And that's a wrap!

If you've been wondering about the radio silence, it's because I've been preparing for (and having) R's birthday party! We just got back from my parents house a few hours ago and I am totally exhausted. Kid birthday parties are always much more work than you think they'll be- especially if you have them at home.

It's been a tough couple of weeks health-wise (I've had a could this week as well), and I really wasn't sure if I was going to be able to pull this off. I ended up deciding to just let a lot of things go. I didn't make all the treats myself, I didn't make R a tutu (she never wears them anyway), and I tried not to be a total perfectionist about the decorations. Of course I was still completely stressed out, but that's unavoidable.

The stress really started at the beginning of the week when I saw what the forecast was supposed to be for today. April has been absolutely gorgeous in Colorado so far. Yesterday was 70 degrees, and the day before it hit 80! So what did the weather do today? SNOWED LIKE CRAZY. It's actually still snowing right now.

In a panic I e-mailed the pony/ petting zoo people and asked if we'd be alright and thankfully they said they show up in any weather. We lucked out in that my parents have a large garage and we were able to set up the petting zoo in there, and the old pony (the handlers said he was 18 years old!) didn't seem to have a problem taking kids down the driveway and up the street in the snow. Luckily it was bitter cold, just very wet. And everyone was able to warm up with the hot taco bar!

I was so busy this morning doing some finishing touches and getting ready myself that I didn't get any pictures of the party set up. Pretty much the entire reason I decorated was to get pictures for here, but what are you going to do, haha. I did however get a couple of other pictures, so without further ado...

 

The petting zoo! There was a donkey, mini horse, big mama goat, baby goat, and another goat!

 

The donkey started he-hawing and R was SO perturbed! It was hilarious!

She's doing it!

A tentative smile.

Blackjack the trick pony was a trooper in the wet weather.

That's a mama goat and her baby goat! I saw the baby nursing and oh man, it was sort of violent! The baby kept headbutting her HARD while nursing, it looked painful! Anyway, the handler said she's going to get shaved next week- her coat was so thick! He said they don't shear them too early precisely because of freak snow days like today!

Here's one of the only pictures I got of the setup downstairs. In the background you can sort of see the rainbow wall I slaved over and the candy/ treat bar. A bunch of the streamers fell down overnight and I almost had a heart attack when I saw it in the morning. N had to fix it while I went upstairs and tried not to think about it. ;)

Next year I'm going to make sure my mom is taking pictures too so we have pictures of R blowing out the candles, etc. but I'm not too bummed out. We made a ton of great memories at this party and I know R will be talking about it for a long time to come!

Next stop, finishing her big girl room!