to open presents and be the center of attention for two parties!?

Opening a few gifts at party #1.

My mom and I scored some great princess stuff at a local JBF sale and that's all been a big hit. See those Belle shoes? The heels light up. And they were $3!!

The second celebration was themed a Rainbow Princess Party. I kind of made it up, but I think it turned out fabulously and most importantly Juliet loved it. Juliet had 2 requests for her birthday - a princess cake and a bounce house. On my quest to fulfill the first request, I came across a lot of pink princess cakes. Which are fine and all ... maybe I am just not the biggest fan of pink. I don't know ...

But then I found this cake on Pinterest.

Source: thecraftymamablog.blogspot.com via Dawn on Pinterest

AMAZING right? It's ok to drool :)

I had to make this cake ... but Juliet's request was for a princess cake.

Hmmmm ...

princess + rainbow = rainbow princess!

Here's how Juliet's cake turned out.

The outside (crown made of sparkly craft foam).

The inside (clearly I am not a food photographer).



If you want to make a rainbow cake, I would definitely recommend going to Crafty Mama's blog (cake pictured above) and read all her tips. For mine, I used this recipe for the cake and this basic butter cream frosting recipe from Martha Stewart. The cake is not hard to make, but I would definitely say it's a 2 day project!

To date, I have been able to throw pretty no fuss parties for the girls. I've enjoyed keeping the parties on the small side with some special touches that don't break the bank. In fact, I think I like the challenge of creating big impact decorations on little to no budget! For this year, our rainbow princess party wouldn't have been complete without a big ol' rainbow and of course a castle for our birthday princess!

The rainbow was HUGE and if I'd known how much work it was going to be, I might not have ever started it. Ha! It's made of hundreds (literally) of coffee filters dyed with food coloring/water. It was a fun project. Just time consuming. The girls loved to watch the rainbow grow day by day and it was such a fun addition to the room I was sad to take it down!

I need to find some better photos of the rainbow and upload them ...

The castle is just paint on a big roll of brown packing paper with tissue pom poms for clouds. Lots and lots of tape on the wall for this project :)

Blowing out the candles.

This picture looks innocent enough ...

Until you see this one ;)

Yummy.

Some other pictures from the party.

Eating brunch (before eating cake of course!).

Little princess.

Swinging outside.

Presents!

I somehow managed not to take pictures the day of the party of Juliet's other birthday request - a bounce house. But, that's ok because I have other pictures! Rather than renting a bounce house we opted to buy a little one and I must say that it's a decision I don't regret!

It fits in our living room and playroom and the girls LOVE it. It's been a fun inside activity with all the hot weather we've been having. We've used it a ton so far and it seems really durable ... and did I mention the girls love it?!

Big thanks to Aunt Allie for doing all the bounce house research :)

Well that about covers it. She's three and so incredibly grown up.

Love you big girl.

my first beads gift set

I was working on this post a while ago, and accidentally published it. Then forgot about it ... just now finishing it.


Juliet made her first beaded necklace a few months ago, and since then has really enjoyed all things beads. She continues to enjoy stringing them, but also enjoys just playing with the beads themselves - sorting, dumping into cups, etc.

The girl LOVES her big bowl of beads.

We had a birthday party for our cousin Laura Kate who turned 3 and I figured that since the beads were such a hit for Juliet, maybe Laura Kate would like some beads too.

Juliet's beads are all in a big bowl right now which doesn't exactly make for a cute gift. Which totally matters, right? I know they make bead storage containers, but that just didn't seem age appropriate for little toddler fingers to manipulate. And it is important to me that the beads actually be usable and fun ... and not end up all over the floor! I thought about a cupcake/muffin tin as well as a cookie sheet, but then remembered that I had an old wooden tray out in the garage.

Fresh coat of pink spray paint and the old tray was as good as new!

The tray makes for a contained surface to play with the beads and with some small storage containers to hold the beads, you've got yourself a toddler bead set!

I took Juliet with me to choose the beads. We made sure to purchase the ones with the larger holes for easy stringing for a younger child. Our options were thankfully limited now as it took her a long time to make her decisions! The ropes were in the bead isle at Hobby Lobby (like 12 for $3!) and have ends that make for easy stringing.

