Nora’s Maisy Birthday Party

We celebrated Nora’s third birthday Sunday morning.  Those of you following me on Facebook got little sneak peeks of our party decorations as Nora and I made them, and knew that I was worried about rain because we were hoping to hold the party outside.  It did, indeed, rain but we managed to squeeze everything inside and we had a great time even with everyone jammed into our tiny little house.

I decided to do a Maisy theme for Nora’s party back at the beginning of summer, since Nora is in love with the Maisy books by Lucy Cousins. I had hoped to be able to to get a “real” Maisy to surprise Nora at her party thanks to a connection at Bookworks, but it turned out that the costume had been retired and they couldn’t get it for me.  We were a little disappointed by no Maisy appearance, but I made up for it with lots of fun decorations, including a play house painted like Maisy’s house 

homemade bunting and lots of bright primary colors

a Maisy cake

 and felt mouse ears for all our guests.

Nora’s birthday dress, which I sew every year, also matched Maisy’s birthday dress but I didn’t manage to get a good picture of her and her Maisy doll since she was in a no-posing-for-pictures mood.  (I’ll see if I can get one next time she wears it to add to a future post or share on Facebook.)

I won’t lie, I had some late nights leading up to a very hectic morning of, but seeing the look on Nora’s face as the party unfolded made it all worth it.  

And I think all of our wonderful little guests had a good time, too.

We were especially happy that my dad, who was visiting New England, was able to party with us

and so thankful that he and his friend were able to help make the party happen on time and without a kitchen full of dirty dishes!

Even though I took Nora to preschool this morning and we helped her to blow out three candles on her cake,

I still can’t get over how big she is now.  Maybe I’ll never get over it.  Maybe she’ll be 40 years old, married with kids and I’ll still look at her in marvel at how she’s grown from a tiny baby to a beautiful and independent person. Every day with Nora is such a joy. 

I know I go a little bit crazy about birthdays.  I know she would be just as happy with the small celebration just between the three of us, but the nerdy mom in me loves the theme and decorations and creativity.  I love party explosions, because I love our little girl and these, our children’s birthdays, are the holidays for our family because without them, we wouldn’t be a family.  Even if Nora someday asks to go smaller, I hope she remembers just how celebrated and loved she is on all days, but especially on the day that she made me her mother.