a fairy happy birthday!

For the girls' birthday party this year, I started planning a shin dig. A whoop de doo. With fairies (because this has been the year of the fairies) and a BBQ and bubbles and maybe the moon. Probably a pony. In a bounce house. Full of popcorn. 

Then Annabelle started telling me what she wanted to do. My sweet first born is basically me all over again (only with curly hair). She's a planner - detail oriented and kind of bossy. (We mean it in the most loving way, I swear!) And so she told me how it was going to go down. (Lou's at the blissful age where any party is a party, and she doesn't have much of an opinion. That will all be different next year, I'm sure.) 

She wanted to have a fairy party, yes. But she wanted to have just her bestest friend Marli come. And Marli's little sister, who is close to Lou's age. And she wanted to have a little fairy lunch. She told me she didn't want a big party. She wanted to just play with Marli and make a craft. 

Annabelle put me in charge of decorations, I planned a secret fairy craft (rainbow hand kites!), we agreed on a fairy menu, and she hired Miss Sam (her preschool teacher who runs a catering side gig) to make the cake. She described the cake she wanted, and Miss Sam wrote it down. Miss Sam cleared it with me first, and the cake you see here is the cake of Annabelle's dreams. Isn't it amazing? (Belle requested a half blue, half green cake, with pixie dust and the fairy sisters on top, and pink flowers. I found the little dolls, and Miss Sam pulled out the magic otherwise.) 

And so the party went as Annabelle planned. It was perfect. With the fairies and friends we've come to love so much this year.

Marli and Annabelle met in preschool. They became fast friends when Marli was kind to Annabelle on her first day, when she was scared. Marli's mom and I randomly volunteered to help in class a few weeks later, and we also became fast friends. Ashley has been the shoulder to lean on that I needed so very much this year. (Also, she's a hair artist. And dang, she's good.) And then there's little Layla, Marli's little sister, who is every bit the same as Lou, just a few months behind, and I simply cannot get enough of that sassy little thing. We love these friends so much and are so incredibly grateful to have found them.