For Reilly's 4th Birthday, she decided on a Rapunzel theme. I was SO excited for this party. If you could have given me a choice of what kind of party I wanted to throw for her, it would have been Rapunzel! Mommy had all kinds of floating lantern dreams that could now come true. :) And we had such a beautiful sunny day. It was our first outdoor party at our new house, and such a wonderful day full of amazing family and friends. The kids didn't stop running and playing all day. It was the perfect day.
Let's get right into the millions of pictures I took. :)
The birthday girl's one request was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And who are we to disappoint the birthday girl! So sandwiches she got, and on my paint palette serving platter, aka the most beautiful platter I own . (Thank you Gabby!)
We transformed our backyard into Rapunzel's kingdom! I've been spending many a naptime crafting and painting and cutting and pasting. Gotta love a 4 year old's party when all decorations can be made of paper. :)
Declan boy's first encounter with balloons!! He started flipping out, it was so funny!
He stayed in this position for so long, just watching them float. I mean, you just can't beat a baby and balloons.
Reilly showing Daddy where the balloons should be hung.
With her banner I made when she turned one! And my Rapunzel flags, which so was quite excited about.
She kept saying, "I had no idea our backyard was going to look like Rapunzel's village!!"
Suddenly, there was a scroll that appeared on her Mermaid Rock! (Yes, our whole existence is somewhat magical and imaginary, even down to the rocks in our yard.) The scroll was tied with a yellow braid, and Reilly kept asking where it came from. We said it must have just floated down from the sky, because nobody saw it arrive! So she was convinced it came from God.
The letter said that Rapunzel couldn't make it to her party because she and Eugene had to take Pascal to the doctor for a checkup, but that her best friend wanted to come and join her magical day. Her friend was going to come over right after she finished ice skating.
Here is the birthday girl, taking it all in. Who could this mysterious ice skating friend be?!
Right after I finished reading the letter from Rapunzel, someone asked Reilly who the letter was from. She excitedly exclaimed, "IT'S FROM GOD!! I THINK HE SAID RAPUNZEL IS COMING TO MY PARTY!" We re-read the letter and ironed out the details of who actually was coming. And ice skating princess...hmm...
Oh, just my gorgeous sister and my little man man.
THE BACKWARDS HAT. I die.:)
Suddenly, out onto the deck, someone appeared! She emerged from the house asking if Reilly Belle was there, and if this was her birthday party. This little girl jumped up from her chair and raised her hand. :)
She received a gift that this princess brought from Rapunzel for Reilly, since she couldn't make it to the party.
It was Queen Elsa!! Reilly was so surprised, and just kept giggling and giggling.
Elsa brought music and games and basically made dreams come true and had children staring at her in awe and wonder.
Here is Reagan helping herself to some toys.
Here is Reagan helping herself to some toys.
Singing and dancing and playing!
THIS was Reilly's face when the Frozen soundtrack came on. :) I love that face so much.
They caught a Reilly under the parachute! Such joy.
The kiddos were so adorable with their dancing!
Then they caught a little Reagan...and she couldn't stop laughing!
This was a huge surprise for the birthday girl, and would not have been possible if we weren't blessed by having so many amazing friends in our life. Thank you, sweet friends, for helping Elsa make Reilly's dreams come true! And for lending Elsa your shoes. :)
After all the excitement, Elsa got quite the grilling. The first thing Reilly said to her was, "So, remember when you struck your sister in the chest? Why did you do that?" You go girl. Ana would have been proud of you for demanding answers. ;)
Then we played "Pin the Nose on Olaf", which Mommy thought she made up but then found out that it is the most pinterested party game out there. Haha.
The kiddos posing with Olaf. I mean, are these the cutest kids or what!
Next we beat up a Rapunzel pinata with a frying pan! Because, obviously. The kids got such a kick out of it.
One of my personal favorite cakes! I made the hair say "Reilly". I have a thing about homemade icing, and I used two different recipes on this cake. Purple was buttercream, yellow was marshmallow cream. The purple icing recipe was tripled, and the yellow was doubled, because the cake was 4 layers. I just love icing cakes at midnight the night before the birthday parties I guess. :) This was a fun one.
Then she saw the cake...worth it. :)
My sweet girl, loving her cake. Trying her best not to eat the icing.
She helps me bake the cakes, and then we freeze them before the party. She loves helping me bake them, pick the colors, and tell me what she wants the cake to look like. She was so excited.
This might be my favorite picture of her of the day. I look into her sweet face, and I see her as a baby.
Almost the whole family, baby boy was sleeping. Love these people to tiny pieces.
Cutting that cake was not easy! Holy moly, giant cake.
I am so grateful to all of our wonderful family and friends that came to our girl's day. It was the most wonderful day, the perfect celebration of Reilly's 4 years. Her soul is as beautiful as her smile. She is kindness to her core. We thank God for such sweetness. And we thank everyone who truly loves us and our girl, for coming to this day!
