We made it! We officially hosted a PRINCESS party for our little princess, and it was a big hit (according to the guest of honor – and that was the point!) The biggest hit: ELSA.

We also invited Hazel Basil and Addie, two of Zoe’s pals from her old school who she hasn’t seen in a while. She spent the whole day surrounded by lots of friends (and so did we!). In fact, we have such amazing friends that one of them showed up early to help decorate (which we desperately needed, Thanks, Danielle!) – and several of them helped us clean up (which we also desperately needed – we were beat!)

We also put my mom to work assembling fan decorations, prepping Zoe’s room and more. We are very very very lucky.

Some of my favorite moments:

• Before the party, we were headed to pick up cupcakes, and Zoe asked if she’s having an Elsa cake (we were – and Bart made it – but she didn’t know that). She said “I want Elsa in the FIRST dress, not the blue dress”. Wait until you see the cake below…
• Zoe likes “glass slippers” (those terrible plastic “heels” they make for dress up), but just like her mother, she has trouble walking in them. So we got her an Elsa dress for the party and some FLAT Elsa slippers, which she wore for 5 mins and wanted the “glass slippers”. SO she spent the day either barefoot or in some other mis-matched princess glass slippers… Best laid plans.
• The Elsa tiara broke. Oops? Not to worry, a little scotch tape kept it together long enough for some pictures.
• With the best intentions, I bought LONG “glitter candles” for Zoe’s cake, knowing the shape of the cake would make regular candles a challenge. The best place for them so we didn’t set the Elsa doll on fire? The front of her dress (use your imagination). Worse? They were sparkler candles, which relit themselves… Oops again?

Now it may sound like I’m focusing on the negative here, but really, when you’re 37 weeks pregnant and scrambling to make everything “just right” for the daughter who’s about to feel a little less special when her little sister arrives, your Best Laid Plans seem a lot more important than they really are ;)

That said, my husband is a SAINT. King Bartley showed his royal colors by making 16 pounds of the best pulled pork EVER and making the PERFECT princess cake, which was greeted by Ooohs and Ahhhs from the entire party (and made his daughter smile from ear to ear):

Every year he finds a way to outdo himself! Wonder what he’ll do with TWO little girl birthdays? ;)

Overall, we had a blast. And, of course, everything worked out just fine. I can’t say enough great things about the princess we hired. Amanda, I mean, Elsa was AMAZING (as you can see above), and she could also paint faces AND SING! She actually had quite a lovely voice, and I almost cried when she sang Let It Go to (with?) my daughter.

So all in all, a resounding success :)

Oh, and one more thing for posterity’s sake: Zoe got up this morning and said “My Baby’s Not Here Yet.” HA. I just patted my belly, said “Thank You” to Ella, and reminded Zoe that Ella’s not due until September 23.

Happy Birthday, my dear Zoe. Here’s to 100 more!