This past Saturday was the culmination of a week long (in her mind at least) celebration of H’s 4th birthday.  It started on her actual birthday with

Saturday, we had her “official” Princess Sparkle Pool Party (her idea…no joke!) at our community pool.  This was the first year that her party wasn’t held at home and it was a combination of a blessing and a curse.  I didn’t have to make sure my house was uber clean but I did have to haul all of the decorations, food, favors and other items to a different location.

To add to my already heightened stress level, we were only allowed into the party room for set-up an hour in advance.  Yikes!  I tend to work well under pressure but that doesn’t mean I particularly like to be under pressure.  At 4pm, I dispatched my dad to the pizza place and Mathlete to run errands in the neighborhood for ice and get other items I forgot at the house.  Everything worked out pretty well and we finished setting up just in time for the party to begin.

5:00pm rolled around and the only thing missing was the birthday girl.  She was still napping!  Everyone hopped in the pool and she arrived very soon after (with a splash of course).

Even Baby E join in on the pool fun.

Once the lifeguards called the break, everyone got out and it was time for food.

Once the kids were all done with their dinner, it was time to finish up the party with lots of sugar cupcakes and other goodies.  Mathlete said that the parents would probably never let their kids attend another one of H’s birthday parties because we loaded their kids up with sugar just before bedtime.  Sorry parents!

The princess is all ready for her cupcake now.

After dessert, it was non-sugar goodie time.

We gave all the kids little sunglasses, rings and princess wands.

The other favor for the kids was hooded towels (princess for girls and pirates for boys) made by my fantastically talented mother in law.

Next up…more swimming and water play (at least until the pool closed).

During the break, Baby E gets to stay in the water because he can’t really splash (or swim) and bother the adults.  Mathlete would swim across the pool with Baby E in the floatie and the girls would walk from one side to the other waiting for him.  He is only 1 but is already a hit with the (older) laides…that’s my boy!

It took a rescue from Gramps to keep them away.

After the party concluded (a.k.a the pool closed), we let H’s “boyfriend” take her for a spin in the convertible (kidding!)

The night ended with sparklers at a neighbor’s house…perfect for our Princess Sparkle theme.

So, that is the final birthday party of the year (sorry Mathlete…I’ll take you out to dinner!).  I’m exhausted!  I can’t imagine what I am going to do next year when I have requests to do both parties in a single weekend to limit the travel necessary to attend!

Psst…a few of the attendees asked for the recipe I used to make the shredded pork.  In case you’re one of those folks (or not but still want it), the recipe can be found here.  I made the following (minor) changes:
1) I poured the entire thing of sauce into the crock pot along with the amount of ginger and garlic called for in the recipe.
2) I turned my pork loins over about mid-way through even though it probably wasn’t necessary.
3) For the final step, I browned 1/2 tsp ginger and 2 tsp garlic in the pan (so keep in mind you would need a total of 1 tsp ginger and 4 tsp garlic if you go this route) and then made an additional 1/2 portion of the sauce and reduced it.  Then, I poured it over the shredded pork as directed in the recipe.