Aspen is making her way through alllll the ponies! She's had a
Rainbow Dash party, a Fluttershy party (kind of two of those), and now a Rarity party. ONLY THREE MORE TO GO.
She requested a white cake to match Rarity, and she picked out purple, vanilla-flavored frosting. I searched for a lactose-free recipe that had good reviews, and finally settled on
THIS ONE. I doubled the recipe to make two, 9-inch rounds, and I obviously didn't use the glaze. I used Almond milk instead of buttermilk, and honey-vanilla Greek yogurt (it's what I happened to have) instead of sour cream. It was so moist, and just dense enough.
Initially, Aspen was disappointed because apparently two tiers aren't tall enough. WHAT?! But when she was allowed to place the ponies and sprinkles however she pleased, she forgave me for not making her cake bigger.
It turned out pretty cute. I frosted it really lightly because I didn't love the flavor of the canned stuff and just wanted a hint of frosting on the cake. No one seemed to mind :).
We hosted a friend party on her birthday and served Pony snacks and unicorn fruit kabobs. Linc happened to nap on schedule and everything came together pretty easily. I'm so relieved because I spent the whole weekend prepping as much as I could so the morning of would be a breeze.
When the kids started arriving, I had them all do a huge floor puzzle (which Aspen got from her Aunt Tiffany when she visited). That kept them busy until all the friends arrived. Then we moved them onto the next activity- coloring one of the HUGE pictures Becky printed out for us. They really loved it and it was fun to see almost all the kids working together to finish the project.
They stayed camped out on the kitchen floor to eat their fruits and veggies, and then cake. It worked out well because when everyone left, I finally let Maddie out of the basement and she snatched up all the crumbs for me. WINNING.
Nikki was a saint and helped me keep the kids under control. They ranged in age from 3 to 7, so it was tricky at times to keep everyone happy. I couldn't have survived the party without her! I'm so glad she and her little love came down to celebrate with us.
The weather was GORGEOUS. Breezy, and not quite 80*. We pinned the horn on the unicorn in the backyard and let the kids run around after they ate.
Aspen ended up pinning the horn in the sweet spot, and it was fun to watch the kids stumble around trying to beat her placement. I love making these giant pony posters. It's so fun to pretend I still have legit art skills.
The kids kept putting the horns on themselves afterward and someone even gave one to Linc. He was less than amused. He did so great during the party and I only had one crazed moment when I came up from the basement and found he had climbed the deck stairs and was standing by himself in the sliding glass doorway. I imagined him immediately topping to his death and nearly had a heart attack. HE IS A NINJA EVERYWHERE.
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| Linc's experiencing a party hangover |
I always say Aspen will have a friend party every other year, and I'm reaaaaally glad that decision has been made. It's a lot of work to have so many hooligans running around! Plus, after Aspen unwrapped presents we still had 30 minutes until parents came to retrieve their kids... and they all wanted to open her stuff and play with it and I was like NO THAT'S PAINT so instead they went into her room and played with the MLP musician kit Kev and I had given her the day before her birthday. As thank yous for coming, Aspen had picked out MLP puzzles from the Dollar Tree, and I had the brilliant idea to give everyone ring pops since Rarity's special talent is finding jewels. GENIUS.
Before her party, Kev gave her the bike we scored at Saver's a few months ago, and she tried it out for a little while that morning. It was pretty traumatic and she said she'll never ride that stupid bike again. Hopefully Kev can give her some undivided attention a few nights this week and help her regain some confidence. It's hard going from a trike to a bike (even with training wheels)!
She had a really great time and loved all the art supplies, treats and super-amazing MLP gear she received from her wonderful friends (slash their parents). The kids kind of dove into the presents at breakneck speed so I'm not even sure who gave what to Aspen. But please know she made good use of everything and I'm so grateful for the friendships Aspen has developed! She is such a lucky little girl to have so much love in her life. And ponies. So many ponies.
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