Bird's Birthday Party

We threw a party for Bird's 3rd birthday this past Sunday. The photo above is the "after" - I love it :o) She had just gotten up from her nap and was a crankypants (as usual after nap) but happened to throw a yawn in there in between whiny cries and I managed to catch it. I think it's my favorite shot from the day because it's pretty much how we all felt - bone tired but surrounded by all this fun party stuff so still feeling a bit of a high from it all.



I made a "vintage" birthday cake from a clipping in an old cookbook we had from my family. I had this cake as a kid too :o) This is in process, right before the buttercream frosting and the coconut. The cake recipe was a cross between a funfetti and strawberry cake. We used fabulous organic strawberries from our farm. So delicious.



In order to entertain 12+ kids without exhausting ourselves (and maybe to limit the amount of screaming and squabbles?) we called on Happily Ever Laughter and they sent over Faerie Violet who was an absolute doll and VERY much captured the attention of the kids, and all of us (including Phylo who thought her dog puppet was REAL and became a ball of excitement sniffing and nipping at it until we dragged him away - one of my favorite moments of the party...). Violet put on a cute interactive magic show then made balloon animals & flowers, then spent the rest of the party painting faces and arms - she was uber talented. Yay for faeries!



I sewed Bird a simple "3" shirt which she was so proud to wear :o)



Griffy has been on a difficult sleep streak...he's sleeping right now which is a relief. Too much excitement + a little cold + moving past 3mths and changing habits = tough times for sleep. I'm trying to figure this one out so we can have less drama during the day.



I had too much fun decorating the backyard. It was so so so cute. We're leaving up a few things from the party because they look so fun. I'm somewhat concerned about leaving the sofa outside but will worry about that later.



Indulgence. Cute shot of Griffy.



Faerie Violet turning one of our guests into a dragon.



Bird's bunny, with a carrot of course.



The bunny cake!



Can I tell you how happy Bird was to have so many people sing her happy birthday? It's like her favorite song, haha, and loves to have me sing it to her. At random times.



I discovered the fun of mylar balloons - especially when they come in giant number form. I picked them up a few days ahead of time so Bird could play with them in the house. In fact, we tied them to one of our umbrellas and they're still floating.



I have a good stock of paper lanterns from an art installation I did with a friend a few years ago. Many of them I painted with watercolor because I couldn't find colors I liked. I tied a bunch together and hung them from our avocado tree (well, Jared did - he had to climb the tree to do it). They'll be living there for the summer.



Please ignore the garish rug under the cute picnic table. This is the table we built from Anna White's site. Jared built it with Bird's help ;o) Saturday morning and I painted it Saturday afternoon. It's a really fast and rewarding project and it's SOOO functional. Three kids can fit on either side, and adults can squeeze into it too. So happy we pulled it off for the party.



Another "after" shot I love :o)



I parked myself next to Jared and Griffin on the sofa (Bird was happily playing with her new automoblox) and snapped pictures from that perspective. It was fun to just hang out together and sort of do nothing at all.





Grocery list making, laundry washing, dishwasher emptying, paper filing, and dog walking is calling. Have a lovely Thursday!

Hugs, Devon

ps - most of the party pics were taken by my super talented friend Klay - check out her site to see all the neat things she's been up to.