Ruler of the Elves

After this past weekend, we were able to cross “jump in a pile of leaves” off of our Fall Fifteen list.

All good things must come to an end, including Pinky’s birthday week celebration. I think that the whole “birthday week” thing is a way for me to try and drag out the fact that our little girl is growing up way too quickly. The time goes by so fast. Sigh.

Anyway, the last thing I wanted to share for Pinky’s birthday was a photo of her from the beginning of fall when we were home to visit my family. Every year for Pinky’s birthday we make a point to go out to eat at one her/our favorite Mexican restaurants in my hometown. They have the most delicious food and Pinky always loves the fried ice cream birthday treat. So this year, when we realized that we wouldn’t be around during her birthday week to visit the restaurant, we made a point to stop by while we were in town and celebrate her birthday a little early. The food = fabulous and the time spent seeing Pinky happy = priceless.

Ok, this post was supposed to be on here last Thursday, but my computer had some issues and I ended up having to completely reinstall my operating system, which meant my photos, editing software and pretty much everything else also need to be reinstalled as well. Let’s just say this was not a fun process.

Pinky’s actual birthday was laid back, but we still made sure she had a good time. She went to school as she normally does, but close to the end of the day, I dropped some goody bags off at school for her and her classmates. I picked her up shortly after and we headed home. When we got there, I told her that I wanted to get her 1st 6 year old picture right away, so we could always remember what she looked like on her 6th birthday and she happily obliged. (She looks so grown up!)

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Because it was her special day, I told her she could pick anything she wanted to do (within reason) and we would do it. She decided that she wanted to play games with me and then go out to eat when Daddy got home from work. So, she and I grabbed Connect Four and got to playing. She is a tough opponent! And when she noticed that the age recommendation was 6+, she was very excited that she now met the requirements and no longer had to play as an under ager.

Then, when Chris came home, we let her open one last present from us. (We had given her a few presents before her party too.)

The tissue paper in the top of the bag reminds me of Cruella Deville’s hair!

And a video…

Note to self: Apparently gum is much more exciting than the LIV doll she had been asking about for the past several months.

As for dinner, we also let her have her choice in restaurant. Pinky chose McDonald’s. I figured that everyone has seen McDonald’s, so I neglected to take the camera along for the burger and fries Happy Meal.

We finished off the night snuggling on the couch with a movie, hot chocolate, popcorn and a cozy fire in the fireplace.

We are experiencing some technical difficulties and will be back as soon as we get the kinks worked out!

Every year for Pinky’s birthday, we throw a grand costume party and although it was a bit scaled down this year compared to other years, it did not disappoint. Unfortunately, because of timing and location (our house), I was not able to take as many photos of the guests and party events as I would have liked. My photography pretty much came to a quick halt as soon as most of the guest showed up, so most of the photos are of the decor before the party actually commenced.

This year’s theme was a zoo party with a girly pink twist. Even though the food and décor were a bit more minimal, it still turned out pretty and Pinky loved it, so that is what matters. We had pizza, fruit, veggies and chips with taco dip, plus our dining table was decked out with an assortment of pink and white deserts for the guests to enjoy.

This photo was taken before the mini cupcakes were finished, so they aren’t on the homemade cake stand (made from 3 silver trays and 2 candles sticks from the dollar store and spray painted white, hence the pink paper covers on each tray.)

And here are the cupcakes with little toothpick toppers that I made and printed out to go with the theme. They had monkeys, elephants and the number 6 on them.

In addition, I created these little zoo cookie labels to put on the mini bags of animal crackers.

The strawberry mochi ice cream, from Trader Joe’s, was a big hit. Especially with my sis. I think she ate close to 3 boxes herself, but I don’t blame her. They are delicious.

I found these 2 apothecary jars at Michaels for $14 each, but thanks to a couple of 40% off coupons, we got them for a steal. They held strawberry wafers and vanilla meringues.

This year was the first year that we actually had other children at the party. Pinky was the only grandchild in my family up until this past Feb., so our previous parties involved only her and adults. So for the 6 kids that showed up (including Pinky) I made little goodie bags that contained bubbles, whale crackers (kind of like goldfish crackers) and zoo stickers.

The rest of the dining room was decorated with pink felt bunting hanging from the chandelier, pink & white balloons…

And these cool homemade cardboard animals my parents brought along with them.

I also altered the normal photos & frames that were in the room by adding a pink piece of cardstock and a pic of Pinky to each one of them, since it was her day.

For the kids, we played a couple of games. A few family members created some sidewalk chalk murals on the driveway of different scenes (jungle, ocean, forest, and farm) and the kids all worked on attempting to add in the animals to their appropriate habitats.

This little monkey thought it was more fun to chew on the chalk than draw with it.

We also played zoo charades where the kids each took turns acting out different animals and everyone, including the adults guessed what they were. I found these cute cards online and printed them out. My sis helped me by gluing them to note cards so that no one could see through them. It was so cute to watch the youngsters pretend to be lions, frogs and giraffes.

Here are just a few of the 22 guest who made an appearance at the party, including the birthday girl herself, accompanied by my sis wearing a wicked scary gorilla costume.

I think Pinky was pretty pleased with her party and I hope she gets everything she wished for when she blew out those candles.