Ella Rose is FIVE!! She has had a great year, and as long as she is well rested she is just plain fun to be around. I'm not going to lie - we've had some rough times with her over the past year, but I think she is finally growing out of the tantrums. She loves to color, write, make crafts, take care of Ruby, go to school, play with her friends,...you name it. She is so excited for Kindergarten next year, and I am just dreading it! What are Ruby and I supposed to do without her all day long?? So Ella's big day consisted of going to school (nothing could have been better, in her mind), bringing the usual Carlson birthday snack of Krispy Kreme donuts, and then on to the evening festivities at home. She chose to have chocolate chip pancakes and cheesy eggs for her birthday dinner, followed by the opening of her presents.
I have to comment on one special little number Ella received for her birthday...from the boys. Now I thought that they were just making her a little card, as usual, but when Tyler asked me to get down the kid's guitar I knew something was fishy. If you can tell from the card she opened, it says, "See the Lien King." At this point, Tyler starts strumming away in the back room and Spencer rounds the corner with a loud an elaborate rendition of "The Circle of Life." (Picture the opening scene of the movie - "Naaaaaa Sevenia!!!!!!" and so on.) Oh my, it was quite a spectacle. Bryan was able to hold himself together enough to film the entire song and dance routine but I told him that it must never be seen if we ever have hopes of Spencer marrying one day. After he has sealed the deal, then we will gladly show his wife and all other willing audience members his little number. It's funny though, because now is the time that he thinks it is the coolest thing ever, and wants us to post the video on this blog (we refuse, for his own sake...it could become a YouTube classic), but there will come a day in the not so distant future that he will do anything in his power to have this video destroyed. I know this from personal experience (aka my Space Camp video, L.A. Days, etc...).
OK, back to the birthday celebration. Normally at this point we would have had her birthday cake, but since I was making an enormous castle cake the next day for her party, I talked her into having a "donut cake" for her real birthday (a tower of donuts). Good and easy!
These were all mere formalities, however, because the REAL fun was to be had on Saturday - the day of the long awaited Princess Party. This was Ella's first Princess themed party, so we really went all out. It took weeks of planning, and hours of preparing, and I swore by the time the party arrived that I would never do anything so crazy again. That is, until I saw how much fun it was...now I'm definitely going to have to do it for Ruby's 5th birthday! So anyway, here are the details of the party. FYI, I am doing this more for my own sake (so that I can actually remember what I did in order to duplicate this party in 3 years from now). The invitations are always my favorite part, and they were pretty cute and easy this year. And the girls all loved them (since I saw several of them carrying them around the house at a later visit, or even in the grocery store). We invited 23 kids. I know that is absolute insanity, but there was nobody to be trimmed! She has her school friends, her church friends, and then her squadron friends. It's just plain tough to have so many friends! And what are the chances that they would all be able to come, right?? Well, they didn't ALL come - but 18 of them sure did!! And it made it all the more fun, honestly. Imagine 18 impeccably dressed 5 year old princesses (and one prince) clomping to the door on our tile in their plastic heels. Can you hear the sound now? I still can! And it was awesome! So after they all arrived, they were given instructions to sit on the large royal carpet whenever they heard the chime. They behaved wonderfully!! All 18 kids sat still as can be as I recited the long lost tale of Princess Ella. (This is a little story that I made up and made look like a real book.) In this story, an evil sorcerer wreaked all kinds of havoc over the Carlson castle, and Princess Ella had to call on all of her royal friends to help restore order. So the kids all became characters in the story, and they were directed (through the story) to first travel through the treacherous swamp to reach the castle (a game of Swamp Walk - like a cake walk - then took place). When they made it to the castle, they were able to choose two treasures from the Queen's Treasure Chest to put in their goody bags (thus they created their own party favor bag as the party transpired). Next they went on a dragon egg hunt in the backyard to reclaim all of Princess Ella's stolen jewels. Then they played "Pin the Kiss on the Frog" to see if the sorcerer had turned "Prince Porter" into a frog. Next was the "Pass the Ring" relay, where they carried the cursed rings on a pencil to the magic potion. The last game was "Poison Apple," similar to Hot Potato, and they played it and collected their treasures until the last princess remained. Hooray! They had foiled the evil sorcerers plans and had restored order to the castle. The Queen and King planned a royal celebration for them all in thanks for their service...in other words, lunch was served! We had heart sandwiches, fluffy pink fruit salad, cucumber wands, cheese and olive wands, and sparkling pink sherbet punch. The cake and pinata followed as the parents all arrived, and two hours had passed in the blink of an eye. Ella didn't even have time to open her presents! But it was so much fun, and I hope she will remember it for years and years (forever, preferably). After stuffing myself with heart sandwiches after the guests left, I put Ruby down for her nap and then crawled into my own bed for a welcome and much needed nap. Parties take a lot out of me!!!
