Bella’s 4th Birthday Party: Under the Sea

This girl has brought so much light to my world over the past four years.  Bella is four.  I can’t believe I’m saying it.  In my heart, she’ll always be just turning two.  A wee little girl with blonde messy hair, a chubby tummy, and a stolen-lip gloss-smeared mouth, chattering on in complete sentences, while running around the house confidently with little to nothing on, until of course, she finds that misplaced Cinderella dress, the one with all the lip gloss and candy stains on the left side of the bodice from being held in the crook of her little arm while she plays.  To me, she’ll always be that girl. 

I should also note that, to her, she will always be sixteen… until of course she is actually sixteen, at which point it is possible that tectonic plates will shift and worlds will collide.  But even then, I’m sure it will be good.  She’s made my heart full every day from the first.

At four years old, Bella loves: dressing up (yes, still!), reading (she can read short words and sight words, and she loves to “read” from memory), baby Liam, makeup (I tell her she can only wear it when she’s wearing a costume.  She sometimes listens to me), animals (she wants to horseback ride so badly), Gabe (her best friend) and Ari (Bella is the best at communicating with Ari when everyone else is struggling), swimming (but she requires her goggles), making art, all desserts, riding her orange scooter, going anywhere in the car, making new friends (although she is getting a shy streak lately, especially with adults), playing on the computer & iPad, and cuddling with mommy and daddy.

We celebrated Isabella Juliet with a mermaid “under the sea” birthday party!

   

On the menu were PJ & Jellyfish Sandwiches, Tuna Fishy Sandwiches, Seashell Mac & Cheese, Sushi Del Mar, Shrimp Cocktail, Sea Pearls & Sea Cucumber Slices, Goldfish Crackers, Sand Dollar Cookies, Mer-Cakes, Sea Water, and Candy (Salt Water Taffy, Reef Coral, and Blue Gummy Sharks of course).

 

Believe me when I tell you that these cupcakes took all night and had beautiful mermaid tails sticking straight up out of the ocean, but the heat was unbearable so those mermaids let their tails slap the water.  Good thing the beach cupcakes held up well.

   

The Sea Water is blue Gatorade, blue Hawaiian punch, and Diet Sprite, layered.

 

We played a seashell water relay race and played a limbo game in between runs through the splash pad and playing in the sand. 

         

Thank you to all the little mermaids who came and to everyone who helped make this day so special for my little girl!  We are so grateful to have so many wonderful people in our lives.