Ariel + Barbie + Rudolf = Laney Young turns 4 (plus a bonus yummy recipe!)

We celebrated Laney Loo’s 4th birthday Friday night. Laney wanted an Ariel party so we planned to watch the movie and have a pj party. Four days before the party while picking up a cookie cake at the Publix bakery for her preschool party she spotted THE Barbie cake…you know the one;). She did not want to ax Ariel all together so we decided we’d have an Ariel/Barbie party. Later in the week Parker was begging to watch Rudolf, and then Laney asked to pretty please get to watch it at her party…SO our party then became Ariel/Barbie/Rudolf! Which was GREAT because it was exactly what my little indecisive princess (like her MOMMA!) wanted…and Christmas crafts and yummy treats are way easier to come up with over Ariel or Barbie. So, now my blog readers get the bonus of seeing a craft and yummy treat you can easily do at home too:)

A few fun pictures from LooBear’s big night from start to finish…
A guest appearance from Laney’s spiritual godmother Aunt Nisia…

Sorry Aunt Nisia…I know you don’t like the head wrap…but I keep talking about you and my readers need a face to identify with;) Isn’t Aunt Nisia gorgeous?!

Our banner welcomed our guests (can I just say I LOVE me some Hobby Lobby?!)

After all our guests arrived…it was time for the movie and POPCORN (thanks to Hobby Lobby once again for these cute popcorn containers…)

Then it was time for our RUDOLF part of our Party (please note–the only Ariel part became Laney’s pjs…thanks to Aunt Kelly for those!)

Aren’t they CUTE?!

Then it was time for THE cake…our BARBIE portion of the party…does anything look scarier than me in this picture???

I thought Barbie looked a little wacked with the candles coming out of her dress. Favorite quote of the night–Jack Denton, “Pwesh don’t baa-rn Ba-bie!” BUT..where else was I supposed to put the candles?!

Then it was present time! OK…so a lot of people no longer open gifts in front of the guests. Well, we think it’s really fun. And if your kid can’t handle it…your kid has problems. HA! Just kidding. OK, so maybe when they are younger they can’t handle it, but we think it’s really fun…so here’s Loo Bear opening her gifts…

Whoever gifted the stamps…my thank you card isn’t gonna be pretty;). Man, Laney LOVES stamps…her mom on the other hand…was this a mean trick?! Just kidding. Oh but Play Mobile! WE LOVE at the Young house!!!

Guess what Laney just opened here??…

My new addiction!!!! STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE! She is BACK! AND she smells the EXACT same as she did when I was a kid! I have walked around for the last 48 hours snorting her. Seriously, she is taking me back to my childhood. Richard has already said twice, “Would you stop smelling that doll.” Oh my gosh, that smell just took me back. Heaven. I loved my childhood:)

And somebody’s got happy feet cause they just got…

Mermaid rainboots! And what could be more grand than mermaid rainboots?! I want some:)

Next…it was CRAFT TIME! And we got to make ornaments since Loo had pulled Christmas into her party theme…CUTE, huh?!

sweet little handprints…

To make these you just need clear or frosty plain ornaments. (Got ours of course at Hobby Lobby:). You’ll also need a sponge paint brush, a black paint pen (for the name) and red enamel paint found at a craft store that says it’s for painting glass. After you paint their little hands though, have Huggies baby wipes on hand to quickly remove paint b/c enamel is hard to get off. Now don’t fret…you paint enamel on your little girl’s fingers and toes…you just have to be quick to get it off;). And as most of you know Huggies wipes will get off just about anything. They are my trick to most messes:)

THEN…last but not least–came our party treat. And since we had already gotten our hands sticky, I decided to keep things clean. We had made these before the party—Rice Krispy Holiday Pops!

Here’s the recipe:
4 tablespoons butter
1 package (10-ounce) regular marshmallows
7 cups Rice Krispies cereal
wooden popsicle sticks
miniture M&M’s (hard to find…but easy to find right NOW in the stocking stuffer section of Target:)

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cereal until it is well-coated.

Let the mixture cool until it is warm but comfortable to handle with the fingers. Lightly butter your hands, then shape the treats into 12 balls. (You’ll have to re-butter your hands in between each treat or else things get really sticky!) Push a popsicle stick into each one. Set aside to cool.

Gently push M&Ms in each treat. Cool. Then wrap the treats in plastic wrap and tie with ribbon. So easy…and your little people can even help!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS! I am having SOOO much fun getting cards in the mail! You have to mail me one if I wasn’t cool enough to make your list. BECAUSE guess how we are displaying our cards?! You’ll have to come back in a few days to see! After the paint drys:). And they’ll be staying up all year so we can pray for our friends that came our way via our mailbox this holiday. That fun project and a few more to follow this week:). MAN…I’m loving the holidays–it sets me in FULL project mode. And what a great way to keep my brain off the adoption WAIT and to just HAVE FUN with my sweet family!!! XOXOXO!!!

Andrea

P.S. If you have NEVER had M&Ms and Rice Krispy Treats together—you HAVE to try this. It is absolutely sinfully delish! Off to eat one RIGHT now. I lost a few pounds during my paper chase…so I’m counting this off as a way to save money…we wouldn’t want to have to buy new jeans now would we. A few more Rice Krispy Treats and we should be good to go;).