a success!

WOW!!!!

courtney's birthday party today was a FUN, FUN day!!

and man, was it a hot one too! too bad we had the pool down in exchange for the castle bouncer ( it's been getting pretty cool at night and the pool water was just not warming up enough during the day )...but i wouldn't have minded to just jump right in that cold water today...oh well! the kids loved the bouncer just the same!

how do you like our hand made/painted lollipop & balloon entrance??

...this was the main "CHOCOLATE FACTORY" where the kids came when they arrived...

they dipped their own plate of treats into the chocolate fountain! strawberries, bananas, pretzels, cookie sticks, honey cookie bears, and marshmallows!!!

they also got to pour their own chocolate into candy molds to take home ( or eat at the party! )

they also had their own PURPLE plates and cups with a KIDS ONLY grape fizzy punch!!!

...i had a ton of WONKA candy throughout the house to grab and nibble whenever they wanted...i have never seen so many GOBSTOPPERS, RUNTS, NERDS, BOTTLECAPS and other treats in one day as today in my own house...it's now 10:15pm and the house STILL smells like chocolate!!! )

...present time...
courtney received MANY awesome gifts today!!! new clothes, toys, books, and her very first TEEN MAGAZINE!!! ( thanks rachel! )


...the purple cake, topped with GOBSTOPPERS on the trim...
{GIGGLE}

we played a couple games today too including a sour gumball bubble-blowing contest, a 'fizzy lifting drink' burping contest ( can you imagine encouraging a bunch of kids to belch it out? ) and also a few surprise draw prizes and 'guess the gumball' jar...

what a FUN, FUN day for us all!

i hope everyone enjoyed themselves!!!

( and because i PROMISED and she didn't have one last year...i will still have to do a small party for courtney with her dance pals and a few school buddies too...it's just hard to invite everyone to her family party as most of the above mentioned kids are still away on summer holidays at this time, so it's hard to have a fun party with only a couple of her pals available...so, i suppose we'll be doing another little something for her in a couple weeks after school and dance start back up again.... )

WHEW!!!

:O)