A Fairy Wonderland Birthday Part 2: Family Celebration

Here are my favorite pictures from ER's 4th birthday party last Sunday. Things went quite nicely, we had a break from all the rain and it wasn't too hot.
Our family and friends could enjoy our back deck while the burgers and sausages grilled. That's my Aunt Barb and my Godmother Annemarie above.
Here's Grandma Norma and our friends Margaret and Eric. They're enjoying a few kid free moments. It's nice that their daughters and ER are old enough to play together in ER's room while we visit and get dinner prepared.
This isn't the best picture of my mom but makes me laugh. We'd all be relaxing and enjoying some munchies for awhile. My mom and I had a chance to sit on the deck and chat too. Then I realized I should take some pictures before things got too crazy with eating and opening presents. I got everyone else outside in the sunshine, and then here's my mom sweatin' over a hot stove. I promise she wasn't working the whole time!
In this picture you can see the fairy banner again, if you missed the Fairy Wonderland Birthday, Part 1, don't forget to click over and see how pretty all the decorations came out. Judging by the gift bags alone, can you tell someone likes princesses just a little?

If you are wondering, is ER wearing a crown because it's her birthday. The answer would be no. She wears one along with dress up shoes, necklaces, and bracelets and has multiple choices to pick from for each category. I think I'll miss this phase a lot when she's older. When she wants to wear jeans every day and black from head to toe, I'm glad I'll have all these pictures to remind me of the princess days.
I love the animation on her face in this one as she explains the joys of Calico Critters to my mom and anyone else who was unaware that the Furbanks Squirrel Family isn't complete without the babies too! She's been wanting them for A LONG time and I do mean she's obsessed with these things. My parents also got her this cute girl's bedroom set. She'd like the Cloverlear Manor for Christmas, but I think the Deluxe Village House or Luxury Townhome is much more likely to show up under the tree.
One of the other big things on her wish list was this Cinderella ballerina Barbie doll. Which we tried to hold off getting her, after all how many different versions of Cinderella does one little girl need? We finally caved when Brad noticed how, much to our amusement, she'd always move all the Cinderella's to the back on the shelf. Hiding them so other people wouldn't buy them before she could get one.
Plans to make a cake rapidly changed when ER spied this cake at Costco during our last shopping trip to stock up on party supplies. Perfectly decorated for ER, it was a no brainer to get it and cross one more thing off my to do list. I thought it might be bland because it was white cake with vanilla mouse but it was good, nice and moist. That's my brother Dave with ER.
Obligatory picture of the birthday girl with her grandparents: Grandma Norma, Papa, and Grammy.
ER and her two little friends. I've been seeing all three around the kiddie table for a few years now and in this picture it really struck me, how grown up they're all looking. Can't believe the oldest is going to be in first grade this fall!
I'll leave you with these flip flop cookies Margaret and the girls made. Aren't they super cute? That's a Milano cookie as the base. I think they got the idea out of a Family Fun magazine.