Happy Birthday Red Three!!!

My little baby girl turned 7 yesterday!!! Say it isn't so! How could this precious little thing

now be this big???

So after doing nothing but hang out in my pajamas all day Thursday...I had to get all of Red Three's birthday stuff done on Friday, her actual birthday. Thankfully I was feeling much better, if not quite a 100% :) I had let Red One make the cupcakes Thursday night. Red Three decided on Minion Cupcakes, from Despicable Me. She wanted lemon flavor, so I found a honey lemon cupcake with honey cream cheese frosting. I told Red One that if she did good with the cupcakes I might let her make my birthday cake. ;) She baked them up no problem, but I couldn't decorate them till the next day...I needed to pick up Twinkies for the minions. I hadn't even bought any presents yet! Luckily, the girls had VBS at our church, so I got all the grocery and present shopping done while they were there.

David had informed Red Three that she was having strawberry cheesecake for her birthday. So after the girls were out of VBS we stopped home for lunch before trekking off to Cheesecake Factory to pick one up. Sarah stopped by on her way to work and dropped off an early birthday present for me ;) some awesome earrings!!! Thanks Sarah!!! Anyways, I was going to surprise the kids by taking them to see Despicable Me 2 before the party. That meant we had to book it...The Cheesecake Factory is in West Hartford, about 20 min away...and the movie was at 1:40. I got an awesome parking spot, grabbed the cheesecake, which thankfully was frozen, so that meant it could stay in the car while we were at the movie without any worries. We were a few minutes late, but don't think we missed too much of importance. ;) They were super surprised and happy! I'd read some bad reviews on it, but it was plenty cute and funny.

After the movie we headed home to cook dinner and finish the cupcakes. I had already decorated with some streamers and yellow balloons that I made minion faces on with a sharpie. They came out super cute! I actually stopped at a party store, but they didn't have any Despicable Me stuff...oh well. Papa and Rachel were supposed to be over around 6:00 or so, so I had about an hour and a half to get the food done! Luckily Red Three had decided on fairly easy food...Meatloaf Muffins (just meatloaf cooked in a muffin tin) and Mac and Cheese Muffins (same thing, mac and cheese in a muffin tin). She didn't want any veggies, only fruit, so I had a big thing of strawberries for her. Can you tell this was a kid's birthday??? lol

Anyways, everything was just about done...I even made some strawberry punch for her. Big hit! 

I had some yellow cups and the kids made their own minions on them. 

That's Buddy's mad face in the bottom pic...he wanted to get his punch first! lol...Anyways, Papa showed up first. Rachel was actually on time ;) Red Three specifically told her not to be late...HAHAHAHA! She showed up with her friend Jason in tow. Guess a Minion party sounded like too much fun to miss! ;) David actually was late...guess he ran into traffic on the way home from work. Of course, presents were not wrapped, so the porch turned into the wrapping zone while Red Three hung out with Papa and Daddy. 

We took a break from wrapping to eat. 

 I think Buddy's favorite was the strawberries! We had to make him eat his mac and cheese and meatloaf...lol

Then back out to finish wrapping ;) The kids got into a wrapping paper tube war.

 Then we had to make crowns...I saw the cutest idea on Pinterest to make them out of pipe cleaners. Super easy and adorable! I loved them. Buddy made a dinosaur out of his pipe cleaners, at least, that's what he said it was. ;) Mine came out the coollest, IMO :D Okay, Red One's was pretty cool too.

 The menfolk patiently waiting for the girly stuff to end...

 Presents time!!! (Finally! thought the men) Before we get into the pictures, a small sampling of Red Three's wish list: real pony; real tiara; jewelry, especially clip-on earrings; her own dog, specifically, a dachshund; art supplies, canvases, paints, easel; clothes; shoes; dress-up stuff; books; coloring books; and other stuff I can't remember. ;) So, the pony was taken care of with the horseback riding we did last weekend. Papa decided that wasn't enough, and got her a bunch of the other stuff on her list...lol! Best Papa ever!

Her real tiara! (Papa)

Yes, she's my daughter! Getting excited about some shoes!

Papa got her a stuffed weiner dog and a book to go with it! Plus, lots of paint brushes, canvases and an easel!

She was super happy with everything!!!

Had to get a picture with the birthday girl!

Wearing some of her loot.

Thank you Papa!!!

Red One made Buddy a prince crown...lol

After the table was cleared, time for cupcakes and cheesecake! Didn't the Minions come out cute?!? It's just cupcakes frosted with blue frosting with a decorated Twinkie on top. The eyes are Smarties and black icing for the rest. 

Buddy helping blow out the candle.

For some reason, everyone kept trying to lick their elbows....weirdos! ahahahaha

And that, as they say, was that. Red Three was beyond pleased with her party, presents, and company. Success!

I shall leave you with a picture of BatBuddy, superhero extraordinaire! Ok, but seriously, isn't that the cutest??? The batman version of the superman shirt he already had went on clearance. I snagged this for 3.50 at H&M!!! He loves wearing these shirts!! Of course, the fun part is putting on and taking off the cape, by which I mean, getting mommy to put it back on for him...lol