SURPRISE…

…we survived 5 years of parenting.

We know there are days you doubted if we had it in us…oh wait, that was us doubting ourselves :)

Bree turned 5 today which makes it official, we survived parenting for 5 WHOLE YEARS.

5 years ago I was going into labor 6 days late and not having any idea how much my life would not ever resemble itself again…EVER.

We celebrated this milestone with a party for the books.  A party a month in the making.  A party that involved everything pink and purple and had a bunch of munchkin sized princesses running around on a sugar high.

It was perfect.

I am so tired and I want to go sit in front of mindless tv, but I know that I need to blog about this day now while its still fresh.  It truly does go down as one of my favorite parenting memories to date.

Bree has wanted a Princess Tea Party since she wrapped up jumping at the bounce-houses last year for her 4th birthday.  Her obsession with princesses reached an all time high around Christmas.  Despite me throwing out lots of ideas for a 5th birthday party that all involved venues outside of my house, she went back time and time again to the idea of the tea party dressed as princesses.

I took my cue and went for it.

I planned this party off and on for a month.  I did little things for the last 4 weeks between crafting, ordering favors online, enlisting the help of my family/friends and planning the surprise of a lifetime for Briana.  The party really was very manageable due to my bit by bit planning.  I could not be happier with how it turned out.

The decorations were perfect…I transformed the playroom into the princess tea room.  The tea tables were just precious with little crown and flower centerpieces and place-mats I made really quick on the computer.  Sarah and I made poms (per Martha Stewart’s directions) to hang from the ceiling and I bought balloons off of Amazon and blew them up at work.  Doilies, little hearts spread out on the table and clearance plates and napkins from Target completed the look.

The party started with my nieces doing nails and makeup for the princesses as they arrived.  There was also a station to decorate wands with fun stickers.  Once everyone was done, there was some serious princess playtime outside in the backyard.

Then it was onto Princess bingo which was all Sean.  I found a downloadable file on Etsy, but instead he said he wanted to create it.  He created the cards and a program for the Ipad that let the kids randomly select the next Princess picture for BINGO.  The middle space was even called the “Bree” space and had a picture of Bree as Snow White.  PRECIOUS.  The kids loved being a part of calling out the next space for Bingo.  They were so focused and really got into trying to win.  My kid has a competitive streak something fierce and the bingo game could not be over until she won a prize…luckily she did right before time ran out.

Then the kids ran outside and each found a princess “ring” (a ring pop) that had a princess attached to it.  We all headed into the tea room and each girl found the matching princess on their seat.  Everyone sat down to tea party snacks…cookies, strawberries, goldfish, blueberries and of course “tea” (lemonade).

Just as everyone was sitting down, the last special guest arrived.  I hired a student of mine to play Snow White (Bree’s favorite princess).  She showed up and I called Bree out to see her final guest.  She was just shocked.  She asked me if that was the “real” Snow White.  I said “Of course she is”.  She was so shy to talk to her at first, but gave her a big hug.  The look on her face was just classic.

She took Snow White in the room and all the girls were just stunned.  Snow White had to work to get all the girls talking but once she did they all wanted to tell her all about their favorite princesses and ask her questions about her life.

Her story was perfect.  After she got engaged to Prince Charming, she started looking around for a college that had a Princess program because she needed to learn more about government and running a kingdom.   UT Dallas had a program and she met me when she joined a Princess sorority.  I loved that she talked about princesses going to college.  BRILLIANT.  She went on to describe her castle, her 14 horses and how she does drive a car sometimes.  She also told Bree that she was seeing how she liked having really long hair and that her favorite dwarf was “Dopey”.

After Snow White helped Bree blow out the candles on her cupcakes and all the food was devoured, Bree showed Snow White her room and her dogs and asked her to help with the pinata.

We took a fabulous group picture and also let Snow White see some of the presents Bree was so blessed to get.

All and all the party was just perfect.  Surprise after surprise just melted my heart.

We finished up with some goodie bags and a pinata that only took a couple hits to explode due to a early drop by one cute hubby. The weather was perfect and so was the company.

Watching Bree walk hand and hand with Snow White is a moment I will hold onto forever.  I’ll probably be picturing it as she walks across the stage at high school graduation.

How can she already be 5? It’s been an amazingly, unpredictable ride.  But I feel so fortunate to have a little girl to celebrate this milestone with.  You are so loved sweet girl.  It really does take a village and to my mom, dad, sister, nieces, best friends and all those who have supported Sean and I through these last 5 years, THANK YOU.

We finished off a great 5th birthday with a trip to her favorite Potbelly’s where we sang happy birthday one more time with a few candles (sans flame) in her pizza sub.

I couldn’t imagine a more appropriate end to such a stellar birthday.  Well, except that she asked on the ride home from Potbelly’s how many days until she turns SIX.  Out with the old, in with the new!  FIVE was so like 20 minutes ago!

PRINCESS PARTY PLANNING…check!  I’m going to take off a few months, but let me know if you need any princess party stuff…I’ll keep everything and share :)

Night!

About juco

The Murphy Clan is onto year 4 of this parenting adventure. We are happy to keep sharing some our proudest and silliest moments with all our family and friends. We hope you enjoy our new format!
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