caroline is 7: a pony painting party!

we celebrated our bright eyed birthday girl's 7th birthday by combining two of her favorite things: art and horses! caroline could. not. wait for her pony painting party!


our dining room was transformed into an art studio, where the party guests each had everything they needed to create a pony masterpiece! (including a pencil-drawn sketch for the girls to follow-- great idea from aunt kristie!)




a quick picture of caroline's friends and my friends! love these sweet ladies and their girls!


amazing aunt kristie was a ton of help with the art part, which i appreciated so much more when i started coming down with a cold the day before the party! not that i would have been giving anyone step-by-step tips to paint anything that looks remotely like a horse anyway…


the outline of the horse… lookin good so far!


amelia saw the polka-dots on aunt kristie's painting, and she had a plan.


after outlining their horses, the girls picked a background color and got to work filling in the canvas. love these smiles!




i tried to let my girls' work be their work as much as possible, but amelia's horse begged for some intervention at times. like it still wanted to be a horse and not a sea of purplish brownish redness blueness.


the birthday girl kept focused on her project!


the moms had fun giving the girls a hand…



while hallie was fully entertained on ms. heather's phone!


it was finally time to start painting the horse!



amelia wasted no time finishing her horse! i love the abstract touch. :)


these "sister cousins" just kill me. their paintings looked very very similar!



now we know why amelia was in such a hurry to finish painting! she had her eyes on some different paintbrushes. :)





painting the mane was a lot of fun for the girls!


i must admit i kind of held my breath while caroline painted the eye, but she did a great job!


everybody loves glitter and polka-dots!



the finished masterpieces!



the party guests all put their personal touch on a little "C" canvas for the birthday girl.


and then the starving artists were ready for CAKE!




caroline was thrilled when we found these tie-dyed plates!  perfect for this art party! and i think the paintbrushes were a hit! (as if Rice Krispie treats needed more sugar-ha!)


love this birthday girl!!


what a blessing for two of caroline's great-grandmothers to be able to celebrate with us! i enjoy watching them visit.



time for gifts! caroline received her very first barbie from karina-- an artist barbie, of course!


caroline's expressions crack me up!


she is a little excited about this wad of cash!!! everyone knew we had an upcoming trip to disney, and this girl loves to shop at disney!



this is my favorite picture of the party!! if you look closely, you can see caroline's siblings caught working together to steal her money! and she has not a clue!


nana took this horse-loving girl shopping earlier for her own pair of pink cowgirl boots, bling-bling belt, and hat. so nana topped off the get-up with this adorable cowgirl shirt!


more horse fun!! (and speaking of horses, can you see her hilarious shirt? i could not resist buying it for my girly horse girl. it's as if she designed that shirt herself.


caroline has caught the reading bug this year, which thrills this mama. gram gave her the box set of the american girl "caroline" books. she couldn't believe it!



we are so thankful for these sweet friends that came to help caroline celebrate her birthday! they all did a fantastic job on their paintings!!



so so thankful for aunt kristie's help! i seriously would have been a mess doing this without her!


and i forgot to get a picture of amelia and caroline together with their paintings. :( all the paintbrush icing went to my head!

we had such a wonderful time celebrating our glittery, passionate, idea-filled birthday girl! we are so thankful to God for her!!


fast forward two weeks and one disney trip later… and it was caroline's actual birthday! in keeping with tradition, we waited to give her our presents until november 14th, her birthday.


waking up to a birthday muffin with your family singing to you has got to be pretty exciting, right!? :)




i so enjoyed watching this girl open every single present with excitement and gratitude. :)







the two of us went shopping later, and she picked out her very own bible case!



her big birthday surprise was kind of a thorn in our flesh during our disney trip. caroline had been saving her $$ for the lego friends dolphin cruiser, and with her birthday $$, she was able to buy it when we went to disney. well… that was fantastic except for the fact that WE were giving her the dolphin cruiser--on her birthday AFTER our trip! i LOVE that she never once expressed any expectation that we would give her that for her birthday… but i also wish she hadn't been so set on buying it herself! as we approached the lego store at downtown disney, i was still wondering how we were going to convince her NOT to buy the oh-so-anticipated dolphin cruiser… but to our great relief, it was not in stock. so we just casually told caroline she could buy it when we got home. well, as she spent her money over the course of our days at disney, she started realizing that she would not have enough $$ for this boat, and she began stressing. we just wanted her to enjoy shopping at disney!!! brian almost told her she was getting it for her birthday, but we just kept reassuring her that she could save her $$ again and it would be ok. so imagine her surprise when she rips off the paper and finds the boat...




it is so much fun to surprise my children!!


so another birthday is in the books. we are truly blessed. i think 7 is gonna be a great year for our sweet caroline! happy birthday, baby girl.