August 25, 2011...today my baby girl turned 4. She has been talking FOREVER about her "Rapunzel" party she informed me(so like her) she would be having. It was so cute the night before her birthday she was soooo excited she could not go to sleep. She got up repeatedly to tell me something silly. I think she knew something was about to happen, and sure enough when we woke the next morning, it was as though Rapunzel herself was in our house. There was hair everywhere!!! Even coming from the ceiling?
There were wanted posters all over the house. Wanted Dead or Alive: Flynn Rider.
The kitchen had been transformed into the kingdom marketplace with the princess flags hanging all over. (Ever think of making these, think hard they are extremely difficult)
There were lanterns hanging from the ceiling..oh and more hair!
She had really been wanting a mother Gothel doll so I knew she had to make an appearance somewhere so the table was adorned with her special flower. On a side note who asks for the scary evil witch? And by the way the ladies at the Disney store asked the same thing while laughing at me for even asking about a doll. What can I say Sadi is....different. She did sing to the flower until I said "oh maybe it will make you 3 again" (because in the movie that is how the evil mother stays young).
And ooohhh the cake! I am not in any way a great cake maker, but I gotta say this cake was sooo cool! Rapunzel tower cake...
It was adorned with flower cupcakes, and Sadi made my day by telling me it was "lovely". How cute is that? We had planned to give her gifts to her later in the day but by 9 a.m. after her following me around everywhere asking to please, please, please open her presents I caved.
She was absolutely thrilled to get this Rapunzel play dress.
She quickly transformed into the real princess, and we had to address her as such the rest of the day. She also got Rapunzel hair, Pascal, and Rapunzel paints.
But, what she had really, really been wanting is this Fur Real dog. It barks, whines, and you can walk it. Kinda looks like a dog we already have...hmmm. She loves this thing and thinks it's funny to tell me how many times her dog has puked on my carpet.
We spent the day shopping and then returned home to start the party. As much as I wanted to make Mother Gothel's Hazelnut soup Sadi told me I was not allowed. We settled on pizza. I made braided bread sticks (get it? huh braided...ha) We had Flynn's boats (blue jello with an orange slice for the boat with a simple sail). I also set out a bowl of apples for Maximus.
Sadi's favorite was the fruit towers. I think she had two of these.
After dinner we made some pascal party blowers. Don't you love his long pink tongue?
We played hit Flynn with the fry pan (like pin the tail on the donkey). Kelsey made this amazing poster for the party.
I found these cute paper lanterns at the dollar store that we decorated with markers and stickers. This was perfect for Sadi, she loves to color.
Legend says that if you write your wish on your lantern at set it free your wish will come true, so we each wrote our wish on our lanterns. Matt wrote his in Chinese, cool right? And if anyone knows Chinese I would love to know his wish.
We played Tangled. Chase volunteered to be Flynn and we each had 4 minutes to tie him up with hair, and then he had 4 minutes to get out of it to win. Pretty sure he would have hung himself to win this game (and almost did). This kid will do anything to win.
Sadi loved taking breaks to talk to family on the phone and tell them all about her day.
Finally it was cake time!! I was a little sad to see all my work eaten, but it was totally worth it. Making a wish...
We ended the night taking our lanterns out to "light the night sky".
Although I would have loved to set one up in the air, I thought it probably wasn't a great idea to have the fire department over for cake. We strung them up out back and hoped our wishes come true!
This really was a long day and alot of work but it made it all worth it when Sadi told me it was her best birthday ever! I love you my little princess.
Kelsey started her Sophomore year (what?), she is really looking grown up. I think this is the earliest she has been up all year, and trust me she snuggled those blankets till the very last minute.
Chase was off to First grade, can you believe it? His teacher this year is Mrs. Frusteri (ya how hard is that for a first grader?, I can barely pronounce it). He was excited even though almost all of his class from Kindergarten got the other teacher. I thought he looked handsome even though Matt teased me that his outfit screamed beat me up. 
It was a loooong day for me. Do you know how much you can accomplish with only 1 kid? I went to the bank, dollar tree, grocery shopping, and the gas station, to get the 4 year old a special "I'm not is school yet" soda and I looked at the clock when I got home....not even 10 a.m.!!! So, I planned a fun first day of school dinner (in between playing Rapunzel ALL day long). I made these pencils with Rolos and Hershey kisses with a note saying: You are so sharp, hope you had a fun first day. Aren't they cute? 
One day down, how many to go? I CANNOT play Rapunzel everyday (seriously folks it is Sadi's made up game that NEVER ends). Three more weeks till Preschool!!
Kelsey felt right at home in this teen dream room.
my favorite was the penguins, 
and the stingrays. Although they had a "petting" pond, my kids were to chicken to touch one...I have to be honest I didn't touch one either. Loved this polka dot one.
I wish I had a video camera on this one. Ever wondered what an electric eel feels like? Thanks to this cool exhibit Chase now knows...
Chase's favorite was the 
What did 
Isn't he cute? 
It was a fun day, and I'm glad we didn't bring any snakes home!
We had a Luau theme for the party and she really thought about every little detail. The entrance table, 
There was a table for the guest to pick up a favorite memory card to fill out for my parents (so cool, and something they will be able to cherish for a long time), 
each table had a beautiful and original centerpiece (complete with live fish), 
There were multiple tables with memories and tiles to look at, 
and ohhhh the dessert table!!!! It went on for miles (seriously this is not even half).....
We had a table with a photo of my parents on their wedding day cutting their cake (or rather faking it we found out they never really cut it at their wedding), and a replica of their cake Susan made. Which they did cut, and it was delicious!
I'm not sure if their is anything she can't do, check it out.....BEAUTIFUL!
Finally we were ready to party!! All the nephews wore straw hats and the nieces wore flower bows, and grass skirts. It was nice to be able to point out all the cousins to the guests.
Matt and I....
Kelsey and Tori met each guest at the door with a lei to wear, and directed them to fill out a memory card. These two really worked hard for weeks to help get things ready for this day, they did a great job!
The guests of honor.....
It was nice for all of my siblings to be there for this day, and I know it made it special for my parents. 
And of course it was so fun for them to have most of the grand kids there. We were only missing Kyle and Nathan. 
You know it's a good party when not one, 
but BOTH crash within 5 minutes of being in the car!!
And after 50 years, they still got it!! Oh yeah!
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!
