Kendall turns 5! The Party

To say that the holidays are a stressful time for me is understatement. In addition to the regular craz of Thanksgiving, present buying, school parties, Christmas, visiting family, Christmas parties, baking *need I go on?* I also have Kendall's birthday as well as Avery's right after New Years and then my birthday sandwiched in there as well - but that's not really important...not anymore! But the hubby still tries to make me feel special which I love about him.

So where was I!? Ah! The birthday party. I get overwhelmed by the people I see on blogs (which I read too much) that have these huge extravagant parties for their 1 and 2 years olds. These parties take more time, effort, planning, baking and decorating than my wedding. I'm a part-time working woman/full-time mom so the realistic woman in me says "forget what everyone else is doing and just get 'er dun and have a happy kid."

So I did! I'd love to have endless hours to transform my entire house or backyard into a fairytale land but I don't so I opt for Plan B and take it elsewhere and I'm happy about it. Kendall wanted a Barbie/Tinkerbell/Princess/all-of-the-above party so I found some cute princess printables that she agreed on and went to work.

We also decided NOT to have it at the house (again - trying to stay away from stress and I'd rather come home to a clean house) so we went to the local inflatable bouncy place so she could jump to her heart's content with all of her best friends. It was a great 2 hour extravaganza that I still spent WAY too much time preparing for. However, part of the preparation was also for Avery's birthday too since cake freezes well. Thank goodness.

Here are a few pictures of the party! (if you click on the picture below it should open up into a big picture so you can see the details) Mike had a great time with all of the kids. Kendall didn't like these sort of jump parties until she was 4 - but Avery - our child with no reservations - LOVES THEM!

Kendall turned very shy when everyone started singing to her! The cotton candy party favor had the kids in hysterics...who knew it'd be so popular?!