For Sadie's second birthday we decided to travel to the Land of Oz. The Wizard of Oz is one of Sadie's favorite movies right now. She loves to dance along with "Scarecrow" and seems empathetic and delighted by the people of Munchkinland. Being old enough to become excited at balloons and streamers, we wasted no time in making preparations for a magical party. First, I secured the invitations. Interestingly enough, we eventually ended up changing the time to 10AM instead of 5PM so more of Sadie's friends could join her in the celebration. This resulted in an enormous amount of positive RSVPs and we were all set the night before her party with a grand total of 41 adults and 11 children planning on attending. WHOA! Sadie didn't seem concerned with the number of people headed toward "Oz" that morning, but was instead fascinated with a collection of Emerald City green and rainbow balloons.
Also, the night before the party, Daddy hung a streamer tent of sorts, Aunt Leslie joined me and Gammy in glittering, hot gluing, and arranging various decor - all while Su Su and Poppy did their part in taking care of the guest of honor while we prepared to transform our home into The Emerald City. One of the coolest decorations of the day, however, had to be our hand-chalked yellow brick road - courtesy of Daddy and Granddaddy who finished it before we went to sleep the night before. Sadie loved seeing it and marched up and down the yellow cement singing her own rendition of "We're off to see the Wizard! The Wonderful Wizard of 'Boz!'"
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| See it!? Balloons! |
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| Sadie being fascinated by the yellow brick road |
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| Come on, ToTo. We're off to see the Wizard! |
Before the party started we had just a few moments to take a few quick pictures on our doorstep of our own little munchkin. Brown basket in hand, she sat under our "Welcome to Oz" sign and enjoyed being the center of Gammy's quick photo shoot.
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| Sara Holcombe bringing Sadie beautiful roses from their own front yard! |
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| Serious Dorothy. Contemplating how she will ever get that pesky wicked witch of the west! |
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| Our sign welcoming all to Oz! Thank you, hot glue! |
Once everything was in place, we had only a moment to breathe a sign of relief as the doorbell rang and guests started pouring in. One of the first to arrive was a Sunday school friend of Sadie's, little Samantha King. Sadie naturally greeted her with a warm embrace.
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| Sadie hugs Samantha hello. |
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| Sadie showing off her Wizard of Oz balloon to her friend, Samantha |
We worked so hard on all the decorations, that we couldn't help but take a few photos. We had gingerbread, Bagels and cream cheese, Glenda the Good Witch peanut butter sandwich pretzel rod wands, Dorothy's shoe cookies (compliments of Katy Ernst), Over the Rainbow cupcakes (I decorated myself!!!), cake, rainbow goldfish, and Emerald City punch (compliments of Bill and Sara Holcombe).
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| Kitchen table spread |
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| Sadie's cake (Look close! She is in the picture with the characters!) |
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| Glenda the Good Witch wands |
Adding some extra munchkin magic to the day came in the form of real life Oz characters! Gammy was able to convince the Pasadena Memorial High School Theater Department to lend out their costumes for Sadie's party! Since only one of Gammy's students was able to make it to party for dress up, Aunt Leslie bravely played the part of the Cowardly Lion, while my good friend from church and Theodore's mommy, Lea Bodie, stepped in as the most beautiful Tin Man - or Tin Woman, rather! Sadie was more than delighted with the characters and the other children and adults seem entertained and amused by the extra bit of fun.
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| Aunt Leslie as the Cowardly Lion |
Of all the decorating ideas used that day, I was probably most proud of my "Munchkin Crafts" zone set up at our living room window sill. A toddler spread of glue sticks, pipe cleaners, and more made for a great bit of excitement for the little ones. The children had the option to: 1) Make their own rainbow out of rainbow yarn pieces and cotton balls, 2) Twist a rainbow pipe cleaner bracelet, or 3) Color a picture of a character from the Wizard of Oz. Sadie seemed most fascinated with the glue sticks and cotton balls, although she was not wild when she realized that combining the two made for quite a sticky situation.
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| Sadie in the craft zone making her rainbow\ |
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| Miss Nicole helps her son and Sadie's friend, Daniel, make a rainbow. |
When James and I look back over the shots from the day, we cannot help but be thankful for all the friends and family who live so close to us. Save just a few family members, we have so much right here in Houston! We also have enjoyed watching new friendships blossom in our Sunday school class at UBC and in my Tuesday night women's Bible study. Between best friends, church friends, and family, our house was packed with boon companions and life-long confidantes!
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| Sara and Mommy with the famous Holcombe punch! |
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| Cousin Grant enjoys putting cream cheese on his bagel! BIG TIME! |
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| The Epicenter of Oz! |
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| Sadie's favorite balloon! The Dorothy shoe balloon! |
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| The photo banner Gammy ordered for Sadie's party! |
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| Daniel Gardner's "Munchkin art" |
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| Aunt Margie helping Sadie with the Munchkin Crafts |
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| All the munchkins playing together! |
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| The streamer tent that Daddy put up for Sadie! |
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| Great enjoying a bagel and some coffee |
Taking pictures of the little ones was by far the most fun activity of the day. We loved the shot of Sadie looking onto Izelle Saldivar's artwork. Also, we cannot wait for Sadie to meander through these memories later in life and see her friends when they were toddlers!
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| Sadie carefully watching Izelle Sadlivar |
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| Maxine and Aunt Leslie "Cowardly Lion" |
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| Sadie and Jo Jo - our Rolling Fog Dr. across-the-street neighbors! |
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| Mommy, Sadie, Christy and Izelle Saldivar (long-time friends) |
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| Another Dorothy shoe cookie pleeeease? |
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| Mmmmmmmmmmm |
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| Magical cookies! |
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| Over the Rainbow cupcakes! So proud of my creation! |
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| Big smiles with Sadie! |
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| Quick picture before singing "Happy Birthday" |
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| Sadie inspecting the "fire" on top of her cupcake\ |
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| Ready, set, BLOW!!!! |
Sadie seemed delighted with the fact that we were eating cake and enjoyed hearing everyone sing in unison the "Happy Birthday" song. She curiously listened and gaze seemed to say, "It's as if I should know this song you all have apparently already learned!"
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| Mmmmmm Icing clouds |
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| Smile, Su Su! |
Part II follows: Go to next blog post to read more about Sadie's fabulous day!