Ella Rose is FIVE!! She has had a great year, and as long as she is well rested she is just plain fun to be around. I'm not going to lie - we've had some rough times with her over the past year, but I think she is finally growing out of the tantrums. She loves to color, write, make crafts, take care of Ruby, go to school, play with her friends,...you name it. She is so excited for Kindergarten next year, and I am just dreading it! What are Ruby and I supposed to do without her all day long?? So Ella's big day consisted of going to school (nothing could have been better, in her mind), bringing the usual Carlson birthday snack of Krispy Kreme donuts, and then on to the evening festivities at home. She chose to have chocolate chip pancakes and cheesy eggs for her birthday dinner, followed by the opening of her presents.
I have to comment on one special little number Ella received for her birthday...from the boys. Now I thought that they were just making her a little card, as usual, but when Tyler asked me to get down the kid's guitar I knew something was fishy. If you can tell from the card she opened, it says, "See the Lien King." At this point, Tyler starts strumming away in the back room and Spencer rounds the corner with a loud an elaborate rendition of "The Circle of Life." (Picture the opening scene of the movie - "Naaaaaa Sevenia!!!!!!" and so on.) Oh my, it was quite a spectacle. Bryan was able to hold himself together enough to film the entire song and dance routine but I told him that it must never be seen if we ever have hopes of Spencer marrying one day. After he has sealed the deal, then we will gladly show his wife and all other willing audience members his little number. It's funny though, because now is the time that he thinks it is the coolest thing ever, and wants us to post the video on this blog (we refuse, for his own sake...it could become a YouTube classic), but there will come a day in the not so distant future that he will do anything in his power to have this video destroyed. I know this from personal experience (aka my Space Camp video, L.A. Days, etc...).
OK, back to the birthday celebration. Normally at this point we would have had her birthday cake, but since I was making an enormous castle cake the next day for her party, I talked her into having a "donut cake" for her real birthday (a tower of donuts). Good and easy!
These were all mere formalities, however, because the REAL fun was to be had on Saturday - the day of the long awaited Princess Party. This was Ella's first Princess themed party, so we really went all out. It took weeks of planning, and hours of preparing, and I swore by the time the party arrived that I would never do anything so crazy again. That is, until I saw how much fun it was...now I'm definitely going to have to do it for Ruby's 5th birthday! So anyway, here are the details of the party. FYI, I am doing this more for my own sake (so that I can actually remember what I did in order to duplicate this party in 3 years from now). The invitations are always my favorite part, and they were pretty cute and easy this year. And the girls all loved them (since I saw several of them carrying them around the house at a later visit, or even in the grocery store). We invited 23 kids. I know that is absolute insanity, but there was nobody to be trimmed! She has her school friends, her church friends, and then her squadron friends. It's just plain tough to have so many friends! And what are the chances that they would all be able to come, right?? Well, they didn't ALL come - but 18 of them sure did!! And it made it all the more fun, honestly. Imagine 18 impeccably dressed 5 year old princesses (and one prince) clomping to the door on our tile in their plastic heels. Can you hear the sound now? I still can! And it was awesome! So after they all arrived, they were given instructions to sit on the large royal carpet whenever they heard the chime. They behaved wonderfully!! All 18 kids sat still as can be as I recited the long lost tale of Princess Ella. (This is a little story that I made up and made look like a real book.) In this story, an evil sorcerer wreaked all kinds of havoc over the Carlson castle, and Princess Ella had to call on all of her royal friends to help restore order. So the kids all became characters in the story, and they were directed (through the story) to first travel through the treacherous swamp to reach the castle (a game of Swamp Walk - like a cake walk - then took place). When they made it to the castle, they were able to choose two treasures from the Queen's Treasure Chest to put in their goody bags (thus they created their own party favor bag as the party transpired). Next they went on a dragon egg hunt in the backyard to reclaim all of Princess Ella's stolen jewels. Then they played "Pin the Kiss on the Frog" to see if the sorcerer had turned "Prince Porter" into a frog. Next was the "Pass the Ring" relay, where they carried the cursed rings on a pencil to the magic potion. The last game was "Poison Apple," similar to Hot Potato, and they played it and collected their treasures until the last princess remained. Hooray! They had foiled the evil sorcerers plans and had restored order to the castle. The Queen and King planned a royal celebration for them all in thanks for their service...in other words, lunch was served! We had heart sandwiches, fluffy pink fruit salad, cucumber wands, cheese and olive wands, and sparkling pink sherbet punch. The cake and pinata followed as the parents all arrived, and two hours had passed in the blink of an eye. Ella didn't even have time to open her presents! But it was so much fun, and I hope she will remember it for years and years (forever, preferably). After stuffing myself with heart sandwiches after the guests left, I put Ruby down for her nap and then crawled into my own bed for a welcome and much needed nap. Parties take a lot out of me!!!
