Welcome to Oz!

As soon as Hunter's birthday was over, I chose The Wizard of Oz as the theme for Charlotte's party.  I bought the movie for inspiration, and Hunter quickly became addicted.  He loves singing all of the songs...but watch out, because if he catches you singing them, he'll demand that you stop.  I used to think my voice was decent, but my son is starting to make me second guess that thought:)

I was so excited about our yellow brick road and the balloon rainbow, but both ended up causing us a little pre-party stress.  I ran out of sidewalk paint last night, so by the time I got back from Target with more, it was dark out.  I attempted to keep painting in the dark, but couldn't see ANYTHING, so James eventually brought a lamp and extension cord out.  Oh, and most importantly himself.  He immediately started helping me paint while I'm sure in his head he was cursing me for my party planning shenanigans...although, you'd never know it.  Husband of the Year, y'all.  Husband. of. the. year.

I picked up the balloons this morning, and they started popping about 5 minutes after James and I began to tie them down.  By the time we were finished putting up all 24 balloons, 6 had popped.  And by the end of the party, we had 4 left.  The wind was a little crazy today!  Which was a great blessing with the relief it gave from the heat.  Or maybe it was the wind-heat combo that caused all that popping?

I decided to do snow cones so that people could cool off while they waited for their pony ride...

Hunter loved his snow cone(s).  Aren't you loving his red-stained face?...

Char loved hers too!...

It took a little coaxing, but she was willing to give it up to hold hands with her BFF, Evelyn...

For a few seconds at least:)

She also took a second to snuggle with Grandee while enjoying her cherry ice...

We had the same company that did Hunter's cowboy party, bring a pony for rides on a "horse of a different color"...

Charlotte (and Hunter) were so excited when they first saw the pony, but whenever I'd walk close to it, she'd grip onto me so tightly...

After petting it several times, I decided to gently sit force her on it...

And she loved it!  She rode 3 more times after that! 

Hunter had no interest in even petting the pony, but no one's really surprised by that, right?:)

The only other kid I got a picture of on the pony was our neighbor, Brayden...

 So sweet!  (I really missed my sister, Courtney's picture taking at this party!  She's always so good at getting pictures of a lot of the kids...as opposed to me who evidently only cares about getting pictures of my own kids.  Yikes.)

This was probably my favorite detail...

More decor...

 That one says, "Grab a lollipop before you leave Oz! - The Lollipop Guild"

Melted Witch Punch...

Food table...

Charlotte wanted a ding dong and ate it first thing.  We figured it was her party, so we would let her, but someone was able to coax her into eventually taking an apple. As you can see, she preferred the ding dong...

Finally it was time to have cake, and sweet Charlotte was pretty shy with everyone singing to her.  You'd never have known she'd been talking about her cake for the entire week...

I found directions for a rainbow cake on a party blog, and loved the idea...

Charlotte took one bite of her cake and was ready for presents...not really suprising since she'd already had a snow cone and a ding dong! 

After everyone left, she grabbed a sucker, asked to play with her new baby gear, wear the cape from Carrie and the princess jewelry set from Trish...

Charlotte loved all of her presents and had so much fun with her friends and family!

Thanks to everyone who helped make her day so special!