August 15 - More Surprises.

After the pony surprise at camp, we headed home to consolidate into 1 car.  When Munch sat down, there was an American Girl magazine in her chair and she was so excited to pick it up and talk about all she wanted for her dolls.  Almost on queue, Pop-Pop passed Hubbs a big red box with a pretty white ribbon for Munch.

"Happy Birthday, baby." ~ Pop-Pop 

Surprise!  Pop-Pop and Grandma Lisa bought her an American Girl! While Hubbs drove us to lunch, Munch shopped the catalog with her new doll.

We said we were going to lunch but no one said where.  Surprise! We were going to lunch at the new American Girl flagship store in Tyson's Corner!  She practically hung up with Grandma Lisa when she saw the store.  It was adorable to watch her skip to the store; she was so excited!

Pop-Pop and Grandma also gave her a "credit card" for a mini shopping spree.

We had a blast picking out outfits, shoes, accessories and more but the best part for Munch was using her card to pay (Hubbs picked up the difference, lol).

Of course, we had to get the full experience so dolly got her ears pierced and her hair done:

Finally, with more than an hour of shopping under our belts, we were ready to eat.  Munch and I were seated and the waitress mentioned the birthday package - for $30 the birthday girl got her appetizer, meal, drink, matching party hats, a goodie bag AND a cake.  We HAD to have the package and it was totally worth it!

My view

The Hats!

Pop-Pop documenting the cuteness:

They even loaned Hubbs and Pop-Pop dolls to keep Munch's new doll company at lunch, lol:

Reviewing her purchases with dolly

Every table had a conversation game where you ask each other questions.  Pop-Pop got into it, lol.

The food was amazing, the experience was even better and the cake?  FABULOUS!

What a perfect way to end an awesome birthdate celebration.   If it wasn't a surprise and we hadn't started planning the birthday party, this was more than enough for our little sweetheart. 

BUT...

If you know her.  And you know me.  And you can imagine the excited family members... You know we had a fabulous little party a few days later... I can't wait to share the deets!  Here's a sneak peek of the dessert display!

Do you see that cake? Those mini cupcakes? The easy pennant banner? All that and then some coming soon!  

Have a sweet weekend, islanders!

Spreading the Bloglovin'

Who's feeling fancy?  This girl.

I am just SO excited to co-host a Bloglovin' Blog Hop with Barb from Second Chance to Dream, Jacqueline from The Detox Diva, Jenny from The NY Melrose Family, Kimberly from Here's What I Think About That, Jennifer and Nicki from Practically Perfect Princess, Stephanie from The Slogans, Ang from Juggling Act Mama, Niki from Glossy Blonde and Jaime from Mom's Test Kitchen for the month of August. 

What's Bloglovin' you ask? Well, only the greatest way to keep track of the blogs that you love. With the discontinuation of Google Friends Connect (GFC) for non-blogger blogs like myself, I decided that I needed to find another way to keep up with all of my favorite blogs that are not hosted by blogger. I stumbled upon Bloglovin' and I am in love! It is very similar to Google Reader, in that you can see the beginning of the post and the first picture attached to the post. Plus, Bloglovin' automatically updates your posts. Another added bonus is there is a Bloglovin' application for IPhone and Android devices. Woohoo! Like I don't spend enough time reading blogs. Now it's a simple touch. Love it! In order to participate in this hop, you need to have Bloglovin set up for your blog. You can find a super easy tutorial here. I promise it'll take you less than 10 minutes and you'll thank me down the road.

There’s only a couple of rules:

1. Please follow your host – The NY Melrose Family and your co-hosts Second Chance to Dream, The Detox Diva, Shipwrecked on Fabulous Island, Here's What I Think About That, Practically Perfect Princess, The Slogans, Juggling Act Mama, Glossy Blonde and Mom's Test Kitchen (they are the 1st ten blogs linked)

2. You MUST link up your Bloglovin' url to participate 

3. Post our button for the blog hop on your page to promote the fun. You can grab the button from my sidebar. The more the merrier so shout outs about the party on Twitter or Facebook would be greatly appreciated.

If you're interested in co-hosting next month shoot Jenny an email at russej10{at}gmail{dot}com. She also has some sponsor spots still available for September, which you can find here. 

Alright, so let's have some fun and mingle! Please remember to ONLY link up your Bloglovin URL.

