Princess Lila's Royal Birthday Party

When it came time to choose a theme for Lila's birthday party this year, there was really no debate.  It simply had to be a princess party.  The girl loves dolls, princesses, getting her hair and makeup done and putting on fancy dresses and high heels.  Can we say girlie girl?  I love it.

Her Aunt Lyndsie designed and baked her a delicious dark chocolate cake, complete with a gold crown and sparkly 3.  So fun!

The party started out low key with a little coloring while we waited for all the princesses to arrive.

The menu for our Royal Celebration included Jasmine's Jelly Sandwiches (PB&J), Ariel's Under-the-Sea Treats (goldfish), Fairy God-Mother Magic Wands (white chocolated covered pretzels with red sugar), Snow White's Candied Apples and assorted royal candies (left over Easter candy!).

All princesses must have sparkly eye shadow and pink lips, so little Sleeping Beauty got right in line!

Gigi did a fantastic job!

While the girls were getting all fancy, the boys were busy sword fighting.

We had five fierce knights attend the party.  A few even wore their own costumes.  Very cool.

Meanwhile, back in the princess room, all the little girlies were buzzing about.  They had fun tutus and dresses to choose from, as well as high heels and purses.  Aunt Maria and Gigi were their esteemed make-up artists and before we knew it they were ready for the Princess Parade to begin.

We called all the guests in to watch the parade...

Knight Jackson escorting Princess Lila!

Knight Jackson escorting Princess Madison...Knight J was in high demand!

Princesses and Knights galore.

Knight Cowen held his own with Knight Jackson!

"Hmmm...these candied apples do look good."

Cake time!

Lila was so excited that she blew out her candles before everyone had a chance to sing!

We re-lit the candles and everyone sang to her...then she blew them out for real:)

Eye on the prize.  She had her sights set on a Princess Aurora cupcake.

After we loaded the kids up on plenty of sugar, we turned them loose in the backyard.  How many kids can fit on a trampoline?  I'm pretty sure we went over the safety limit...

and Lila Lou loved every single second of it!

She has her daddy wrapped around her finger so much that he even wore her "birthday princess" crown on his head in order to make sure it didn't get broken on the trampoline:)

While the wilder kids were having the time of their lives on the tramp, the littler ones were enjoying the playground.  We let the kids just play and enjoy the fabulous weather for a little while...



and then we rounded them all up for present time.  The kids sat in a circle and passed "Princess Bear" around while the music played.  When the music stopped, the guest holding the bear got to give Lila the present that they brought her.  They all did great and it was a slower-paced gift opening than just the normal free-for-all that usually includes lots of flying tissue paper...cards being tossed around...and makes me a little crazy!



Lila was so happy that her friend Chloe finally made it to her party.  Such a precious Snow White.

She got all kinds of fun gifts, including this mini-princess CD player with three miniature disks.



She was so thankful for all of her thoughtful gifts, but this one was definitely at the top of her list.  Wedding Ken and Barbie!  Her brother picked them out for her and was so excited to give them to his baby sister.  He was such a good helper all day...he helped us set-up for the party, tried to plant flowers, cleaned off the outside patio table, helped make the coolers, moved furniture with me and then helped her open each gift, too.  He even missed his first game of the season to be at her party.  And you know this kid loves him some Cubs baseball--a lot! She's one lucky little girl to have a brother who loves her so much.

She was really happy to have Memaw and Poppi at her birthday celebration...

along with her Boom and Gigi, too.

And the party would not have been complete without her very favorite cousin.

These two have a blast together.  Sawyer was loving tramp time, too, and we were all so glad that he and his parents stayed and hung out after the party was over.

Jackson had Adam running routes...

and throwing passes...and even talked Boom into joining the fun. 

Then he got Hayley to be his receiver and was so happy when she caught this pass!

We were tired from our long-day, so we just ordered pizza and ate at home.  Lila had to have been hungry, but she insisted on opening wedding Ken and Barbie first.  Think she liked them?!

Thank you so very much to everyone who helped us celebrate our precious little girl.  When she laid down to go to sleep last night she said, "Mommy, I really had fun with all the little boys and girls today. And I'm so glad Jackson came to my party."  It made me so happy to hear that and we loved getting to spoil her just a tad on such a special day.