How about Birthday Tuesday instead? I did get some craftiness completed in time for a little one’s birthday – but it is missing some hardware so I can hang it up. It is not nearly impressive enough on the floor when it belongs suspended from the ceiling. It is on my list of things to do today – so I can show it next week for sure!

In the meantime, most of last week was filled with celebrating! In case you didn’t hear…a little someone turned five and even though I swore that we were keeping it low-key this year, it turned into a week-long adventure anyhow.

I love that the girls have birthdays during the school year so they get to celebrate with their friends. And I love living in California so that it is usually great weather for outdoor parties as well.

We started off the day with the requisite chalk card…

Yep. She’s five.

We had a special breakfast that Addie chose, pasta packed in her lunchbox (her favorite food) and we sent her off to school. Her teacher is adorable and makes each birthday very special for the kids, which is awesome. I got to go in and read Addie’s favorite book to the class (SkippyJon Jones) and then she got to pass out her treat for the kids.

We couldn’t do cupcakes because there are kids with nut allergies, an egg allergy, a gluten allergy, an oat allergy and a chicken allergy (chicken?! really??) in her class. Even with the ladybug lollipops we still had two kids that we had to do pencils for – they have dairy allergies and the lollys were made with milk chocolate. Aye.

She picked dinner (noodles again) and we made her some cupycakes.

Then Saturday came and it was her birthday again. Her “real birthday” as she called it. We called my niece (Happy 12th, Lexer!) to wish her Happy Birthday and Addie said, “Hey! Lexer’s birthday is on my birthday?” And herein lies the problem with the week-long celebrating – a little clueless on exactly when her birthday is.

Anyhow, we invited a few friends for a ladybug hunt. Couldn’t find bugcatchers (almost couldn’t find ladybugs!) so we made do with dollar spot buckets and I just covered them in fabric.

Seemed to work just fine.

Em and her friends – the “big girls” – all did the face painting for me. The big girls are all my Brownies, so I told them it was one of their good deeds by helping the little girls. (They are supposed to do 3 to get their Brownie pin re-pinned right-side up.) But I think they loved it even more than the little girls did.

And then we had ladybug cupcakes. Which I totally forgot to get a photo of. I didn’t take hardly any photos in fact – just trying to deal with kiddies. Thankfully J. picked up my camera and got a few. Like this one…

Oh…and this one!

And I love this one.

Thank God for J. (in so many more ways than one!)

All in all, another successful party, I think.