Cheers to making new friends!

August 15 - Surprise #1

I finally got around to posting about what's been going on and I'm going to use the island's upcoming posts to try and get back in the swing of things.  I do, however, admit that I don't feel bad for my absence; it was important to me that I was there for my friends during this difficult time.  That said, I did miss you guys and I've got a lot of updates!

In case you missed this week's Wordless Wednesday teaser, it was all about Munchface's birthday surprise #1.  Check it out:

Here's how the official birthday celebration began.

THAT was my view at 12:01 a.m. on August 15th, the official start to Munch's 6th birthday.  We had a special pre-birthday celebration in a fancy hotel where we spent the night painting pink crackle nails.

Shoe box lids make GREAT nail dryers

We watched big girl Disney shows until she passed out (around 9:30).  I blew up balloons into the night and woke up a few minutes early to cover the bed:

She woke to, what she called, "a kajillion balloons from the birthday fairy," and it was like an INSTANT party!

Best birthday $1 ever spent :)

We got ready for pool day at camp and added our extra special birthday tutu to our bathing suit and buns:

While Munch enjoyed her pool time, surprise #1 arrived:

Yes, my 2 leading men (daddy and Hubbs) were kinda excited... to see Munch's face, of course!

Ms. Buttercup was so pretty.

Hubbs made friends with Ms. Buttercup first:

Once everything was set-up, it was time to reveal the surprise!  

Uncle Mike (left) and Pop-Pop (right) ready for the reveal.

Hubbs covered Munch's eyes but the other children came running and squealing and screaming and - well, you get the point:

On the count of 3 everyone yell, "SURPRISE!"

1 - 2 - 3

SURPRISE!

Munch looked around at the family who came out, announced everyone (Pop-Pop! Uncle Michael!  Mommy!) and, when her eyes met Ms. Buttercup's, she grinned from ear to ear.  I don't know what it is about 'Little Miss Ain't Shy' BUT when it's time for a surprise reaction (ya know, when I'm expecting she'll yell to the top of her lungs or pass out or SOMETHING), she becomes really shy.  ::shrugs::

I took a quick group shot with everyone yelling, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and we were ready to get started.

With her birthday girl hat and a smile, we started the rides!

The other children were very well-behaved and sat patiently until it was their turn:

Each camper rode the pony twice but the REAL fun began when Hubbs demonstrated how to give Ms. Buttercup a treat.  

Hand flat with a treat in the center:

The birthday girl was next:

Chicken Little here got scared and dropped the treat so Hubbs helped her:

Apparently, my kid was the only one afraid.  Well, kinda.  I "helped" another camper with feeding because I was too afraid to do it myself.  WHAT?! She had chin whiskers like me(O don't act like you don't.  Wait, you don't?  Well, don't judge)!

 

I loved her outfit!!  The tights, tutu skirt and shirt are from Kmart and the Converse sneakers are a school shoe purchase Hubbs found at DTLR.

Swing.  Sneakers. Swag!

I'm 6!

I thought the pony was the highlight but while the other campers waited their turn, they all started asking if there were cupcakes.  Luckily, there were because the cheers for the cupcakes were MUCH louder than those for the pony, lol. 

Everyone returned to the classroom, washed their hands and I learned the birthday camper gets to pass out cupcakes to the rest of the class (an honor Munch has been SO excited for).  They have a special camp birthday song and I could describe it but I think the smile on her face says it all:

The cupcake was the icing on a perfect birthday celebration!  

As we left her classroom for the rest of her surprises, we noticed her balloon blowing away... Yes, I wanted to cry a little seeing it float away BUT it was a nice cell phone photo:

We loaded up the car and SOMEONE fell asleep soon thereafter:

I guess that's enough pictures for today...

I know many of you were wondering how I'd incorporate a random Groupon pony into our doll bakery theme and to you I say,

I DIDN'T!

Shooooot, all good event planners know when too much is, well, too MUCH!  I don't need to cram everything into one little event and, because her party was on a different day, the pony at camp on her birthdate was perfect!

Hubbs was included.  Munch was surprised. No pony poo was on my tiny townhouse's front yard.  O and there were cupcakes.

Mission Accomplished!

Tune in tomorrow to see the rest of Munch's birthday surprises.

Wordless Wednesdays: Birthday Surprise #1

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