Lydia's birthday was quite the event! She got to celebrate several times! The weekend before her birthday Grandma and Grandpa Anderson and Uncle Neil came to visit! That was so exciting! This is the first birthday of Lydia's that they've been able to make it down for :). Well, I guess my mom and Neil also came when Lydia was born, so that's not completely true. Saturday morning, after a 4 hour drive from San Antonio, we all got in the Mardi Gras spirit! It was the kickoff parade for Mardi Gras! And this will be our last year attending it (well, hopefully. We'll see.). We always love catching all the beads and random things that they throw! And this is the first year that Lydia has gotten into it! Hooray! She couldn't get enough of the stuff! And she quickly learned how to cover her ears when the marching bands came through :).
Uncle Neil also loved getting all the beads! He would have put on twice that amount if we had given it to him!
Lydia and her friend, Miyah, loved all the pretty beads!
After a fun day at the parade, we finished it with a small party for Lydia with her grandparents. She got to blow out some birthday candles and open a few gifts from my parents. She loves her new wooden magnetic dolls, matching nightgowns for her and her baby and dora bath bubbles! Thanks Mom and Dad!
Sunday was spent saying goodbye to my parents and playing with the stuff that they gave Lydia.
Monday was Lydia's real birthday. And I think that it was a pretty darn good one, if I do say so myself! Lydia woke up to balloons hanging from her bedroom doorway! So, first thing she did was come into our room to tell us about all the balloons! She wanted us to get up to go see them. (Like we hadn't already seen them.) When we asked her how they got there, she thought for a second and then said, "I don't know!" Like it was magic!
I also put some extras at the bottom of the stairs, for kicks :)
When Lydia walked into the living room, this is the first thing that she saw!
(This was the other reason that my parents just had to come for Lydia's birthday! I got this incredible dollhouse from one of my mom's friends for an INCREDIBLE deal! And I couldn't fit it in my car to bring it back to Galveston.)
Lydia was quite impressed! She just stared in awe at it for a few seconds before realizing that she could actually play with it and that it was hers!
I'd say that Lydia got quite the haul for her birthday this year! We gave her the dollhouse, a wooden farm puzzle (with actual puzzle pieces and not just shapes), and a Cinderella barbie (this was actually mine from when I was in middle school/highschool. I was very into Cinderella and just collected them, but never took them out of the box. So, it was just like new!) She also got to open her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Dickinson. She got a couple barbies, awesome light up shoes, some clothes, playdough stuff, and coloring books. So, between us and all of her grandparents, she was quite the spoiled little princess! She has loved it all!
Most of the day was spent just playing with all of her new toys. Her friend, Miyah, came over for a couple hours to help her break them all in :). She got her favorite food for lunch, macaroni and cheese, and she didn't even have to take a nap! I decided to see how she would do without one. Lucky for me, she fell asleep on our car ride to Chuck e Cheese that evening! So, we are still in the nap-taking stage :).
As mentioned above, we finished off her special day by playing at Chuck e Cheese! Both David and I hadn't been there since we were kids, so it was fun to take her. And she was in heaven! Her friend, Miyah, was able to come with us too! (Can't you tell that these girls are destined to be BFF's! They do everything they can together! And it sure helps that her mom, Stormie, is one of my best friends too :).
Lydia wasn't so sure about this one. It was sure funny to watch her though! They were pretending to fly an airplane and it was vibrating and doing other weird stuff :)
She really liked the train!
Even Hannah and Misty got to enjoy this one with the big girls!
After a fun day of celebrating our big 3 year old, we went home and went straight to bed! Maybe we were bad parents for not giving her more cake and having her blow out candles again, but I just figured that we would be doing all that again for her party and it was so late anyway when we got home. Plus we had sung to her all day long. (And she loved every minute of it! It was so fun to see how proud and yet shy she was everytime we sang!)
The whole week was spent enjoying the birthday decorations (minus the balloons that came down after a day because they got so tangled up) and playing with all her new toys. And in final preparation for the Royal Birthday Ball that was coming on Saturday. It couldn't come soon enough for all the little princesses! This year we decided to only invite all of the little girls, because there were just too many kids with the boys and I didn't want to make people feel left out. So, a princess party it was! I decided to go all out! It was sure fun!
Upon arrival, each of the princesses got to visit the Beauty Bar (modeled beautifully by our Princess Lydia).
I love how you can see Lydia's reflection in the mirror even when she's not standing in the pictures! Each of the princesses got to pick out a couple bracelets, a ring, a nail polish, an eye shadow (made from nail polish, perfect for play time!), a lip gloss, and a purse. They also got to put on some glitter and perfume. Then they got to get a back with beads to make some pretty necklaces and bracelets. The next while was spent with princesses and queens getting themselves all prettied up for the ball.
Lydia wanted me to dress up too. So, I was Belle :)
It was so cute watching Melinda put on her eye shadow! She knew just what to do with it!
Jadyn made a beautiful Snow White!
And, according to Lydia, Sydney was a beautiful Sleeping Beauty!
Eliza loved all the bracelets!
Daddy even dressed up as Prince Charming for Lydia! He enjoyed helping Lydia make her necklace. She had to sort all of her beads before she even began. First all of the hearts went on, then the butterflies, and then all the foam shapes could go on :)
Next, the princesses each took turns putting the glass slipper on Cinderella's foot. I think there was no doubt in the Prince's mind that Cinderella could be his Princess by the time they were through!
Next it was time for some cake and ice cream!
I love how the cake turned out! Lydia just had to have a Cinderella cake! And, luckily, my mom still had the cake mold from all the doll cakes she made for me growing up! (That was another big reason for their trip out here! I forgot to get the mold when I was out there for Christmas!)
This is a shot of the table. I made the wands for each of the girls. So easy! It was fun! The snowglobe/carriage was actually another part of my collection in highschool. It has been a permanent decoration in Lydia's room. And the table cloth was one that David's Grandma Hallberg crocheted for our wedding (I made sure to put a table cloth cover over it! There was no way I wanted blue frosting ruining that!)
The princesses each enjoyed their cake and drinking out of their fancy princess glasses.
Here are all of the princesses that were able to attend the ball. At first I was kinda bummed that so many of the princesses were unable to come, but once the party got started I was grateful! Five princesses makes a perfect party! From left to right is Princess Sydney, Princess Jadyn, Princess Lydia, Princess Eliza, and Princess Melinda.
And then it was time for presents! Lydia made sure that we didn't forget it!
I love seeing how excited all the girls get to open the presents! I was amazed that we didn't have a whole group helping this time!
Lydia got some fun new things! Her friends seem to all think alike this year! Play Doh was a major theme :). Lydia absolutely loves playing with her Play Doh and so these are a perfect addition to her collection! This castle one is pretty neat! It has molds to make dresses for the princesses and Rapunzel's hair and even a prince!
Later that day Lydia decided to try out a new way of putting on her lipgloss. She quickly learned that it does not go on her face, or toys, or even her babies lips. Sigh. It was sure funny to catch her though!
Overall, it was a wonderful party for a wonderful princess! We love our sweet Lydia! And it was a great day/week to celebrate her being in our family! Happy birthday Lydia!
(Dancing with her Prince Charming!)
1 comment:
Wow, what a fun party! Lydia sure had an amazing birthday week!
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