Bailey's Pool Party

Yesterday was Bailey's 5th birthday and we celebrated at Nana's pool with all her classmates. The kids had the day off of school (teacher workday) so it was a great day for a party!! Perfect weather, nice warm pool (thanks to mom's pool heater) and lots of fun in the sun!!! :)

I have to give a BIG THANK YOU to Mike Diaz (Cristian's dad) of TURN 2 PHOTOGRAPHY for taking these amazingly beautiful pictures! He has been studying photography and clearly has a natural talent for it. I was completely suprised this morning when I ran into him at school and he handed me a CD full of gorgeous pictures!!! I cannot thank him enough for such a wonderful gift. Now, I want a professional photographer at all my parties and I know who I'll be calling!!! His contact info can be found at the end of this post. :)

This is going to sound ridiculous but this is the first of Bailey's two parties. lol I have another party planned for this weekend with all her neighborhood girlfriends. Its going to be very girly, very pink and very fancy! ;) I chose to do two parties b/c I can't handle more than 12 children at one time (AND I'm not sure the boys would appreciate her pink frilly main party). lol

So here it is...Bailey's Pool Party!!!!

As a party favor each guest was sent home with a monogrammed towel.

We were well equiped with floats for all the kiddos! :) My Little Livie had a BLAST! She loved watching all the "Kaleys" swim and screech. "Kaley" is what she calls any child that is Bailey's size. Our neighbor's little girl is named Kaley so in Olivia's little mind there are two types of kids...there's Bailey and everyone else is Kaley. lol

I had a fishing game set up for the kids. Each fish had a number on the back (numbered 1-3) and whatever number they "caught" they picked a prize from the corresponding treasure box. Really fun game and was well recieved by the kids! :)

LUNCHTIME!!! We served octopus hotdogs, grapes, mac n cheese and chips. I was nervous the kids were going to be turned off by hotdogs that looked like octopus, but they LOVED it!




Another big hit was the "make your own sudae". Most kids chose all the toppings and their ice cream looked alittle something like this... lol

It was a really fun party for my little Bailey girl. Even though I was a little overwhelmed with the last minute planning I'm so happy we threw a celebration on her actual birthday. Lots and lots of fun!!!!

Photographer: Mike Diaz

turn2photography@yahoo.com

Zebra/Damask, Pink and White! All things girly!!!

Just got some new cake decorating toys including this awesome damask stencil. I decided to test out my stencil abilities on this mini three tier birthday cake for Bailey's teacher. I need more practice with it, but I'm sure Ms Tiffany won't mind a few imperfections! :)

Can't stay and chat...going to deliver it to school now!!!

Happy Birthday Ms Tiffany!!!

Lily's Black/White Red Carpet Bash!!!

I'm so excited to share this dessert table!! It was created for Lily Anderson who is turning 10 in May. Lily is a very special girl with a very special story!! (she is basically a celebrity around here!) ;)

In 2009 she was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma Cancer (Stage 4) in the form of a large tumor in her abdomen. Further testing revealed that the cancer had spread to other parts of her body as well. This brave little girl has undergone surgery, radiation and chemotherapy to battle this mean disease. Its been a long fight for her and the war is not entirely over. After a while in remission the doctors recently found a little spot on her and have resumed chemotherapy to fight this monster and win the battle. More on her story can be found here.

Lily originally planned her party for May, but with such a busy schedule coming up, she and her mother decided to move the party to this weekend! I got a phone call on Monday from her mother. Lily was at the hospital recieving a treatment of chemotherapy. Her friend Kylie was with her to keep her company and while they were sitting there doing some major party planning Kylie said "We need to call Ms Kate! She'll get a cake for you by this weekend!" So Kylie pulled up my website they began looking at cakes to pass the time. She came across one of my zebra cakes and fell in love. Her mom made the call to me and I dropped everything to get this cake done. But such a special girl deserves more than just a cake. My goal was to knock Lily's socks off!!!

The theme of this party is Red Carpet/Black and White so the table is mostly black and white with accents in red. Can I please just take the time to give a HUGE shout out to Amanda Parker of Shindig Parties To Go!!! What a wonderful friend I have found in her! She created (and so graciously donated) the printables for this table and OMG they are so gorgeous!!! Planning this table was a bit of a challenge as I was on a very limited timetable, but girlfriend whipped this gorgeous design up in one night! I am forever grateful to her for helping me with this project! She is amazing and her party designs are fantastic. You MUST check her out!

So here it is...Lily Anderson's Sweet 10th birthday!!!
















































Lily with her cake. :)
I am hoping for more pictures of the party to come. While I was setting up the table I saw lots of fun stuff going up around me including a red carpet, photo booth, makeup artist, stereo systems and an awesome black and white balloon arch! It was one fabulous party and I can't wait to see (and hopefully share) more!!

This was such a rewarding project for me! Not only was it SO FUN to create, but sweet Lily is the BEST kid in the world! She thanked me over and over and over while I was setting it up. She was so excited about her party and I feel so lucky to be a part of her special day!

TEN YEARS OLD!!

Double digits! Thats huge!!!! :)

Happy Early Birthday Lily!!!!