a belated celebration

Sweet Whitney has been waiting for her "princess party"..... specifically her

"tangled" party, for a month now. (...which indeed I had promised her!)

Her birthday in August came at such a busy time for our family,

that I just felt like trying to pull-off a party with her little friends that month,

would be way too stressful, and I would not enjoy it at all.... which I really want to do!!

In our family, I've sort of made it a house rule that I will try and do a bigger,
themed party during the years of 4, 5, & 6. We sure have had
some fun ones in the past. Ellie had a "Cinder-ellie party" and a "pony party"
during these years. Abby had a themed "music party" and a "tea-party"
and Drew and Toby have had party themes such as "Cars," "safari,"
and "cow-boys"... to name a few. It's so fun to look back at these celebrations
as the kids get older. Such sweet memories.
I do love doing the themes... it just takes a lot of time and energy out of me.
And with five, I just wasn't sure I could do it every birthday, every year,
for each one. So... we've made this simple decision, and boy
it's helped simplify things. Of course, we still have parties as they
get older... they are just a bit more low-keyed with a small group of friends or family.

Well, things have quieted down, and this past weekend I felt like I could

put together a little home-made celebration with a few friends from church.

We had a very sweet time....

and I truly think Whitney felt celebrated!  

My grand-mother, Mama Jo, who is now with the Lord, 

used to collect hankies.... they, of course, are now vintage.

I brought them home from GA a while back, thinking I would do something with them. 

I decided that they would make a perfectly adorable bunting .... 

which I have always wanted to make to have on hand for parties. 

Whit's celebration was the motivation I needed to get the project done! 

(Why, O why, do I always work better under pressure???) 

I love the way it turned out and I love the sweet reminder 

it will be of Mama Jo whenever I hang it up! 

My sweet mother-in-law got these adorable cup-cake toppers

which I used as inspiration for decorating...  They were SOOOO cute. 

(Thank you so much Num Num! I was so thankful to have them,

especially since Whitney LOVED them, and I did not have to make a themed cake!!)

One of the characters in the movie "Tangled" is a chameleon that changes colors.

So, we had to make "Pascal" party-blowers.... which the girls loved!

For games, Ellie helped me make a "wanted poster" for the game:

"Pin the frying pan (which oddly would NOT print out black!!) on Flynn Rider."

In the movie..... Flynn Rider starts off as some-what of a villain

whom Repunzel continually hits with a cast-iron skillet. 

If you haven't seen the movie.... you'll have to, in order to find out if he stays one :)

Then, to my surprise, Abby (which by the way, was my superb helper the WHOLE day)

took the lead, and everyone went out back and played a

spontaneous game of duck-duck goose!! They all had such fun. 

(Don't you love Toby in the mix?)

(FYI: Ellie took the above left photo, and the one below....)

Aren't these little princesses the most adorable girls you've ever seen??
Thank you sweet friends for making Whitney feel so very special and loved.