Ada's 4th

In April, my friend Kim sent me this link as a cute idea for a birthday party. I'm so glad she did, because I couldn't have agreed more! I knew it would be the perfect model for a Minnie party for Ada. Well, shortly thereafter Ada decided that she did NOT like Minnie Mouse. She became anti anything Minnie and only liked Daisy. She tried to make me tell stories about Minnie being mean to Daisy, and Minnie always had to be mean when we played with her Clubhouse toys. This was not good news for me, but I thought that I could still do the Minnie party, just for Kate. Ada could have the Ariel party that I wanted Kate to originally have.

Fast forward to mid-June. Morgan and I went on an adventure to Orem to go to the Disney Store (since that's the only one in Utah). Lucky for me, they had just started having a huge sale. Morgan took the girls out so I could shop, and shop I did. I bought pretty much all of their birthday presents and walked away with three huge bags. I bought a few Minnie things (among other things) for Kate, including a Minnie dress-up (it was short, so I bought it in Ada's size so she could wear it for a long time). I purchased a few Ariel things for Ada, including an Ariel dress-up. After seeing all the Minnie things in the store, Ada decided that she loved Minnie again and wanted a Minnie birthday party. After much debate in my mind, I let Ada have the Minnie party like I had originally wanted and let Kate have the Ariel party. Kate would still get the Minnie dress (the Ariel dress is way too long for her, since it mimics a mermaid tail) and Ada would just wear it at her party.

I got to work early making all the things I could from that cute blog post, but with pink instead of red. It's a good thing, because I was stressing about that party until the second it ended! I had already bought favor bags at Zurchers, but I made almost everything else. This is what the invitations looked like:


I decided to make red invitations for the boys (what boy wants a pink invitation with a bow on it?). I changed them a little bit, but I thought they turned out well.

Now for the big day! Ada had been awaiting her birthday for months. She was so excited that it was finally here. She had swim lessons in the morning and Tyler came home from work to go watch her. Then we got some books from the library and went to McDonald's where the girls could eat chicken nuggets and play at the play place. They had a blast. Then we came home and Ada opened a few presents.


I then got to work on all the party stuff. I was smarter this time and baked the cake the day before. I had to make four rounds, so I decided to try the white cake recipe that failed on Kate's birthday (the crumbs were delicious). With a little wax paper on the bottoms of the pans, the cakes came out well. I cut two smaller circles out of two of the rounds for the ears. I wrapped them up and froze them, which would make frosting them easier the next day. Luckily I learned from the cake disaster incident and didn't put all the batter in the pans. Then I had enough left for a dozen cupcakes, which saved me a lot of time from making a whole new cake recipe for those. All I had to do the day of the party was make the frosting. I learned my lesson and the consistency was much better this time. Phew! Here is Ada enjoying the black frosting (we tried chocolate frosting for the black this time since the black looked more purple last time. That did the trick.):


Here are some of the decorations (the boys got solid red hats with two white buttons on the front like Mickey's pants. Of course in all the mayhem I didn't get a picture):





I was running a bit behind, so I didn't quite have everything all set up by the time people came. That didn't help with the stress I'd been feeling for the last two months!

Here is how the cake and cupcakes turned out:



Very cute! And here's the birthday girl with her cute friend Brielle:


Morgan even curled her hair for the occasion. She looked so adorable!

We all ate hot dogs on pink and black plates and then we went inside for presents so Morgan and Jordan could hide clues outside for the treasure hunt.




Ada got so many great presents and she loves them all! It was funny to watch her, though; she didn't even crack a smile the whole time.

I didn't get any treasure hunt pictures (though I think Tyler got a video), but they got their first clue from Toodles and found subsequent clues throughout the backyard (which were all little poems I made up). The last clue told them that the treasure was in the front yard, but they had to do the Hot Dog Dance before they could claim it. It was cute to watch them all! The treasure was their favor bags. Then we went back to the back for the pinata.

It was actually pretty easy to make. Not bad for my first pinata attempt, eh? Luckily it was an easy shape to make! I also made white, four-fingered gloves out of felt, but of course I didn't get a picture.


It was fun to watch all the kids hit the pinata. They loved getting all the candy at the end.



Then it was time for cake and ice cream.






Overall, I think everything turned out well. At the end, though, I was glad it was over and I slept better that night than I had in months! I'm mad at myself for not getting a picture of all her friends. Brielle, Millie, Keaton, and Ashton came, along with her cousins Ella, Sophie, Reese, and Shelby. Three of her friends couldn't make it. I think everyone had fun though. Ada loved it, so that's all that matters.

Ada loves being four. She is actually starting to behave better, which is such a relief. She still has tantrums, but she gets over them much more quickly than she used to. I think the really hard times with her are finally starting to fade (until she hits puberty, that is). I'm excited for this year. She is learning so much. She loves to learn! She loves to color and draw pictures of herself and her friends or family. She loves to watch movies and play on the computer. Most of the time she loves to play with Kate. She loves to sing songs. She is so cute and fun!

Today she had her four year check-up at the doctor's office. She is doing very well. Her weight is in the 21st percentile and her height in the 50th. (I failed to post Kate's last time: 6th for weight and 30th for height.) The doctor told us that Ada would have to get one shot, which we weren't expecting. I told Ada this while he went to get the nurse. She got a blank look on her face (which worried me), but then she said, "It's not gonna hurt at all!" I was so pleasantly surprised. The nurse came in and Ada watched as she poked the needle into Ada's leg. She didn't even flinch. I was so proud of her! I love my Ada and I'm so lucky to be her mom.