A Birthday Party Fit for a Princess

Once upon a time in a far away land, there lived a little girl who dreamed of throwing super fun birthday parties for her future kids. Hello, that would be me for, ah, pretty much my whole life. I don't know what it is, but I have always ADORED birthdays (and pretty much every holiday for that matter. If you know me well you know this to be very true). I think I can thank my mom for instilling this deep love for celebrations in my life. She always made our birthdays very special growing up, and still to this day (even if she doesn't see us!) makes sure my siblings and I feel extra special on "our day." As far as the other holidays go, she decorates and celebrates them, but I might have taken that to a new level. What do you mean nobody else decorates for Christmas in October? And yes, actually, we do watch "Elf" all year long.   

  With that said, in my mind, a first birthday is almost as fun as Christmas. Hence, the fun I had preparing and putting togther this Princess party for our sweet Addilyn's first birthday. I mean, not only was it a first birthday, but I got to buy pink everything... sparkles, tutus and... oh my, it was fun. Here is our little princess on the day she was born, and then exactly a year later.

  Ok, now for the party. I decided to go all out and make all the food from scratch  for the Princess Brunch which consisted of: strawberry frosted donuts, baby quiche, deli circles, banana bread, cinnamon roll bites, hashbrown casserole, fruit kabobs and yogurt parfaits. AND my dad made some delicious frappachinos that had the cutest pink paper striped straws that I forgot to document with a picture. Dang it. All food wasn't out yet for this picture, but you get the idea... 

 

 

 Oh, and the cake... Since having kids I've found a new passion for making fancy birthday cakes. They are so fun! I told you I had much too fun preparing for this party!

    Addilyn loved all the attention, toddling around in her giant tutu, the hashbrown casserole and homemade donuts, and especially watching her big brother open all her presents. Since the party, Lukas has made the declaration that "even pink princess toys are for boys" and is sure excited about every new toy Addilyn has received.

 

  She really wasn't too impressed with my cake...  

I think she tried one bite. Oh well, at least all the other party guests seemed to enjoy it. ;)   Thanks to Pinterest, I stayed busy crafting and baking and whatnot for this party. I seriously had so much fun, it was kind of ridiculous. So you must see some of the projects because I spent too mcuh time preparing them. Below is a fun little chalkboard and the favors, which are pixie stick wands. The recipes for the food at the party will soon make their debut in the "recipes" tab of my blog. However I must first figure out how to get them there. Minor dilemma, yes. (Kalie, if you're reading this, another doughnut/coffee date is in order for more blog training...)   

 

 We are so thankful for all the friends and family that shared this special day with Addilyn. We loved having everyone over to celebrate with us!! Here are some family members that came to celebrate with us... ok really I just put this picture up because you can tell how overly excited I am. I know, ridiculous.

...SO that's the end of the party post, but I'm going to keep going with Addilyn's actual birthday celebrations in this post too. I'm a little slow when it comes to the blogging world so you'll have to bear with me here. I'm sure you won't mind, these pictures are just as cute. 

 

 The birthday girl woke up to some confetti pancakes to start her special day. She was a little concerned about the addition of sprinkles to her favorite breakfast item, but soon discovered they were quite splendid.  

 We then proceeded to go shopping and then to the park where we met Daddy and Mema and Loompa (Grandma and Grandpa on Jeff's side). We had some cupcakes, played with Addilyn's new princess ball, did lots of swinging, and of course the slides. It was the perfect morning to be outside!

The rest of the day consisted of Addilyn's favorite lunch of: mega noodle soup, strawberries, cheese sticks and chicken nuggets, lots of time playing outside, her favorite dinner: homemade mac n cheese, hamburgers, and peas, and another little celebration with just our family. Of course we had to have more cupcakes for the occasion. And I think after the 5th taste in the last several days, she decided she kind of liked it.  

Addilyn opened a few more presents from Mommy and Daddy and Lukas, we had a dance party (which is Addilyn's second favorite thing to do next to playing outside!) and just relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the birth-day. I loved that we got to celebrate our birthday girl for almost a whole week!  Have I mentioned I just LOVE birthdays?!

Oh yes, remember in my last post I mentioned a surprise the kids came home to from Phoenix? I think I said something along the lines of "look for a post about it in a few days!" Oops. You could say I got a little distrated with some small-ish party preparations. Well, the surprise was... A brand new re-done kid friendly backyard, with some new grass and a sweet new clubhouse! WOOP! The kids were thrilled! My kids absolutely LOVE to be outside. Like they would live out there if they could. Maybe it comes from living in a place that gets snow 6 months out of the year? Yes, yes, probably. So having a place to play outside for hours on end is a big deal for the summer. Oh, and its not in this picture, but Jeff also got me a nice red lounge chair I can sit in to watch the kids play and soak up some sunshine. That man sure knows the way to my heart.   

 Ah. Life is grand, isn't it? Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a beautiful, sun-shiny kind of day. 

 

Colorful Veggie Casserole

Ingredients

1 Cup chopped green onions

1 Large carrot, shredded

2 Celery Ribs, chopped

1 Small green pepper, chopped

1 Small sweet red pepper, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 T Veggie oil

3 lbs frozen cubed hash brown potatoes, thawed

2 Cans condensed cream of chicken soup

1 1/2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 1/2 Cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

2 tsp. Dried parsley

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Paprika 

In a large skillet, saute onions, carrots, celery, peppers & garlic in oil until crisp-tender. Transfer to a large bowl, add hash browns, soup, 1 cup cheddar cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, parsley & salt. Mix well. 

Pour into a greased 3-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses and paprika. Bake, uncovered @ 350° 1 hour or until golden brown.