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The Royal Fifth Birthday Princess Party
The princess party was a smashing, over-the-top, regal affair. It was the perfect day for a backyard party! Blue skies, warm breezes…who knew!? I’ve always fretted about Bug’s winter birthday. I worry about the weather and people chickening out when the roads get slick, or choosing chicken noodle soup over cupcakes because it’s such a hassle to get kids in and out of the house to be somewhere at a certain time on their day off. What can I say, I’m a worrier by nature. Thankfully, I’m almost always proven wrong. Maybe because I worry so much? Who knows.
But I’m probably not going to stop being a worrier. It seems to be my good luck charm. The things I forget to worry about are always the things that go wrong! I worried about the weather; it was perfect. I worried about the tablecloths; they were perfect! That bed canopy thing that I bought for two bucks or something was the perfect table runner! I thought I was going to have to pull off some kind of crazy origami sewing project, so I allowed extra time just for setting the table and guess what? It was the exact right size to go over the cheap plastic tablecloths and dangled down just enough on both sides. I couldn’t believe it. Thrift stores, I love you.
The Royal Bounce House Ball was a bouncing success, of course. Those princesses bounced their little pink fluffy hearts out. The music, maybe not so much. We rigged up my Dad’s iPhone in an iPhone dock and played “joyful waltzes” from my very own personal Pandora station. It would have been perfect except I didn’t buy the party amp to make the music loud enough to hear over the bounce-house blower. I kind of forgot about that blower. It was a choice between the party dock or something that would look nice in my house after the party and unfortunately for the party, I chose the sleek smaller design with less boombox sound.
You could still hear the music, it just wasn’t as atmospheric as I had wanted it. Sometimes you gotta let things go though.
One of the best things about the party is how even the older guests dressed up. I think they know me! It made my day. My mom was the best. She sewed herself a crazy purple sequined skirt in about two minutes and then flounced around the party bippity-boppity-booing and giving out fake jewels and necklaces to everyone. What makes it even more amazing is that she also sewed the Bugalicious Pink Party Flags the morning of and cooked the french fries. Now you know where I get my over-achieving party skills from.
I love my mom. And check out my dress! It fit!!!
I even sword-fought in it!
And was victorious!
Don’t mess with the Queen Mother.
And I bounced in it!
But who cares about me. This party was all about Bug!!!
Except I didn’t take as many pictures of her as I should have because I was running around like a Queen Mother with her head cut off. Just call me Anne Boleyn, or was that Mary Queen of Scots? One of those queens. Queens do tend to get their heads cut off frequently. I’m pretty sure Bug still had a good time though, in spite of my headlessness. Maybe she was a sugar-powered blur that couldn’t be caught on camera. Yeah, that’s it.
I’m so glad Madge got this video because I didn’t get a single picture of her blowing out her candles. Shame, shame, shame on me. Note to self: next time delegate a photographer. Pay them if you have to! But Deb and Toby did get quite a few really great shots.
Deb was my own personal Cinderella. She came out the night before and helped me so much. She made the icing, iced the cupcakes, made a pattern and cut out the princess crowns for the tiara craft (that got sadly neglected because the bounce house was just way more fun). She mixed us up some magical margaritas from the lemons and tangelos that I picked from my own backyard (to help keep me awake, she says) and helped me set up a light summery Italian wine station for the older royalty.
They were so yummy! I recommend stopping by Trader Joe’s and perusing the Italian wine section if you want to get your hoity-toity midsummer-night’s-dream drink on. So cheap too—$5 and under!
Deb woke up with a stiff neck the day of the party (probably due to me pushing coffee on her the day before and making her sleep on a futon on the floor) but she powered through and kept on helping. I don’t even think anyone noticed she was in pain. She even jumped behind the barbecue at one point and flipped a few burgers when my Dad (who I had delegated way too many jobs to) got called away. She pretty much saved the day.
Speaking of hamburgers, we made little sliders or royal hamburgerettes as I like to call them. Bug’s favorite food is McDonald’s, sadly, so I did my best to fit that into the princess theme. We made homemade buns (I’ll have to blog that recipe someday, it’s easy and delicious) and tiny little patties flavored with powdered ranch dressing. They tasted pretty good, when they were hot. But I probably should have had somebody swing by MickyDees and to pick up 20 happy meals instead because no matter how hard I tried to get all the food on the table at one time, the hamburgers were about 20 degrees too cold by the time anyone got to eat them. It was sad.
Even the fries were cold. Too bad. So sad. But they did taste good warmed up the next day. So there’s that.
