Arabella's Owl Birthday Party

In keeping with her owl obsession, she decided she wanted an Owl themed birthday party.  For a few months now, I have been checking out Pintrest for ideas and I was able to find a lot of cute ideas that Arabella really loved.  We had beautiful weather last weekend which was perfect since we had it in the backyard - she insisted on having her party with all of her friends (all 27 of them) in our yard!  I am so lucky and thankful to my Mom and Lori who were here to help with all of the prep work.  Lori came in on Thursday night and we got to work on the loot bags and other decorating prep that needed to be done.  Grammie helped with food prep and keeping Arabella occupied while we decorated the backyard on Sunday morning.  I don't think I would have been able to pull it off without you two - THANK YOU! 

Loot bag prep with Lori!

Yummy sweet and salty pretzel snaps for the party...we literally made thousands of these. Pretty easy and they were a hit!

We decorated the cabana in the backyard as "Arabella's Owl Nest"  - she loved all the streamers and owls that Lori and I made.   There were lots of balloons, one of Arabella's favorites.  We also hung her pinata in the middle - it was perfect for when it was time to break into it.  The kids did a craft - decorating foam owls, they played with the hula hoops, and loved the bounce house.  I also put Jay in charge of making a "owl tree" out of press board so that the kids could get their pictures taken with it - it came out great!  We hired Arabella's babysitters to help with kid control and it worked perfectly!  Emily and Megan are awesome and all of the kids had so much fun with them. 

I made the cupcakes for everyone but Arabella had picked out a cake on Pintrest, and I knew that it was totally out of my cake making ability. So one of my friends recommended a local woman who makes cakes - Made by Maya - in Beaconsfield and she did an amazing job! I feel in love with it as soon as I saw it and so did Arabella! It was perfect. I decided to make cupcakes for everyone since it was easier and there would be no waiting for the cake to be cut. We saved it for later in the evening after we opened her presents and Arabella was able to blow out her candles again!

We also saved the opening of presents for when all the guests left. I decided that with 27 kids and some parents it would be too much chaos. It was nice to be able to do it at a relaxing pace too. Arabella was totally spoiled by her friends. She loved opening her gifts and we have decided to hold some of them for "rainy days" since getting to use all of them at once would be total overload. She received a lot of nice things - but I think her favorites were the Playmobil sets. She loves to play with them and had fun putting them together.

Arabella had a great party and it was totally worth all the time, effort and planning that I put into it. She had a wonderful day and loved being with all her friends and family. Her smile and the joy on her face was priceless! Thank you everyone for making her day so special!

Fun Week Times at Preschool

It is hard to believe but the end of Arabella's school year is FAST approaching!  And with that, her teachers have had a lot of fun activities planned.  They have had sprinkler day, where they played in baby pools, on a slip-n-slide and running through the sprinkler.  It was the perfect weather...26c...and then they had ice cream sandwiches for a treat!  Arabella had so much fun - she loves water!  Even our friend Bram got in on the slip-n-slide action - I guess it was a great way to cool down after our Monkey Bar Gym workout!  Before the kids went home, the released the butterflies that had hatched from their chrysalis. 

This week we also had Crazy Hair Day! It was hard to come up with something to do in Arabella's hair and she wouldn't really it still for a picture. I brushed it out so it looked pretty crazy and then put pony tails all over the place with all different bows! It looked pretty cute!

Grammie's Here

After waiting patiently for what must have seemed like forever (to Arabella), last Saturday, Arabella, Auntie Lori and I picked Grammie up at the airport.  Arabella was so excited and couldn't wait for her to come out to the waiting area from Customs.  I loved seeing her run up to Grammie, it was the sweetest thing ever and I am sure one of the best welcomes that my Mom has ever received!

Special Day At School

The day after Arabella's birthday was her special day at school.  She was so excited to have me join her and to be able to have a cmall party at school with her friends and teachers.  I loved seeing all that she has learned over the past year.  She led the class during circle time and when they counted the days of the month and in some songs.  She had so much fun showing me the butterflies/caterpillars that are hatching, too!  Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes and it was so adorable to hear all the kids sing her "Happy Birthday" in both English and French.  It was a rainy day and she splashed in a few puddles on the way home.  She played with her new lite brite from Uncle Mike before crashing on the couch from all the excitement!
I am so happy that I was able to go to school with her and enjoy her special day.

Silly Girl

Arabella can be silly sometimes...case in point the next 2 photos!

Family Birthday Party

Things have been so busy and crazy around here with school, parties, and family visiting that I am just now getting around to updating the blog!

On Arabella's birthday, we had a pretty low key day.  I made her an owl cake from scratch, that Jay swears took me 3 hours to make, but honestly it was super easy.  Thank you Martha Stewart!  I made 2 chocolate sheet cakes, printed out templates, cut the cake, assembled it and the frosted it with homemade butter cream frosting.

Arabella woke up to balloons outside her bedroom door and then had breakfast with dad to start the day!

We made cupcakes for her special day at school. She loved making them and decorating them. It was too cute that she had her Rapunzel dress on as well as an apron!

The weather was beautiful so we spent a lot of time playing outside and enjoying dinner and cake on the patio!

She loved her cake! It was delicious and then we opened presents. She had so much fun!

I had so much fun celebrating with you Arabella! I hope you enjoyed your 4th Birthday!!