the party.

we finally celebrated anna's birthday.
poor thing had to wait three long weeks.
i've had the huge, lavish parties before but more and more we have crossed over to the simple celebrations.
really, when it comes down to it, the children just want a day where they can make all the decisions.
so saturday was anna's day.

she had three friends over, we went out to dinner, made fairy gardens, watched anna's favorite movie of the moment, and had a sleep over.
it was nice. loud and full of lots and lots of loud giggles, but nice.

the fairy gardens were a BIG hit!
i found this idea here where the kids made these for teacher gifts and thought it was cute.
a year later and we finally made them as party favors.
whatever. it worked out great.

painting the fairy houses (bird houses from walmart)

adding some pebbles and moss to the bottom of the gardens for drainage,

adding some flowers, pebble pathways, moss, rocks, and other fairy kinda stuff,

until they were just to the girls' liking. 
whew.  these girls were PARTICULAR. 
but the end result was so cute.

later we took the girls to a japanese steakhouse for dinner.
perfect for a party--the entertainment was built right in!
especially when the chef would light things on fire!

after that we came home for presents, cake and ice cream cones.
then the girls watched the movie 'spirit.'  it's a horse movie.  from like 1997?  who knows, but anna loves it.

when it was all over, my little monkey told me it was the best party ever.
i'm just glad she finally got her wish.
and both john and i are super glad that our birthday season is finally over! :)
happy belated birthday, my lovey girl. we are so proud of you and love you bunches.