Nora's Birthday fun

We had Nora's "Ariel Party" the night before her actual birthday. Despite my best efforts to talk her into doing a Butterfly party she insisted upon an Ariel one. And since she is the birthday girl I didn't press it too much and let her have her mermaid party. The funny thing is she doesn't even really love Ariel all that much, and has only seen the movie once or twice.

Here they are decorating the Ariel cake. After I baked three of them. Rarr! I have to say this cake pan has been a bit disappointing. It takes two cake mixes to make the skirt and it was still gooey on the inside after the outside was really well done. Oh, well. It finally worked and the kids had a great time decorating it (and eating the frosting and sprinkles). And the best part was I didn't have to worry about decorating the cake! Here is Ariel in her fancy skirt:

I wanted to make a birthday banner for Nora this year and add pictures on to it each year as she gets older. It was fun and easy to make. I got the basic directions HERE). It turned out pretty cute but needs a few more embellishments - I ran out of time to completely finish it.

We kept the party nice and small and just invited the neighbors. We wish we could have invited everyone! We did a few water/beach themed crafts like:

THESE

and THESE

...and then of course we had to have a pinata. I bought this heart shaped one on clearance for 2.00 (at the same time I bought Sophie's lips shaped pinata) and because Nora wanted an Ariel pinata we glued a picture of Ariel to it.

Everyone going after the treats...

Then we had cake and ice cream. I was able to record the first 4 seconds of us singing Happy Birthday before my batteries died on my video camera. Nice. For her birthday we gave her a basket and horn to put on her bike. She also got some great things from our neighbors that she loves - THANKS everyone!

The next day - on her actual birthday - we had waffles and smoothies for breakfast at the birthday girls' request. Then we packed a picnic and headed to one of Nora's most favorite spots - the Lake! We had a great time there with some friends from church and brought cupcakes there to share.

After the Lake we stopped at the Quality Dairy for an ice cream! Nora chose plain vanilla. Sophie opted for a doughnut instead and Miles had a baby cone that he not so willingly shared with me.

Later that night we had a get together in our neighbors - the Overson's - backyard because E.Jay and Nora share the same birthday! We had a bbq with them and later that night I took Nora to the store to let her choose a birthday balloon. She is always asking for a balloon and I always say no, so she was pretty happy. I told her she could choose whatever balloon she wanted. She decided on the 99 cent princess balloon and then wanted a Hello Kitty one for Sophie and the Cars one for Miles. Sweet girl.
I think she had a pretty great day!

Cute sisters.

On a random note, here is our little gymnast doing his nightly training exercises...

2028 Olympics here we come!