All wrapped up.

The gift was a hit with the birthday girl and I figured I'd share for anyone else looking for a fun and different gift to give a little girl in their life!

i am thirty

This year I turned the big 3-0.

And Dominic gave me the best birthday present ever.

He took the day off.

It was an awesome surprise and the perfect gift for me. He knows me so well :)

We went to the zoo.

The weather was beautiful.

The girls enjoyed having Daddy there because it meant that they could do all the TOTALLY AWESOME zoo things that we can't do when it's just the three of us -- pet the sheep and goats and ride the carousel.

Juliet would stay here all day if I'd let her.

Pretty sure she's having a conversation with the goat. It this normal?

The goat whisperer ...

Beetles was more interested in the gravel and thinking deep thoughts.

We attempted a group shot on the carousel, but this is the best I got.

Video of our carousel ride. They were playing Where in the World is Carmen San Diego ... I think they did that cause they knew it was my birthday and I used to watch that show!

happy birthday to grandma donna

One of my new resolutions for this year is to be better about gift giving. I had gotten REALLY lazy, sending gift cards 3 months late ... or nothing at all ... this was (and technically still is) the case for my youngest sister's birthday gift from last October. Working on that one Buh-Buh :)

But, I've done better this year.

Until today.

Sorry mom.

Long couple nights around here and I just didn't get things together.

We did manage to have an impromptu lunch at Arby's with my mom. All of us girls. Two handsome sons-in-law. Two adorable grandchildren. All together. In green.

Well I didn't have it to give to her today, but figured I'd share what I'm giving her. This pic from my sister's wedding.

So what if it was 1.5 years ago ... we just run a little behind in my family apparently :)

Love you mom!

bouncy barn

We went to a birthday party for our sweet cousin Laura Kate a few weeks ago at a local bounce house. The girls had a TON of fun.

Juliet wouldn't slow down even for a second so this pic accurately depicts her the ENTIRE 2 hours we were there :)

Juliet slides.

And so does Corinne. The little stinker managed to climb up the ladder on her own. She was WAY more fearless than I expected her to be!

Juliet repeatedly asks for a "bouncy thing" for her birthday. And I had planned on a small party this year ... hmmmmmm ...

happy birthday uncle david

I wish I had a picture that shows how Juliet adores her Uncle David in a you're really cool and I kind of have a crush on you (even though I don't even know what that is yet) kind of way, but I don't. Yet.

I did get this one tonight though.



It's pretty cute.

See how she managed to get him alone at a table? She even told Aunt Di she couldn't sit there. The seat was reserved for David.

Here's a few more pictures from David's super awesome birthday party this evening. Braums party. We went all out :)

Table 1.



Table 2. Minus Dominic. He was stuck in traffic when I took these.



Opening presents. She told him what was inside as they were opening it.



Dan's reaction to David's present.

Playing peek a boo with Grandpa.

Tried to get a picture with Aunt Dan but ended up with a bunch of blurry shots like this. Grrrr.

This was the only one in focus.

Ice cream!





Happy Birthday Uncle David!

Your birthday party and presents are well documented now just in case we all forget :)

happy birthday grandma!

See you soon :)

happy birthday daddy

happy birthday to you

happy birthday to you

happy birthday dear daddy

happy birthday to you

I didn't get a cake made today. Nor did I get his birthday dinner made. He asked for 3 way chili and got ham. I will use the excuse that his birthday PARTY is Saturday and that is when I will make up for all that was lacking today. We did make this happy banner though.



In all its construction paper, marker, and glue glory, I think I might have redeemed myself a little.



Juliet it UBER proud of our creation too, so that's a bonus.

I ran to Sonic at 6:45 cause we needed ice cream right before bed. We didn't have cake remember?







In a book I'm reading the author talks about trying to put ourselves in a posture to accept the gifts that God is giving us, even if it's not what we'd planned. I might have wanted a different meal and a beautiful homemade cake, but God gave cold sticky Sonic ice cream.







And it was good.



The day my Love became a Daddy.



And today.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY!