Cille's Un-Frozen Birthday Party, Part 2

If you thought Cille and Trevor were the only ones who enjoyed the bouncer, think again.  Stella and Reid spent some cousin time bouncing...  

One of Cille's only requests for her parties is for her friends to come to her house.  I don't know why we even have a theme; all they want to do is play in the toy room anyway...

Other people's toys are always more fun than your own...

There was lots of Elsa-themed attire at our party.  This sweet girl had her Frozen birthday party a few weeks before Cille's...

I love a man who can rock the pink cozy coupe...

Told ya the marshmallows were a hit...

Another big hit came compliments of my friend Sam, who I borrowed the decorations from.  Her family owns a snowball stand in New Orleans.  She gave us two buckets of pre-made snowballs.  All we had to do was defrost for 5 minutes and scoop them up.  Who knew you could even do that?  They tasted awesome and were a fantastic way to cool down in our hot backyard...

We keep our party drinks in the outside fridge and usually forget to label it so often our guests are left wondering where the drinks are.  This time we had actually put Olaf-themed "Melted Snowman" labels on our water bottles and still forgot to label the fridge.  Damon had me make a sign with a sharpie during the party and by the time it was over we were fresh out of melted snowmen...

Jude!  He needs to give Watts all his tips on living with three sisters...

Elsa did quite the fancy make-up job on Stella.  Did I mention that Cille's party was on the same day as Stella's Winnie the Pooh performance?  It was a crazy day!

One of our guests and her completed snowman...

Elsa posed for a few photos before it was time for her to head back to Arendelle...

Even the big kids wanted to take a picture with the princess...

I love this picture of Stella and Kirk deep in conversation about their summer theatre careers.  Hopefully one day they can take the stage together...

Only one more birthday party post!

Cille's Un-Frozen Birthday Party, Part 1

Cille is pretty into the movie Frozen (like every other little girl in America) and we decided that it would make the perfect theme for her birthday party.  Only problem?  Cille's birthday is in late June, a decidedly UN-frozen time in South Louisiana.  We did not let that deter us.  We sent our Elsa and Anna themed invitations to Cille's Un-Frozen Birthday Party, and added that we'd be doing whatever snow does in summer.  My friend Katie made this awesome shirt for the birthday girl.  I did not put her birthday number on it because I plan for her to reuse it when we go to Frozen on Ice next MAY.  Seriously, we already had to buy tickets to a children's event that is a year away because they were in danger of selling out...

I gave Cille what she calls an "Elsa braid" for the big day...

Our friend down the street had a Frozen birthday party a couple of weeks before Cille's, and her mom was awesome enough to loan us her decorations and let us rip off some of her ideas, like this sign for the front door.  We should actually just leave this sign up year round, because we never hear our doorbell...

The entry table was easy to decorate with a book, Cille's invitation, and some original artwork from our talented cousin Anna.  I added Cille's Easter basket to the table in hopes that her party favors would be delivered from Amazon before her guests showed up.  They were not, so we had an empty basket of favors during the party and had to mail out Little Golden Books with our thank you notes...

Our friend had a real live Elsa at her party, and when Damon saw that he knew Cille had to have one too.  I did not think one was necessary, so I left that task to him.  He found one nearby who had availability and she turned out to be well worth the fee.  She had guests lined up to get their makeup and nails done by a real princess.  Here's Cille showing off Elsa's handiwork...

I put blue Hawaiian Punch and lots of ice into this container and added a sign to the outside that said "Elsa's Icy Punch."  It helped the kids stay hydrated outside on a hot summer day...

Our bouncer is a party staple.  Cille and Trevor had tons of fun bouncing around together.  Should I be worried that all Cille's best friends are boys?

Speaking of best friends, I had a huge surprise at this party.  My long-lost Jenny came with her four precious little Sharbono's.  Nathan was working, but hey, you can't have everything.  It was so good to see Jen and fantastic to sneak in some cuddles with baby Jude, who celebrated his first birthday before I ever even laid eyes on him.  I had to sneak the cuddles because Watts was not a fan of me snuggling another baby boy...

Elsa in action...

Girls are hilarious.  How long do you think boys would wait patiently in line for anything at a birthday party?

Inside we set up a "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" station at the kids' table.  We used campfire marshmallows, jumbo marshmallows, pretzels, baby carrots, and food markers to create the snowmen.  The kids had lots of fun with this, even though it was a bit messy.  We might or might not still be finding hidden marshmallows around our house.  No comment...

More party fun to come...

Winnie the Pooh Kids

Stella attended musical camp at the Manship Theatre this summer, where she made lots of new friends and was cast as a fancy bee in Winnie the Pooh Kids!  I know this first photo is a little fuzzy, but the spotlight was on our little bee, so I had to post it...

During the performance Stella had several chances to show off her singing and dancing skills.  She truly was a fancy bee...

Stella and her friends worked very hard and put on a great show.  She is already begging to go back to the camp next year, so I would say it was a huge success...

Our little star and her fans...

Swimming Lessons with Friends

Cille took swimming lessons again this summer at Crawfish Aquatics.  This time we coordinated with a couple of her friends and their parents to make sure that they could all be in the same class.  Their instructor's name was Mr. Travis, and that poor boy earned his money this session...

They went to lessons every evening four days a week for two weeks.  On the final day of class, family members had a chance to see what the kids had learned...

My favorite part of swimming lessons was hanging out with the other parents while we waited.  Cille had fun with her friends, but I am pretty sure her favorite part was the snowball afterwards...

Stella attended afternoon swim team practice on the day of Cille's show off, so she was still in her swimsuit also...

One of Cille's swimming lesson friends was her "boyfriend" from last year, Evan.  I think the romance has cooled, but they are very mature about it and remain best friends...

When Cille's teacher took his hat off, she swiped it..

...and then teased him about it...

Cille did a great job at swimming lessons this year and we are very proud of her progress...