A Princess Turns Five

As of yesterday I am the mother of a FIVE year old!

Aurora with birthday flowers from daddy. :)

She's growing up fast so we have to celebrate when we can!  We had a pretty nice spread...

Cupcakes, Sandwiches - heart shaped Raspberry Jelly & Cream Cheese or star shaped Strawberry Jelly & Peanut Butter, Fruit Salad (ie kabobs sans the stick), Annie's Snack Mix...

...and a Veggie Tray with Pumpkin Humus.

The Humus was made with 1/2 can pumpkin, a can of rinse & drained chickpeas, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and Maple Syrup to taste; all blended until smooth.

In a separate room we had the "activities".  We decorated princess crowns (I used this as a guide but made them out of felt instead of foam), decorated princess wands (heart / star shaped foam hot glued on a stick with a bit of ribbon), made rings from a kit I got at Hobby Lobby, and colored butterfly masquerade masks.

As for the cupcakes, I had hopes of making them from scratch using "real" ingredients but time and money got away from me. :)

I wound up buying 2 boxes of strawberry cake mix and then mixed each box with 1 can of pumpkin and 2 eggs.

mix:

Pipe into lined cupcake tins:

Baked according to the box:

Then I frosted them with a mix of cream cheese and Ricemallow:

Plus pink sprinkles and Strawberries Roses (Kai's cupcake had one of her Aurora dolls stuck in with a candle holder):

Everyone thought the Strawberry Roses were cute.  They were actually pretty easy to make (very forgiving) and a nice alternative to over the top candies/frostings.

Finally it was time for the party to start!  First we got in a few family pictures...

Kai made sure she looked "just right" in the mirror.

And then we all got down to business...

Did I mention we had glitter face paints/tattoos?  I started out putting them on...

But the girls took over pretty quickly!

Once the girls were all done up with wands, tiaras, rings and glitter we had a Royal Treasure Hunt for necklaces and bracelets placed around the yard!

And then it was time for treats...

and presents....

And a bit more crafting...

And tattooing...

A beautiful group of Princesses!!

Kai got a Scooter for her birthday from us so after the party Kai, the Hubs, Frodo, and I all went on a walk.

The scooter was definitely a hit!

And as the rain started we played inside with a bunch of her new toys.  Then it was off to her favorite restaurant...Chili's!  We went once last year and they had a little game tablet at the table.  Ever since then it's been her favorite place to eat.  Since we let her pick her dinner that's what she picked.  Her dinner was made up of Mac & Cheese, Pineapple and a birthday dessert of a brownie sundae (big enough for all three of us!)  

After coming home we gave Kai a few more of her birthday gifts - pool toys.  So of course Kai and I had to take a swim in the hot tub. :)

And then it was time for her last gift of the day...  A Princess Cupcake game and ANOTHER princess doll.  She was so excited to get the game that we decided to go ahead a play a game of it.  I have to say, it is a great game.  It's not something that you're competing with others against so she didn't feel she could lose. :)

At bedtime we read her new book, Pinkalicious, and I agreed that after all the pink cupcakes she ate, if she did happen to turn pink in the middle of the night, she'd be allowed to pour relish on her tongue in the morning. lol!

I love my little five year old!