Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party!!!

The day was finally here!  My birthday party!  Every single time mom asked me (from the moment my party was over last year) where I wanted to have my party, I said Paradise Pond again.  So we decided to do it there for a 2nd year!

For most of the year I thought I wanted a Pinkalicious party, but sometime around October I decided to challenge mom and asked for a Strawberry Shortcake party... it turned out to be a really fun theme!

Here is the cake mom slaved over... she says cupcakes are WAY easier!

 

and my birthday party outfit (mom made the strawberry in my hair and my shirt)...

SOOO excited!

Our first stop was McDonalds to pick up some chicken nuggets...

I got to play in the play area while they made our nuggets...

Unfortunately, I also go kicked in the eye by a big boy... we are still hoping I don't wake up with a black eye tomorrow...

So excited to see Pop Pop and Nana when we got to Paradise Pond!

We were the first ones there so we stopped for some family photos...

 

We know you like our progression pictures... 2011...

 

2010...

 

2009...

2008...

I was SO excited to have the whole play area for myself for a few minutes...

 

and then the party started!  2 of my favorite guys... my neighbor Michael (kid wrangler for the day) and my buddy Findlay...

Brooklyn (from ballet) and Mazy...

Taylor (our moms went to high school together)...

Michael was great entertainment for all us kids...

Princess Milla!

I still won't go down the super fast slide, but I offered to catch daddy!

Headed up the play structure with Mathias...

and posing for mommy...

more dress up...

Mazy & Karyssa...

The bounce house was definitely the hit of the day!

I didn't even mind when there were lots of kids inside...

Kadorade!

FLYING!

Mommy found Nathan hanging out with the dinosaurs...

We've really missed Nathan...

Can you tell I was having fun???

All the girls decided to ride the merry go round...

Our group got big and included Piper, Addi, Adalyn, & Madeline...

and then we had some boys join in too...

Zuzi's little brother Jude looked SO precious going down the rollercoaster...

The cake set up...

It seems like each year the group picture gets a little easier...

Silly faces...

Cheering...

and one last "cheese"...

I loved being the birthday girl!

Family picture... (mommy has a vintage Strawberry Shortcake shirt on, but you can't see it very well)...

Singing happy birtday...

 

(forgive mom's voice)...

Mom loves my cute shy expression in this picture... maybe singing to me is a little too much attention!

one more family pic...

and then it was time for nuggets and cake!

and more bouncing!  Mom proclaimed this bounce house some of her favorite girls!  Madeline, Campbell (from ballet) and me...

We were quickly joined by more of mommy's favorite kids...

Abby!

Mom had a great idea to take a quick picture with daddy...

and the cutest picture ever of me and Findlay...

Goody bag time!

but first the pinata!  This has been my main request for months... mom knew it was a bad idea with this age group and this many kids, but I really wanted one...

Daddy was in charge...

Let the whacking begin...

 

You'll notice kids in the background in these photos holding their chin/cheek/nose from getting whacked and other kids crying because they weren't getting a turn... it was ROUGH!

Francis...

Karyssa...

Houston...

Lilly...

Sailer...

I thought watching everyone try to break it open was HILARIOUS!

Pierce...

Hayden Claire...

Harper...

Abby...

and finally daddy broke it open and let us go to town!

Michael the "Strawberry Man"...

Some cute pictures at the end... with Taylor...

Maribelle...

Lilly...

It was a great party and by the time we got home I was exhausted...

but I pepped up when I saw all these presents!!!

So fun!

 

What a wonderful day!  I feel so lucky to have so many friends who love me and were able to come celebrate with me.  I told mom tonight that I'm going to be 5 in a few days... she just laughed...5 seems really old to mommy and she wants this year to last forever!