Kaki's Birthday Three-esta

Kaki's Birthday Three-esta! What a party!

This year was the year of the birthday fiestas... first, Caden's fifth at the Fiesta Bowl and now Kaki's Birthday Three-esta. It was a theme that I couldn't pass up and was SOOOOO excited about. Thank you, Baylor Bears for going to the Fiesta Bowl the same year my son turned five so that it would dawn on me how GREAT it would be to have a THREE-esta for Kaki in the same year! Bless you!

I love a good party theme but we had never thrown Kaki an ACTUAL friend party, but even though she hasn't ever been in school she managed to rack up enough friends that it made sense. She was VERY excited about having friends at her party, as long as we were SURE that NO ONE ate her cake. Clearly... that would have been tragic. Bless her heart!

We had very little prep for this party, which is just how I like it. We did it at a local park and split up the food between commercially prepared and homemade and it was done! Love it!

I did get a little inspired by Kaki's invitation and decided to do a little chalk board art! :)

And one of my sweet San Antonio born and bred friends got her mama to buy us a HUGE pinata for the three-esta!! It was so massive and so pretty... and cheap, because it was as authentic as they come! We had LOTS of filling to do!! LOTS!

During our prep week I did lots of nostalgia digging... looking at old pictures, comparing photos, etc. etc.

I love this comparison of the three Katherines just before each of us turned our respective three!

We are all our own but all have a touch of the other... and that's just how it should be!

Kaki's actual birthday fell on a Friday, the day before her party. SO we had a little fun planned for our birthday girl... starting with a good morning serenade wake up call. Which she loved! :)

And then presents... of course!

Crazy bed-head and pull-ups still on she went for it!

Not sure she's quite awake yet!

But with each present she got there... 

She got three books, a new water doll and some Daniel Tiger friends! It was a birthday success!! 

And the birthday girl wanted some cinnamon rolls or as she says, "ci-mon rolls!"

She loves being sung to! Daniel and his friends made it to the breakfast table! :) Obviously!

After breakfast we played with all of our new toys and geared up for the birthday fun the following day by cleaning up for our KK and Albi to come visit! 

And we had to get a hair cut...

So we could come home and take our three year old pictures... pre-party! I was just sure if I waited we'd have pink and orange icing from our cupcakes all over our white party dress. Wouldn't you know that dress stayed spotless! It was a birthday miracle!

But we did pics early and we got some good ones... they were in a previous post! But this is one of my favorite outtakes... Caden wanted in the picture and sister didn't think that was such a good idea... Birthday Diva!

We were so excited for Kk and Albi to arrive in time for dinner! And obviously Albi was tickled to be sitting in his favorite wooden rocker! :) He was tickled for another reason too but that's another story for another time... wink!

So I had originally planned on ordering breakfast tacos from some place in town... and then I thought you know what I can do that... I'll have Kk and I can do some pre-party-day prep work... we could knock that out! 

So I asked KK if she was in and of course she was... she didn't put in all of those years heading up the PTA breakfast taco testing breakfast for nothing... she had learned her way around the taco! 

So the next morning before the party... we knocked out about 48 tacos! :) No big deal!

AND people kept asking where we ordered them from because they were DELICIOUS... and then we smiled and said... GUILTY! And they said... y'all should open up a taqueria... and to that we said Gracias, pero no gracias!

I didn't take many pics at the party... too busy gabbing and celebrating... but we did manage to get a few...

Oh and we had donuts too... obvi!

Birthday girl was looking a little shy in these photos but do not be fooled she loved every minute of her party! I kept thinking she was being SOOOO sweet when she would see a new friend walk up... she'd runnnnnn so fast to greet them, only to snatch the present out of their hands and run back to the tables. Oh my! Apparently, she did say hi as she was snatching and to one of our friends she even seemed surprised... ahem, "acted" surprised when they told her the present was for her. 

A present? For me! Oh well, you shouldn't have! :)

Some of the older dudes with little sisters... 

The pinata was the grande finale... and took a WHILE to finally crack!

Albi and Justin were the pinata's bouncers... line monitors and resident safety gurus!

Picture a Texas accent saying: Okay... okay... back up... back up... we don't want anyone to get hit with the stick! Okay?

Kaki's up first... 

Needed a little giddy-up from her Daddy!

And then the others... this handsome man is one of our oldest, dearest friends! Love him!

And then it finally happened... and it was a free-for-all!

Each year my mom puts out the cake either at her house or she has brought it to our parties and so nothing changed this year... she brought, we put it out... and asked Kaki to stand by it for a picture after her party was over...

She was VERY put-out by it... apparently all of that birthday buzz had gotten to her head and she was choosing to be a REAL three year old about it all! Hmph! But I told her I didn't care if she cried, smiled, closed her eyes... she WAS taking a picture... :) For the memories Kaki! For the memories!

OH and a snagged a picture of the decor... all ONE piece of it! 

And that was a wrap!

Thank you to all of our sweet friends and AWESOME family who came and partied with us!! Gran and Poppa, Nana and Bop, KK and Albi and all of our sweet friends! I wish I had more pictures to show for it all! 

After the party the family came back to the house to watch Kaki open all of her presents from the party. My oh my! I have always felt weird about having people bring presents to parties but after Justin told me to stop obsessing and let people bring presents I got on board. All he had to say was, well don't you like to buy presents for your friends' kids... well YES... and if they ask you not to on the invitation don't you STILL bring them. Yes! So basically, I can't follow rules so why would I expect anyone else to. Right.

AND all of that to say... that presents were so fun! She has had the best time playing with all of her new puzzles and paints and toys. And thanks to a thoughtful gift I've found a new hobby... watercolor... :) It's so relaxing! So birthday bonuses abound!

We love you Kaki girl and are so thankful we celebrated with a birthday three-esta this year!