The cupcakes, however, were delicious! I made them too. They weren’t even a box mix! I actually followed a somewhat complicated recipe that Bethany emailed to me especially for the occasion. She’s blogged it here. If you bake and you like cupcakes, these are a MUST. Delicious and about a thousand calories each!
I think the little girls enjoyed the food. The ketchup and the candy at least!
All in all, the food didn’t really matter. It was just so great to be surrounded by so many friends. I was afraid they wouldn’t come, you know? I have a lot of family out here in the sticks but most of my friends had to make the drive from the OC and an hour and a half is no commute to sneeze at. Something funny happens when you live at the beach. Anything farther than 20 minutes away seems likes it’s days away. We like to stay put in our cozy little towns and save gas or something. I know this because that’s how I was. So I was super thankful that so many of my friends made the effort to come and spend the day with us.
Of course some of them came from across the street, but still! It meant the world to me and Bug.
My best friend Tamie (she goes by Tamara but I get to call her Tamie) from SECOND grade was even there. It was awesome.
I think she’s singing me a serenade here…or just talking. With Tamie, you never know!
It was really sweet to have my dad home for the party, and my grandpa too since I am living and throwing a party in HIS house. He seemed to like how I’ve fixed up the place. Phew!
Even Toby was there. Bug is so loved. And blessed.
And spoiled rotten. I think next year we are going to have to have a no-present policy. First, because I want her to appreciate gifts more, and second, because we have reached the Disney Princess saturation point. Bug is in heaven. She loves it all and would take more but I’m starting to feel like I’m in fuchsia hell.
Just kidding. You know I loved it too.
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We love our dog.
We took our Christmas card photos yesterday. It wasn’t really a big deal. I used my handy dandy waterproof point-and-shoot camera and took most of them handheld. A few were self-timer and then later my mom came to the rescue and took some more. I’m much more casual about our photos than most families I ‘spose. I figure the people I’m sending them to don’t mind crazy candid shots as opposed to something fancy and set up in a studio. Of course studio portraits are always nice but such pain in the butt to pull off. They always boggle me with their packages that never include the poses I want.
Anyway, I bribed Bug with her advent calendar candy (which she was going to get anyway) and we pulled the dog in too. Holly is such a huge part of our life now. She’s so sweet! She goes everywhere we go. She won’t even leave our sides except a few times randomly to go wandering down the street three houses away. The fence in our yard is not nearly high enough and she lumbers over it without even sneezing. But usually, she likes to stay in the house with us which is fine with me because guess what? She doesn’t stink!!! I’m serious. She’s the perfect dog.
She’s not very good at posing though. And she’s also black, which is pretty much impossible to photograph. Silly dog.
What’s a family portrait session without a million and one outtakes, right?
Holly thought it was a family love session. Which it sort of was.
In the end, I love this one the most. Secret of this pose? I was tickling her. How else do you get kids to cooperate in pictures? I ended up designing the card with six of the photos on one card, which is good because a lot of them were blurry and I’m hoping that printing them small will improve their quality. We shall see.
But while I’m on the subject of the dog…
Is this normal? Do dogs normally sit in chairs?
She does it all the time. In fact, Bug was quite perturbed with her because she wanted to sit in that chair and no manner of cajoling would get Holly out of it. Finally, Bug just sat on top of her and Holly didn’t even flinch. She’s such a nutty dog. She doesn’t even like dog treats. We’ve tried them all. She only likes pig’s ears, which are kind of gross. Have you seen them? They are, in fact, an entire pig ear right off the pig. Yuck. I like my food to be a little less literal. But Holly eats them and it’s better than giving her cake so we buy them and give them out on rare occasions.
Also this. Is this normal too? She sneaks onto my bed when I’m not looking and likes to take naps there. She knows she’s not supposed to though so when I come in the room scolding her, she guiltily slinks off and flops down on her dog bed with a huge sigh. She totally sighs just like a human. She also snores and farts (but not stinky ones of course).
She’s family.
In other news, it has come to my attention that my friend Heather has started a fund raiser for me. She’s crazy! And then, she contacted some big time bloggers (who I am blessed to call friends) and they wrote about it and pretty much blew up my site with all kinds of people coming to see how I’m doing. That’s why this site was down the other day, if you were wondering. Your love done broke my blog.
Anyway, I’m terribly at a loss for words on how to thank everyone properly. People are coming out of the woodwork to donate a few dollars here and there and it is crazily adding up! I don’t have access to the amount but Heather has been sending me emails now and then. I’m shocked and awed and just completely out of the right words. So please help me to stay humble and use this blessing properly.
