Clarita's Polka Dot Party

This year Clarita had some very strong opinions on her birthday party so I decided to let her plan it. She said that she wanted polka dots and balloons (all the colors) as the decorations, a bounce house, and hot dogs, cake, ice cream, and blueberry pie for the food. I got her to let me have salad for the adults and she agreed on chips for appetizers. We chose Spanish books for the favors which we tied with ribbon and a balloon so they also served as decorations! Luckily Tia is very crafty and made a million polka dots which she sewed together to make decorations! Tio helped fill balloons with helium and Tia Erika got Clara a blueberry pie (Clara has now declared that Tio Robert and Tia Erika are her favorite tios because they got her a blueberry pie) and took all the pictures. Abuela Sheri made a fruit salad, Aba brought ice cream (which we forgot to serve), and Clarita helped Dada mix up the cupcake batter! All the kids helped me by taking long naps Friday so I could make the salad and get everything ready! And Drew and Chelsea just happen to have a million tables and chairs that we borrowed. It was seriously the easiest/least stressful party that I have ever thrown. We even went to dinner with los Tios Friday night instead of me running around crazy!

Decorating her cupcakes

Bailey helping us get ready

Tia is the chalkboard queen!

The favors

The party was a hit with Clarita and she asked me all morning long when her friends were coming. Every time she heard a noise she said, "I tink that's one of my friends!" The bounce house is great entertainment and all of the kids had fun bouncing. Clara had a fit when Tia told her that she couldn't take her yogurt into the bounce house and I had to pull her out and take it from her while she screamed. Clara didn't sleep well the night before which is rare for her. She woke up screaming and would not go back to sleep without Dada. I honestly don't know how much she actually slept, and halfway through her party you could tell she was tired. After requesting that I carry her for a while she ate and got her second wind. Clara chose the tiniest cupcake to put her candle on (the big ones were for the adults she said) and did a great job blowing it out. She ate her hot dog, chocolate and regular milk (she said she liked the vanilla aka regular milk better), and two cupcakes. She bounced away in the bounce house, played with the other kids, and had a great time!

Bouncing with Connor

Abuela Sheri and Dada

Charlyse and Ryland

Emmett and Kate

Emmett and Aba

Kierito

Ashley and Eli

Trying to light the candle

I had to feed her the tiny cupcake

Cooper and Lyla

Reedcito and Teegee

Bayleaf loved the bounce house

Alli and a hidden Baby Maisie

Baby AJ

El Jefe and Mikael

He loves to grab hair!

Grauntie Traci and Holly

Tia Erika and Tio Robert

After she ate, Clarita kept asking me when she could open her presents. I did not want to deal with it when everyone was there so we waited until most people had left and Emmett had gone down for a nap before letting her dig in. Teegee and a few of the other kids helped Clara by throwing the trash away. Clara would not let them help her open the actual presents, but did a great job doing it on her own. Everyone was so sweet and Clarita received so many great presents. She is really into games right now and got a ton of those so we will have a lot of fun in the months to come! The party was a success and Clara is so lucky to have so many awesome people in her life!

"I want to open presents"

She may be the only small child excited to receive clothes...