Last week Sophia and I went to our community's monthly "Art in the Park" event, which features local artists and craftsmen, a live band, wagon rides, games, etc.
Sophia enjoyed dancing to the band.... they were playing Salsa!
The requisite mini donut purchase (and notice that her doll, Ella, still joins us for EVERY event!)
Travis took these pictures... for the last 1.5 weeks he's been taking Sophia to swimming lessons at our municipal pool every day. I watched a swimming lesson yesterday... she's so much braver this year!
There are a couple wading pools near the big pool, and the kids always end their lesson with games in the wading pools.
Going to Disney really ramped up the Princess obsession... this is a good representation of her regular, daily attire...
Birthday preparation! On Saturday the 14th we started baking strawberry cupcakes from scratch first thing in the morning!
A little artwork...
The cupcakes were done by noon, and then we headed to the Red River Valley fair! Unfortunately, this year the county fair (two towns over in our county) and the RRV fair (a really big fair in West Fargo) were scheduled during the same week. Ridiculous! We had to choose... I just couldn't handle 2 fairs in one week. Summer is just nuts around here! Oh, and the big Fargo street fair is this weekend... so stay tuned!
Sophia's first ride pick? Motorcycles!
Waiting for the ferris wheel with daddy... there was a sign banning pregnant women from the ferris wheel! Really?!
Sophia was very attracted to the vehicle-type rides
We took a break from the midway and headed over to the ag buildings. First stop was a big indoor arena to watch barrel racing! (with ice cream!)
I didn't let Sophoia bring Ella to the fair (too dirty! She sleeps with her every night!) but I let her choose two "car friends" to bring along. I think they really enjoyed watching the horses ;)
Yup, it's blurry... the racers were FAST!
We loved the 4-H barn... nothing better than spooning pigs :) (Plus all the animals had huge fans, which we really enjoyed since it was a 95 degree, humid day! Ick!)
Piglets!!!
Duckies going up and down their water slide!
The chicks had the best displays... and this year we weren't allowed to handle them, which was disappointing for Sophia but probably a very good thing for the chicks!
"Petting zoo."
Yes, we forked out $5 for the pony ride. Seems kind of silly when she has her own horse, right?
After the fair Sophia and Travis had a nap while I continued the birthday preparations! These are the goody bags, which I was excited about only because I came up with the "design" myself (I usually steal all my ideas from the internet/parenting magazines!).
My favorite... the CUPCAKES!!! The decorating was actually pretty easy... it took less than an hour to decorate 24! Aren't they cute??? Pool party theme, of course, since Sophia had a pool party!
Sophia was pretty pumped about the cupcakes!
On Sunday morning we headed to Riverview Estates Park at the south end of our neighborhood, and I began decorating the shelter we had rented along with the pool!
We brought a pile of pool toys for the kids to play with, including squirt guns, which they seemed to really enjoy!
My sis in law, Lindsey, was a rock star and drove all the way down from Grand Forks to join us with her 3 kids. Ava is sooo cute!
Sophia only invited a few of her friends (not her whole class!), and we ended up with 10 kids total, which seemed to be just right!
This year I found the perfect balance: instead of planning a whole meal I prepped a few fun and easy sides, brought a cooler of drinks and ordered pizza! Everyone seemed to enjoy it and it was all finger food... score! :)
Sophia really seemed to enjoy her party, start to finish :)
Cousin Jaylin feeding baby sister Ava a cupcake... messy!
Sophia ripping into her presents! We didn't do a single return, and her presents have provided hours of entertainment since the party. I think we've played "Hi-Ho Cherry-O" 100 times since Sunday??
The pinata! The kids really loved beating the pinata to death! We did have one little mishap when one of the kids took a particularly wide swing and nicked Sophia's forehead with the stick... yikes! Sophia was pretty upset for a few minutes, but recovered quickly and didn't even have a mark on her when we checked later.
The stick was too long for the kids to wield with any control... learning experience...
Pinatas are always a highlight, in spite of mishaps!
Brady's dad commented that Brady was truly "beating a dead horse"
After the party Lindsey and the cousins came back to our place for some nice, mellow bonding time.
DJ had a great time with our cat! Their dad is allergic, so cats are a bit of a novelty...
Sophia enjoying her birthday loot... new beach chair and goody bag treats!
Love the swimsuit tan... I SWEAR I'm obsessive with sunblock!
1 comment:
Oh gosh! I have been horrible with the comments lately! I always look and love all the posts. Her birthday look perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay for kids parties ;-) And what great big sister practice!
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