Happy Birthday, Mom

Happy, Happy Birthday Mother Dear!
Happy Days will come to you all year.
If I had one wish then it would be,
A Happy, Happy Birthday to you from me!

I hope you have a wonderful day and we can't wait to see you in July!

We love and miss you!

The Fairy Party

Leighton decided that she wanted a fairy party. She wanted everyone to dress like a fairy, have fairy wands, play pin the wand on the fairy, have a fairy treasure hunt, and have fairy berries, pixie sticks, and cake. I decided to hit up invite our friends to join the fun. Riley's birthday is the day after Leighton's. We decided to have a double party. Riley's actual response was, 'Ms. Leslie, I want to DO it.' Jessica rented a bowery (pavilion for those of you not in Utah) at the local park and away we went. I made most of the decorations and Jessica picked up last minute things. She was going to order the cakes, but Leighton couldn't make up her mind. Hence, Riley had an awesome fairy cake and Leighton had a plain homemade cake.

But, on to the preparations... Leighton insisted on picking fresh strawberries to make her fairy berries. Can you see her in the picture? She had to pick the best ones for her friends. This is her haul.




On to the day of the party....

It all started at 10 a.m. and was scheduled to be over at 11:30.
(Thanks for the advice, Megan 'The Birthday Guru")
I had made a tulle canopy to hang above the table, but it fell and was taped up on the side. The girls loved it! The flowers in the canopy were actually hair clips. The fairies got to pick two of their favorites as a party favor.

These flowers were attached to "pixie" sticks and served as a centerpiece until the end.

On to our fairy treasure hunt. Leighton and Riley had hidden little gemstone rings in the woods and the fairies went searching. They didn't want to give up when there was only one left. This took way longer than I thought it would. This was also where I stopped taking pictures. I misplaced my camera and Super-Jess took over. Thanks!

Now on to Pin the Wand on the Fairy. I used the school's overhead to trace this fairy onto poster board. The girls each had a star with their initial in **GLITTER** on it. I forgot a blindfold, so we used a pair of Jensyn's pants.

When they were done, they wanted to play it again.

Now on to cake....I do want to mention that I brought my luncheon sets that I have been collecting for several years. The girls were great and I didn't lose one piece.

Also, the fairy berries--ARRGGHH! My thought was strawberries dipped in melted white chocolate that was tinted pink with food coloring. Well, adding food coloring to the melted chocolate changed the consistency and we had scooped berries, not dipped. If you closed your eyes and ate them, they were fine. And since they were all eaten, I guess it wasn't a total failure.

The whole clan of fairies.

Blowing out the candle. No, her face isn't dirty she got poison ivy, AGAIN!

Next, decorating the edible fairy wands.

So good (SUGAR!) that it made her eyes roll back in her head.

Riley decorating her wand and showing her blue tongue.

We didn't have enough time to open presents, so each girl picked her two flower clips, her pixie sticks and that was that. We were cleaned up and cars repacked by 12:02. That is how you do a party. Thanks, Jess!

We have decided to follow the crowd and only do a friend party every other year, so Jess and Riley you are on your own next year.

Leighton is 6

This is Leighton first thing in the morning. She does not like to get up early for school and fights valiantly to stay in bed just a little longer. I asked her what she wanted for breakfast on her birthday, expecting some extravagant item that would require me to wake up at five and begin preparations. She came up with Poptarts, brown sugar and cinnamon. Look at the happiness!
The night before, Dee and I realized that because her party was Saturday, we had neglected to get her a present to open on her birthday. Blogger to the rescue. I took a shirt that she had refused to wear on numerous occasions, picked out some cute fabric and using Pellon fusible webbing (which I found out is made by Dee's new employer), made her a 'new' birthday shirt. Not bad, for two hours before bedtime and no trip to the store.
She also wanted to take her lunch. I know, she is just full of demands!
Well, here comes the tough part. I, regrettably, showed her rainbow cupcakes in a magazine. To which she excitedly exclaimed, 'I want to take those to school!'
Way to go, Leslie! Next time wait until after her birthday to show her stuff like that.

I dropped the girls off at school and got back to start on the cupcakes.
I separated the batter into six different bowls and colored them appropriately.
I slowly layered, in 24 cupcake liners, purple, then blue, then green, then decided that this was for the birds and started dumping, quickly, yellow, then orange, then finally red. It was incredibly time consuming and I was complaining the entire time.

They came out of the oven like this: I was dying to break one open. But, 22 students plus one teacher and one assistant equals 24, so I had to wait. I brought them to school and started passing them out. The kids were 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing and 'cool'ing. That made me hate them a lot less.

This is a very blurry picture of the teacher assistant's.

The smile on this little girl made it all worth it! She got home and said that it was her best birthday ever!

Mine too, baby, mine too.