Abby's 7th Birthday!

Abby turned 7 years old at the end of June, and the girl was celebrated many times!  The first of her birthday celebrations was at school before the end of the year--summer birthdays all get clumped together at the end, and Abby came home on a Friday informing me that her teacher said her school birthday would be the coming Monday.  Really?  I searched her backpack for a note alerting me to the plans for her party (should I send cupcakes?  should I plan to attend?  is Abby correct on her dates, or is her celebration a different day??), but found nothing--and as it was a Friday, I couldn't get in touch with her teacher to find out if Abby's intel was correct.  I had already promised my girl some cupcakes for her school party, so that Sunday night, I went ahead and made two dozen to take to her class the following morning--hoping that Abby had her days right!  I was crazy tired that night, and of course, I started my cupcake project very late...so I was finishing up the decorating well after midnight.  I think my tiredness worked in my favor because I got very adventurous with the icing tips--I just pulled tips out at random, and glopped icing on the cupcakes with them!  It was actually pretty fun, although I'm a little bummed because I didn't think to write down which tips I used to make which cupcakes...

my favorites are the dark purple icing

watching DC Cupcakes came in handy a little bit

happy school birthday, Abby!

Phew...I made those cupcakes just a day after Alex's birthday party, so my house was overflowing with cupcakes.  I was a little cupcaked out, but I loved how they looked and was pretty proud of my effort--and Abby was correct on the date for her school party, so I didn't show up in her classroom with cupcakes for no reason!

Abby's next birthday celebration was supposed to be at the playground near our house on her actual birthday--because we were having her big party out at my parents' house (an hour from where we live), I wanted to have a local get-together for her school and neighborhood friends.  I sent out invites in her backpack before school ended, and even though it called for making more cupcakes, I was excited to have a fun outdoor activity with my girl and her friends.

cute invite--and it did include an RSVP and more info on a location!

Abby handed out something like 25 invites, but it seemed like the timing might not be great for the celebration--a lot of our neighbors were going to be out of town or have moved by that day, so I was hoping her school friends would come through.  By the RSVP deadline, only one neighbor had responded that they would be there...hmmm.  I was really worried that Abby would get her hopes up for a big morning of fun with her friends at the playground, only to have very few people show up.  I tried to prep her for a small playdate (although I was hopeful that some folks would just come without RSVPing), and she was excited to see the family who had RSVP'd.  Unfortunately, this celebration had to get cancelled at the last minute when I got terribly sick out at my sister's house--so I have no idea if folks from school wandered around the playground looking for us that morning...  To make up for my ruining her special day, my mom and sister sprang into action and put together a fun morning celebration at my sister's house when Abby woke up on her birthday!

presents for the birthday girl!

Grandma came to the cupcake rescue!

We came back to our own house the afternoon of Abby's birthday, and had one day at home before we went back out to stay at my parents' house...this time, to prep for Abby's big birthday party!  I had chosen a cake design for Abby's Rapunzel party theme by doing a Google search--I looked for a cake that looked simple and fun.  I found one on this blog, and thought it was something I could do!  It was a pretty straightforward design--one large round cake (for the "water"), a smaller round cake (for the "grass"), and a cute tower made out of cupcakes!

the water layer

grass layer on top!

building the cupcake tower

the finished cake!

The cake wasn't too hard (to check out my previous cakes, click here)--I did spend a few hours on it, and my mom helped tremendously (as always!) by making the icing and colors for me, but it wasn't a stressful experience.  Abby loved her cake, too!

the birthday girl with her cake at the party

Happy birthday to my sweet girl!  :)  The party was great fun, and guess who made a surprise appearance??  Rapunzel herself!  :)

Rapunzel with Abby