Emma's 6th Birthday Bash

For Emma's 6th birthday, I knew I wanted to do a friend party, but I was at a loss of what kind of party to do.  Emma loves birds of all kinds, but especially parrots.  I don't know why, but she really does love them.  I decided to copy a friends idea and host the party at an awesome splash pad park in Loveland.  Since Emma's birthday was on a Saturday, we decided to invite Emma's friends and their whole families as well.  The day was beautiful...perfect for a water party.  Dave and the kids spent the morning at soccer clinic while I prepared the food for the party.  Emma received a fun package from Henry and the Whetstones...it was the perfect gift!  A parrot!

Perry the Parrot

Parrot shirt, parrot stuffed animal, and a parrot cake...we are ready for a parrot party!

Emma and Macy

Emma and Haylee

All the adults gathered around the food tables and visited and ate while the kids ran around the splash pad and park areas.

Grandpa and Grandma made it!

Emma loves rainbows and the bright colors went well with the parrot/tropical theme.  So we had rainbow fruit kabobs, jello jigglers, pink lemonade cookies, orange creamsicle cookies, veggie trays with spinach dip, cake and pink lemonade cupcakes.

 After we'd been at the park for almost an hour, a dark, menacing cloud started working its way towards us.  I was afraid it would put a quick end to the party, so we rushed to get candles lit and have everyone sing to Emma.  The wind was picking up and made it difficult to light the candles, but eventually Dave was able to make it work.  We sang quickly and then handed out cake as the wind got terribly strong and rain started pouring down.  Our beautiful day turned into a crazy, scary storm.  Carson and several other kids started crying because they were so frightened by the rain, wind, thunder, and lightning.  Dave and Tiffany ran all the gifts to the van while we huddled under the pavilion.  I was ready to send everyone home, but then we realized that the storm was blowing through and there were clear skies by the mountains.  Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, the storm was gone and we were back to a fairly nice day!

Getting ready to light the candles.

Atti and Elli had a good time!

Here comes the wind!

Riley and Tara both made it, even though it was Tara's last weekend before going to BYU.  We're so glad they both came!

We brought all the gifts back out from the van and Emma had a blast opening them.  Sofia the First from Jayden.

Monopoly Junior from Macy.

I love this picture of Emma!  Her birthday crown from Uncle Riley and Tara.

A cute puppy dog from the Rocknaks. 

Happy kiddos!

 We played a couple of games that I'd prepared, like Pin the Tail on the Parrot and Limbo, visited awhile longer, and then decided to pack it up.  The Childs and the Johnsons stayed after the party with us and we watched the end of a duck race happening in the river right by the park.  The kids thought it was awesome to help collect the ducks as they hit the finish line.  I've never seen so many rubber ducks all together in my life!

Catching the escaping duckies.

Can you see the hundreds more on their way down the river?

Joely with a wagon full of silly rubber ducks.

We picked up some Papa Murphy's for dinner and then came home and got ready for bed.  We were worn out!  We got the kids all showered up, had our pizza dinner, and then celebrated Emma's birthday as a family.  Emma received lots of American Girl doll stuff...an outfit for Sage, Honey the dog, the McKenna movie, a Lego Friends set, etc.

SIX!!!

What a great birthday for a great girl!