Muppets, rainbows and 10 crazy girls

That pretty sums up my weekend.

Let me explain...

I love parties. Especially birthday parties. And especially when I get to plan them.

When my girls were too young to know better, I'd come up with the theme, the decorations, the food...even the outfits they'd wear. But as they've gotten older, it turns out they want to have a say in the birthday party planning. Major bummer for me.

Fortuately, this year, Avery settled on a theme that I was totally onboard with. (Okay, I might have planted the seed in a very, nonconspicuous, matter-of-fact way...but she thinks it was her idea, and I'm fine with that.)

So her theme was...(wait for it)

Muppet Movie Marathon!!!!!

Gosh, I love The Muppets. Always have, always will. I used to sing Avery to sleep at night with "Rainbow Connection" and I like to think a little bit of it stuck with her and grew into her very own love for all things Muppet.

In honor of our "rainbow connection," all the food and decor was rainbow-inspired.

Because it was a movie marathon, we had to have popcorn. And M&Ms. And it wouldn't be a birthday without cupcakes, right?

My favorite trick was the bottled water -- I removed the labels and added a drop of food coloring to create the different colors. It was a massive hit with the girls -- when we ran out, they had fun helping me make more.

And here's our birthday girl, sporting her homemade Miss Piggy headband.

Cecily totally rocked the headband, declaring "There's only ONE Miss Piggy!" and striking a pose as soon as she put it on.

 

I got in on the fun, too.

We played Muppet Bingo (also homemade, using images I found on Muppet Wiki -- awesome site if you're into The Muppets) for the chance to win some F-AB-YOU-LUSS prizes...

World's greatest Muppet Bingo caller

And there was some movie watching...no photos because it was dark and, well, not very photographically exciting. I think they made it through most of Muppets Take Manhattan, The Great Muppet Caper and Muppets In Space.

It was a long night, but all 10 girls survived. Look how sweet and quiet and calm they are...

Hmmmm, wait a minute. There's something wrong with that photo. 

Oh here we go. This one's far more accurate...

Most of them probably took some pretty healthy naps when they got home.

Only three months until the next birthday...this one's going to be hard to top.