A Little Mermaid Party fit for a Princess (major pic overload!)

Since Jadyn's birthday fell on a weekend we were able to plan to have her party on her actual birthday, which is always nice. Even though she is very into puppies and kitties right now, she was very adamant that she have one of the Disney princesses as her birthday theme. When she finally decided upon the Little Mermaid, it seemed a natural choice to have her party at the water park again, since it is always pretty hot by the end of May and because, well Ariel, Flounder and Sebastien all come from under the sea. So here are the invitations, which I made this year:

And here are the favor bags - a very cute Little Mermaid purse, which I filled with a jump rope, sand mold, candy necklace, Ariel fruit snacks and princess ring stamp. Each guest also received a water blaster as well.

Upon waking the morning of her birthday, Jadyn immediately started chattering about her birthday. Here she was talking about her all the candy in her Little Mermaid pinata:

After packing up the car, I had a quick photo session with Jadyn in her outfit anointing her the birthday girl:

Unfortunately, Jadyn is still quite uncooperative with picture taking so I really concentrated on getting some good shots of her through all stages of the party. The problem is that between hosting and running the party and taking pictures of Jadyn, I didn't have a lot of time to take pictures of everyone else so this is what I have to share. The party went really well. Between the concrete splashground, skateboard park and two playgrounds, entertaining the kids is fairly easy. We had sandwiches, pizza, pasta salad, chips and refreshments out for everyone to eat while we let the kids play and then moved quickly through the pinata, cake and gifts. It well by really quick and before I knew it, I was passing out favor bags and thanking everyone for coming.

Jadyn and her cousin Madison in their matching swimsuits:

Jake and Kalista hamming up on top of a sprinkler head:

Okay, sorry I did actually get A LOT of good pictures of Jadyn. But then I couldn't decide which to share so here are all the ones I liked:

Jake and Jadyn getting wet:

Pinata time! There was so much candy in there that each child's goody bag was full and they actually walked away with candy still on the ground because they got bored of picking it up. Oops!

The cake:
While singing happy birthday:

Yes I know, several of the boys (Jake included) kept their tiaras on for quite some time while most of the girls refused to wear them. Go figure!

She had lots of help opening her gifts:

A barbie jeep with real working stereo. Now she can ride in style with her brother:

Mommy with the birthday girl:

Family photo op:


Jadyn had a really good time and really seemed to get that all the fuss and attention was for her birthday. Once at home, we let her blow a candle off an ice cream cup since the wind at the park prevented her from doing so at her actual party. She also had a great time playing with Jake and her cousins Madison and Ethan who were all racing Jake's Tony Stewart car against Jadyn's new jeep. I think once Jadyn gets the steering down better, they are going to have a great time together riding around in their vehicles.

Jake and Madison getting ready to race:

I would really like to know what made Jadyn strike this pose:

Blowing out her candles back at home:


Jadyn loved all her gifts, each time she played with one of her new puppies, kitties or Ariel themed toys she exclaimed that it was the only thing she wanted for her birthday. It was really cute. If I had to guess though, I would say the mommy and meowing baby kitty from Great-Grandma Kat was her favorite. At least, that is what she took to bed with her that night when we all quickly fell asleep after a very exhausting but fun party day.

The next morning Jadyn asked if she was still 3 and we tried to explain to her that this was in fact her new age and she would never be 2 again. But I really can't blame her for not understanding. Everything has happened so quickly, it almost feels like a dream and honestly, I have not yet fully come to grips with the fact that my baby girl is 3 yet either.