What a party!

We surprised Magnolia the day the invitations went out that she would have a pony at her party!

Needless to say, she was very happy!

We invited all of the little girls in her class and hoped for good weather.

After being rainy, gloomy, and cold for days on end, it turned out to be a beautiful fall day!

We started the party by opening the presents.  Each little girl choose a number from a hat.  Magnolia then choose numbers from a hat.  She called out the number she pulled and the guest that had that number presented her with the gift they brought.  This made it much less chaotic and kept the girls interested.

Then we had lunch.  Thank you Trader Joe's for making us lunch!  Turkey corn dogs, chips, dip, veggies, fruit, and each their own milk carton.  I rolled brown craft paper down then put sheets of red and white striped wax paper for each place setting.  They ate right on the table and when it was done, it made for easy cleanup.  For desert I made mini vanilla cupcakes with Nani's famous caramel icing.

As the girls were eating their lunch, the pony trailer pulled up.  The girls quickly finished their lunch, put on their pink cowgirl hats, and rushed outside.

Oh, I forgot to mention, they bring another animal to entertain the kids while waiting for their pony ride.  We choose a goat.  Here comes Billy (the goat)!

The pony gets saddled.

The excitement builds.

The Birthday Girl gets the first ride.

Then she checks out Billy.

After all the guests have their first turn, George gets his.

This was the pony line.  Most girls had three rides each.  I even found George independently waiting his turn for more rides!

Magnolia and George's cousins came too.  Here's fellow horse lover, Sophia, having her turn.

Gotta love the cowgirl boots!

Then we got really silly and posed in the "photo booth."

Magnolia said, "Mom, you already look like you because that's what your glasses already look like!" She's right.  So, I look completely normal in this pic.  :)

Then we bobbed for apples.

Finally, I brought out a jar of trail mix and the girls got to scoop it in their own bags.

Then we waited for the parents to come and each little girl went home with a red bandana wrapped caramel apple tied with a helium balloon.  

It couldn't have turned out any better.  It was a super fun time!

Happy Birthday Magnolia!  

We hope this year being six will be as fun and exciting as it should be!

A couple of side notes not be forgotten:

The day we put the invitations in the mail we received an invitation to Magnolia's classmate's party on the same date and at the same time.  I nearly cried at the coincidence.  I immediately called the mother to see what we could work out.  I offered to see if I could book the pony for a different time but she was so gracious and changed the date of her daughter's party to the day prior to Magnolia's.  It never occurred to me that would happen!

The day of the party (the friend's party) Magnolia was exhausted, took a nap, and woke up ten minutes before the party started with a mild fever.  I hemmed and hawed about what to do.  Magnolia said she didn't want to go so I kept her home, rushed over to the little girl's house to deliver her gift and give our apologies.  Ah, what to do?!  Now all of these moms would know Magnolia's sick and I didn't know if I should cancel the party.  I was advised by more experienced moms to let the show go on.  That a cancelled party would be devastating, that it would never get rescheduled, that it was just a couple of hours, so on and so forth.  The next morning she seemed much better (surely pure excitement being the best medicine).  After her first ride on the pony she started to itch like crazy and a rash appeared all over her torso.  Surely she can't be allergic to horses?!  We gave her antihistamine and took her to the doctor the next day.  Scarlet Fever it was.  Oh my goodness, and highly contagious.  Magnolia sure was a trooper and thankfully, as far as we know, none of the other little girls got it!  

For the party favors I decided to make homemade caramel apples.  After my first batch I was starting to worry that the caramel was too hard and that it would pull out kids' teeth.  As I sampled them myself  (to test them out) I definitely knew the caramel was too hard and proceeded to make another batch with softer caramel, all the while munching on the too hard batch.  When I flossed my teeth late that night a major piece of tooth flew out.  Now I don't know if this has happened to you but it never has to me and I stood there frozen for I don't know how long carefully pulling air into my mouth to take the serious pain that I was sure to come.  None.  Nothing.  I almost jumped for joy but I did go through the entire next two days with a gaping hole in my mouth.  And, as it turns out, those caramel apple party favors resulted in a $1200 crown...ouch!

Fall Frolic at Magnolia's school!

 Magnolia loved seeing her friends there.

 Harvest Moon.  We went to the lake, it was a beautiful evening.  We were too late and didn't see the moon come up on the horizon.  It was still beautiful.  Magnolia brought along her friend and neighbor.  We ate pumpkin whoopie pies on a big blanket and then drove home.

 Homecoming!  It was such a cold night....we were seriously bundled!

 We walked to see the parade.  We saw Magnolia's kindergarten teacher along the way which was hugely exciting for Magnolia!

 It's starting!

We intended to take the kids to the game but thought maybe next year...

 Then we had cousins visit!

 I love these photographs...

 And then, it was George's 3 1/2 Birthday!  We celebrate half birthdays around here with lunch out and a cake of their choice.  Instead of lunch out, we had breakfast out.  George requested chocolate brownies with chocolate chips inside, and chocolate frosting.  I let him put the sprinkles on which amounted to about an inch thick worth of sprinkles.  It was some cake, Georgie!

 George and I went on a pumpkin field trip with his class.  He got to jump in hay, go on a hay ride, and pick out his own pumpkin.  I love the pumpkin he chose!  :)

 Magnolia and George have a doggy penpal.  I kid you not.  Nani's friend's dog Molly who Nani gets to watch from time to time and over the years our kids have gotten to know and love writes letters to George and Magnolia.  They, in return, send Molly drawings and letters too.  It's been going on for almost a year now and it pretty darn cute.  Here's the latest letter from Molly Dog.

 And these are the drawings George did in return.  And yes, I do mail them!

 That's what has been happening around here!

We have an exciting birthday party coming up this weekend with a VERY special guest! I'm praying for nice weather and smooth sailing through it all!