She's Had a Birthday {Shout Hooray!}

{Warning -- Total Photo Dump coming.  And see that bunting up there?  I totally waited until the last minute to make it (as in I was cutting out the felt and stringing it up minutes before the party was to start) and as a result, didn't have time to sew the letters on.  I was frantically holding out hope that the felt would provide enough static cling for the letters to stick to for the party, and it totally did for the majority of the time!  Hahahaha.}

I don't even know where to start!  This past Saturday, we finally got around to celebrating Jane's 5th birthday.  Even though I had an extra week to prepare for the big day, I was still running around and scrambling last minute on Saturday morning to make sure everything was in place for her very first "friend" party.  {For those not in the know, I can only handle throwing a full-on party every so often.  The kids get a "friend" party when they turn 5, 8, 12, 16, and 18.  After that, I've told them they're on their own to throw themselves a party!  Hahaha.}

Oh Jane, my sweet little space cadet.

After running my 8 miles Saturday morning, I was still on the run for most of the rest of the day, as I ran to Target and Michaels and Whole Foods to procure all the last minute little things that I needed for the party and then proceeded to set thing ups, host a party, and then get everything cleaned up afterwards.  Grace and Sophie were my assistant party planners/helpers, and their input was actually pretty great as I was trying to find things for party favors and activities. 

{A giant roll of banner paper was one of the items purchased at Michaels.  It has consistently been a hit!}

After getting home, I got started right away on making her cupcakes and put the girls to work assembling the goodie bags and filling the pinata.  I tried a new recipe for the cupcakes which I found on allrecipes and which I modified to make vegan due to the egg and dairy allergies that would be present at the party.  The ingredients called for grape jelly and mayonnaise (which I subbed out for vegan "nayonnaise"), and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to see that their texture and consistency came out amazing.  The only problem was that they weren't super chocolate-y.  Or awesome tasting.  Don't get me wrong, they certainly weren't gross, but they could have been better.  But they were for a bunch of 5 year olds, so I wasn't really that concerned.  I was hoping to up the chocolate factor with the frosting, but that was a no-go as I discovered after starting the "butter"cream frosting that we were almost completely out of cocoa powder.  Oh well!  They were fine enough, and I was good with that.  Hahaha.

The agenda for the party included:

• Coloring a birthday banner
• Decorating crowns
• Decorating cupcakes
• Eating cupcakes and ice cream
• Opening presents
• and Hitting a pinata

I was shocked to see how much better THIS group of kids did at focusing their attention on the tasks at hand than the ones at the LAST 5-year-old party we threw when it was Sophie's turn.   With Sophie's party, it seemed as though every activity we had on the agenda lasted half as long as the time we allotted for it!  This time around, we managed to fill up the entire hour and a half with all the activities planned. 

Coloring in the Birthday Banner was supposed to be just a waiting-for-everyone-to-get-there activity, but they ended up happily working on it for a good 15, almost 20 minutes!  I was shocked.  Hahaha.  Eventually, we did need to move on, though, so while Grace worked on hanging up the banner, everyone else moved into the dining room where the crowns were set up and the glitter and glue and stickers were waiting. 

Alex's handiwork.  I think he was pretty proud of his coloring-in-the-lines capabilities here.  Hahaha.

Meanwhile Ethan opted out of the whole coloring thing.  :)

Seriously -- so much time spent on the banner!  It was amazing. 

After sufficient time was spent decorating the crowns, the girls laid them out to dry, and Grace took over as my Pied Piper of Hamlin and led everyone in some rousing rounds of "Mother May I" and "Simon Says."  She's going to be a fantastic little preschool teacher one day.  :)  While they were playing, Ethan and Scott helped me get the table cleaned up (including vacuuming up all that glitter) and then getting the cupcakes and sprinkles all set up and ready to go.

Alex opted for a mask rather than a crown.

I've never met a kid who DOESN'T like decorating a cupcake with sprinkles, and this crowd was no exception.  Once everyone was finished, we sang a quick "Happy Birthday" to Jane, and then let them dig into their creations and added some ice cream to the mix. 

{I (heart) this picture of her.}

After the chowing was over, we helped the girls get their crowns on and had everyone pose for some pictures.  Once the photo shoot was over, it was present time, and Jane was so excited to see what everyone brought. 

Marina, Lucy, Katelynn, Jane, and Lucy

Kids always love a silly poses picture.  :)

{The "J" was the only letter to start to peel off by the end of the afternoon.}

Once the presents were finished it was time to move on to the final activity and piece de resistance -- the pinata!  This was the one thing that Jane was insistent upon every time I asked her what she wanted to do for her party.  Hahaha.  There was rain in the forecast for the day, but even though it was still clear throughout the whole party, Ethan was too excited about swinging the pinata over the railing into the front hall to NOT set it up that way.  :)  After handing a bat over to the kids, they went to town!  Hahaha.  It took a few rounds of everyone whacking away at it, but when it finally cracked open and spilled it's goodies everywhere there was a chaotic dash to gather it all up -- just like there always is.  :)

The pinata was cracked open at exactly 4:26, which ended our party almost PERFECTLY on time.  Hahaha.  While waiting for moms to show up, the girls all ran to play in Jane's room and had a fabulous time.  All in all, it went better than expected, even if it DID leave me wiped out and happy that I won't have to plan/host another "friend" party until February when Sophie turns 8.  :) 

And that is that!  If you've made it all the way to the end of this post and through all these pictures, you deserve a prize.  Hahaha.  Thank you and goodnight!