Party Pics

We celebrated Carly's 4th birthday one day early with her friends. She had a blast with her Dora the Explorer party that we hosted at church building. Here's a quick recap of the night.

Carly cheating her way to a pin the bracelet on Dora victory.
(cheaterrrrr!)Isaac hanging out with Miss Karen. She's one of his Bible class teacher's and he's always content with her.

The party guests getting their beverages.

Beth setting out the chips for our fiesta!
I made moose steak fajitas, and they were pretty good if I do say so myself. Shawn and I were worried that the meat would be too tough, but after some advice from Beth and some googling, I think it all worked out well.

Starting our adventure. If you've never seen a Dora episode, you're missing out, and some of this may not make sense. But Dora usually goes on an adventure that has three stops. And she always has her trusty backpack. So I found a free pattern online, some clearance fabric at walmart and made little drawstring backpacks for them as their loot bags. The girls got purple ones like Dora and the boys got a blue camo print.

At the start of our adventure, Bubble Tunnel. Oh, yeah I forgot to mention that we were searching for the birthday cake because Swiper the Fox (Dora's arch nemesis) had swipped the cake while we were eating. So at Bubble Tunnel I had them check their backpacks for something that would help them get through the dark tunnel.

Flashlights, of course!

Catching stars along the path--another one of Dora's favorite pastimes.

Justus navigating his way across Crocodile Lake. We also saved the frogs in the lake. (They were little water squirters that they got to put in their backpacks.) Michael is more of a Cars fan than Dora apparently.

Luke dressed up as Swiper the Fox and just about scared the pants off the kids.

Carly and Morgan knew what to say and led the others, "Swiper, no swipping."

A very happy 4 year old.

The cake. I traced a picture onto wax paper, cut it up into pieces, traced it onto the cake and then filled in the outlines with colored frosting. Whew! I'm tired just telling you about it. But, I am proud to say that I freehanded the lettering.

Dora's head wound vs.

Isaac's head wound
a slip + a fall = a rug burn
and just in time for those easter pictures in the morning...boys.

Present Time.
This was the first thing Carly opened and she was genuinely delighted. It was a fishing lure from Uncle Lee. Then part two of the package was a life vest. She knew just what they were and explained them to her friends who had puzzled reactions about why she was so excited about a funny looking wire thingy in a plastic package.

Here's Carly's new dress from Justus. Lela told us that when she asked him what he wanted to get her, he anwered, "I think I want to get her a dress." And it had to be a blue one too. Should we be concerned that a young man in her life is already trying to dictate her wardrobe....hmmm. We'll let it slide this time, Justus. :)

Yeah, a new baby doll! Thank you, Miss Jeanie.

Dress up clothes from Janet and Kevin.

A princess ready for a day on the high seas.

Thanks to everyone who came and helped us throw the party. And thank you for all the gifts for Carly. They were all so thoughtful and just right for her. You all know her very well.