Abby's Art Party

Abby seems to have had two recurring loves this past year: Disney and art projects. Since I wasn't ready to give in to a princess party quite yet, we decided to go with an art theme and have each of Abby's friends paint a pumpkin and small canvas at her birthday party this year. We got lucky and had surprisingly beautiful weather on Sunday -- cooler temps and very low humidity for our party at the park. 

One of the best parts of a birthday is the birthday cake, right? I love making homemade cakes so I turned to Pinterest for inspiration and found this rainbow cake. The recipe calls for a cup of buttermilk which was a new twist for me. Several people commented on how delicious they thought the cake was and my guess is that they were noticing the slight tang from the buttermilk. As a mom who usually tries to stay away from food dyes, I decided desperate times call for desperate measures and picked up Duff color gels from Michael's. I considered using natural dyes but knew the colors wouldn't be as vibrant and in the end I was happy with my decision. The colors from the gels really were amazing. One note: this recipe calls for 1 and 1/2 cups of butter and SIX cups of powdered sugar in the cream cheese frosting. I used 1 cup of butter and TWO cups of powdered sugar and in my opinion, that was more than enough sugar. Reducing the butter and powdered sugar did result in less frosting, hence the un-frosted sides of my cake. Whoops! I decided I kind of like the layers revealed. Or maybe I was just too lazy to make more frosting...

Enough about the cake, it's party time! My friend Alison saved the day and came an hour early to help me set up. Abby is friends with her daughter, Briella. Sweet girls!

The party was fairly big with 15 kids because we invited two groups of people: my moms group friends who have known Abby since she was about 6 months old and then our BSF/church friends. I couldn't choose one group over the other so we just invited them all!

Alberto has been friends with Abby since they were babies.

He and his family travel to Panama to see family several times a year and their gift to Abby was some wooden crayons that have an animal carved into the top of each one. So unique and fun!

Time to paint! Here's my friend Alison and Abby's friend Kate. Abby knows Kate from BSF and our church. Kate's birthday is the day before Abby's and Abby went to her mermaid birthday on Saturday. It was a busy weekend for the birthday girls!

Briella and Juliet.

Juliet is another friend from our moms group.

Alberto again. I love his pumpkin.

This is Abby's spunky friend Zoe from BSF and our church. If anyone can hold their own with Abby, it's this little girl. She and Abby can both be pretty strong and determined, which causes sparks to fly from time to time. They always make up and move on pretty quickly.

Leahna is the daughter of Ronnie and Josie who are friends from Robert's work. She is pint-sized but powerful.

And pretty adorable, too.

Kate and her masterpiece.

Gabi is another friend from my moms group. Abby has said on a few occasions that "Gabi is a very nice boy." He truly does have a sweet disposition. 

This is Abby's friend Ella from church and BSF. Ella is a new big sister to baby Ava and they are both blond haired beauties like their mom. Ella told her mom, Melanie, that she was painting the pumpkin for her and she painted it solid white -- which is totally on trend right now! I think Ella has an eye for design.

Briella hard at work.

 

Abby's drippy pumpkin dried nicely and is currently displayed on a bookshelf. The little stinker refused to let me tie back her hair and put in a bow so it kept falling in her face. Robert laughed at me for being so bothered by it but it was driving me crazy!

Dads with babies.

My friend Ashley picked up my camera at some point. It's nice to have proof that I was at the party!

Our crazy haired little girl! She was so excited that everyone was singing Happy Birthday to her.

 

Poor girl, we forgot a match to light the candles. We had her pretend to blow them out anyway.

This is Alison and her husband, Cameron. Alison was in my BSF group last year and this year she is a children's leader. She has become a very dear and trusted friend and the past few times Abby has thrown me for a loop, Alison has been a good listening ear and offered helpful perspective and encouragement.

Abby and two of her besties: Zoe and Ella.

I love these girls.

 Sure Juliet, why not take your cake with you?!

Look at those baby blues. This is my moms group friend Lacy (or at least her shoulder) with her daughter Caroline. Her son Connor didn't make it into any of these pictures since he was running around and playing most of the time.

Along with Connor, I also didn't get any pictures of Axel, Jake or Kiara. I should have tried to round them all up for a group photo. And Abby's very best friend, Emma, was in Chicago. Overall, I'd say the party was a success. Everyone seemed to enjoy each other's company and we had fun watching the kids paint. I am so thankful for our little "tribe" of friends who love Abby and support me and Robert. It's been sweet this past year watching these young friendships blossom and grow. Seeing the kids' unique personalities and preferences emerge. Sharing frustrations as well as successes with other parents. It really does take a village and we're grateful for ours!