Chrysa's Birthday Spa

I can't believe our little girl has been 3 years old for a while now.  This next Feb. she will turn 4.  Crazy.  She's my only girl and she's growing up too fast.  Once again, I'm doing a blog post catch-up because I wanted to capture our Sweetie's third birthday.

 

Here are the banners I probably spent three hours putting together.  I know that my silly decorations probably take too much time.  But it's paper and stickers.  Inexpensive little things I know my little girl will look back on and cherish because she will realize all the time her Mommy put into making her birthday look and feel special.  Right?  A mother can only hope.  

When I was strolling through Party City to figure out what to do for Chrysa's party, I asked her, "What kind of party do you want?"  She said she wanted "A Mermaid Party."  I'm not much for the typical Dora or Princess party even though she is a princess.  And since I wasn't sure I knew how to do a mermaid party, I allowed it to be my guide for a color theme.  So I picked a few colors that looked mermaidish to me.  And yes, that's a word now.  And I stole the idea of a spa from a friend which I thought was clever and figured I could do that and make it easy.  I already had many of the things to do it with.  A foot spa.   Lotion.  Oils.  Cucumbers.  What mermaid doesn't want to be pampered right?

Here's her spread and yummy cake.  Apples to munch on with OnGuard essential oils and the little plate in the lower left corner had the sliced cucumbers, either for eating or placing on your eyes.

I really thought I was being creative here by using these little stones that I use for Christmas decorating. A few branches from the trees outside.  And some cheap tissue paper made into poms for a rough coral and under-the-sea type feel.

 Here's Daddy being himself.

Sadly, no one showed up for a good half hour and we thought the party was going to be just our family.  Boo!  I was probably more sad than my daughter.  She was so excited for everything, she could care less if no one came.  She knew this was all for her.

So we made the most of it and had my sister snap some candid shots of us at the Day Spa.

I prayed that this little darling would have some friends to play with that day.  We'd even made homemade handscrubs to play and get all mucky with.  What kid wouldn't love to come to a kid's spa?  Seriously, those who didn't show up missed out.

We had foot spas going. . .

. . . And nail polish and lotions scented with your choice of essential oils to take home as party favors.  Any girls that came were to mix their lotions and then I would throw some cookies in the bag and tie them up for them to take home.  

Eventually, her little cousins showed up.  And some neighbor friends.  Even though most of them were boys, they had fun getting wet and messy.  Isn't that what you're supposed to let kids do on their birthdays? And at birthday parties?  Little Lilly sure seemed fascinated by the foot spa.

Probably her first pedicure.  Nothing like a grown manly-man like Uncle Elliot to show his daughter how it's done.

I love that face.

I think Aunt Tiffy is contemplating getting her feet in the foot spa.    

Big brother Tate wanted in on the foot spa action too.  In fact, I think the boys enjoyed the foot spa more than the girls did.  

And I love how he joined in on the cucumber eye game as well.  

This little guy didn't know what to make of anything at first.

Until Daddy started giving him the tickles.

Our good neighbor Ernestina came by with her baby girl Emma and painted her toes for the first time too.  She even coordinated their clothes to match our party theme colors.  Just kidding.  Not really. But I guess it was meant to be.

Isn't that the sweetest little pedi?

And here's our sweet friend Sandy with her youngest boy Roman.

Gabey, her oldest, brings Chrysa a gift.  I think this photo is rather funny.  Girl gets a present from an older boy and for whatever reason, Cousin Tate doesn't look to happy about this.

I was soon to be surrounded by babies.  Really sweet ones.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sneaky Pants II is taking advantage of the fact that Mommy isn't paying much attention to what he's doing.  At least Uncle Elliot caught him on camera as he snuck away as many cookies as possible.

And here of course if Mr. Sneaky Pants I.  Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Pretty soon, Mr. Gabey had joined in on the stealing of cookies.  I only say that because these were the whole wheat vegan cookies I had prepared to go into the goodie bag party favors that they were all getting into, you see.  So the favors just didn't get as many take home cookies.  I guess not everything will go as originally planned.  At least they were thoroughly enjoyed.  

And where was Mr. Hinckley while this scandal took place?  Serving a time-out for pushing other kids.

And then it was singing/cake time.  

I think this year, she finally blew out her own candle and made a wish.  No big-brother help needed this time.

Roman enjoying some cake it seems.

And yes, the mermaid princess did get spoiled with presents from Aunt April (home-made pizza) and Aunt Tiffany (clothes and a doll), our neighbors and friends, and Mom & Dad, and Grandma, who couldn't make it, but sent her gift with Tiff (another lovely church dress).

 The "Tangled" doll was probably her favorite thing ever.

But she also loves this crown now and insists on wearing it wherever she goes.

We sure love our little Chrysalis Rae.  She is a ray of sunshine wherever she goes and we can't imagine our lives without her.  Happy 3rd Birthday Sweetie!  Hope you enjoyed your Mermaid/Spa Party.  Love, Mom and Dad.