Over the weekend we celebrated Jillian's 6th birthday! Somehow that happened...six years went by in what feels like two blinks. She wanted to celebrate with her friends via Barbie beach party! She just recently started getting into Barbies since her friend next door and her sister have them. And now I think they've created a monster...dressed in pink...wearing heels...
Normally (as in when I don't have a newborn), I like to spend weeks planning and prepping for a party, getting all of the details just right. But this one was thrown together in about two days...so while things weren't quite as I wanted them, I know Jillian loved every bit of it regardless, which is of course ultimately what matters, right? (Mostly. Yes. ;-) )
Side bar: I didn't realize my camera was on the wrong setting when I was quickly snapping pictures and not looking at them, so only a few even remotely turned out! Ah well!
But the kids (all 16 of them) started by decorating sand castles! Aka gingerbread houses but with ice cream cones. I think this was a favorite for many since they had unlimited access to a tube of frosting.
Her cake was from Cravings in Pleasant Grove. I had them make the cake and frost it plain, then I added the crushed graham cracker and other easy decorations! I didn't realize how enormous it would be when I ordered it over the phone, so we were pretty surprised when we picked it up and realized it was about a foot tall and probably 20 lbs (no joke). We sent several people home with big chunks and still ended up with a huge amount! Next time I should probably ask about serving sizes before just ordering away!
^You can sort of see the pink "trail mix" we had as a snack- pink goldfish, yogurt pretzels and pink jelly beans. Why they don't sell the pink goldfish in a giant carton like the cheese ones is beyond me...because buying and opening 6 little bags of them was annoying. I mean, you know you'd give into your kids and buy a giant carton of pink goldfish over the orange ones. Well, I would anyway.
^Jack's face in this picture...hah!
^I love that look of birthday magic on her face! I think I have a picture from every year where she has this same expression.
We ended the party with swimming! Fortunately our neighborhood pool isn't very deep and just about every kid had a puddle jumper on- other wise that would have been incredibly stressful! But James was still on lifeguard duty. :-p
And now she is the proud owner of 7 new Barbies, a Barbie house, car, and gymnastics set. She's named them things like, "Pinkalicious" and "Wishes", with a few standard "Stacy's" and "Kelly's" in there. This phase of life, which is really almost a rite of passage in the world of little girls, should be titled "pink, plastic, and why-do-they-make-their-little-tiny-shoes-removable-and-the-easiest-things-to-lose-EVER."
Happy Birthday Jillian! We love you!