Pink Ponies and Prancing Princesses

Pink Ponies and Prancing Princesses, Gracie's turning THREE!!

Gracie has been very excited about her approaching birthday this year.  When asked what type of party she would like she rattled off several of her latest favs: "Pink...ponies...princesses."  And so this year's party theme attempted to incorporate all three...

Her birthday is this coming Tuesday, so we decided to celebrate early and take advantage of the holiday weekend which allowed for Gracie's cousin Anabel (with Uncle Josh and Aunt Michaele) to come from Kansas City and join in the fun.

As we thought about where to go and what to do, we ran across a great spot close to our apartment, the Great Plains Nature Center.

The party started at the Koch's Habitat Hall where Gracie, Anabel, Gabi and Lily enjoyed exploring the Great Plains and discovering various wildlife...

Quite a challenge to get all 4 girls in one shot

Then we watched a short Geo Kids (National Geographic) video (yes, it was literally VHS) on the big screen.  The girls (and parents) enjoyed this free trip to "the movies."

Not wanting to stay in any one place for too long (with 4 girls under age 3), we cut the video short and headed outside to feed ducks, geese, turtles, fish, and anyone else who needed a snack.

Part 2 of the party was back at our apartment (conveniently less than 2 miles down the road).  Originally we hoped to picnic at the Nature Center, but the picnic shelters were pre-booked for other parties.  Retrospectively, it worked out better to have our little ones indoors for eating, presents, etc. instead of outside fighting the KS wind!

A couple of crafts and a pile of balloons kept the girls busy until dinner was ready.  These crafts were adaptations from various sites and blogs with pony party ideas.  Given our pony-princess dual theme -- we decided on tiara's and "tutu" style ponytails.  The original suggestion involved pony headbands and matching ponytails made out of multi-colored yarn.

Decorating Pink Tiaras 

Prancing with a "ponytail"
Gracie thought this was GREAT!

A picnic style dinner of turkey dogs and crock-pot BBQ chicken (thanks Aimee for the recipe) with veggies, chips and dips refueled us before heading into the main event...

PRESENTS!!

Gracie -- with the help of her friends -- enjoyed unwrapping the gifts...

and she squeezed in a few "thank you" hugs in between!

Then she gifted her friends bandana goodie bags filled with stickers, bubbles, jewelry and chap-stick.

Lily trying out the new chapstick

No 3-year-old's party is complete without cake and ice cream!

Family Picture with Pink Pony Cake

The cake was actually easy to make thanks to THIS site.  Gracie chose strawberry cake with pink icing and pink glitter sprinkles...

YUMMY!!

Thanks to everyone who joined us in celebrating Gracie's special day!!  She is such a blessing to us, and we thank God daily for entrusting her to our care.  What a joy-filled little person she is!

With pink pony hugs and prancing princess kisses,

DD&G