Dora Fiesta!

Oh My...could she look any happier?!
All the birthday kids smiling and ready to eat cake!
One, Two, Three...blow those candles out, Shelby!
My scary Dora cake heads :)
Go, Cami, Go...pin that backpack on Dora!

Sydne looking sweet as always :)
Cameron doing a girly pose :)
Shelby is all smiles!
Ben is such a cute little guy!
Shelby's bestest bud, Ethan (someday we think they'll be married :))

Time for a foam/visor craft
Shelby sportin' her visor...
Dora's outside adventure time! First it's a ride around frog pond and time to pick out a squirty toy....
Then to Candy Cave to use a flashlight and get candy out of the cave (garbage bag covered tent) :)
Then...oops...Shelby fell in the frog pond and clings all dripping wet to daddy :)

Then it's time to put together the broken rainbow bridge and cross it over the muddy mud puddle...then down the shape trail (our deck stairs)...
to our playset (Swipers hideout) to get their treat pails full of goodies....
The girls having a special "girl time" under the table :)
Shelby and her giant Dora balloon...we splurged and got her this...she's wanted it for over a year....and Dylan...boy, he was a perfect angel all day and never made a peep (even when being ignored for most of the day)...look at his big handsome grin!

Well, here's the pics from the big Dora fiesta on Monday. It was a small group of Shelby's 4 closest buds (Ethan, Cameron, Sydne and Ben)...and I think it was a perfect number of kiddos for a 3-yr-olds b-day. It was a grand ol' time of Dora fun, food and games. Kev and I laughed afterwards cuz for all the time and work we put into it, it probably would have been just as fun to let the kids run around crazy in the yard rather than to "force" them to play games and do crafts. But, most of them abliged us and it was a busy afternoon. We played "Swiper swiped the candy" game and the kids had to find candy hidden in our living room with little swipers taped on them....then we moved on to cake and food (as you can see I made some pretty sad/scary Dora mini cakes for the 5 party kids...those were much more work than it was worth, but I guess the kids thought they were cute) and then I made a bigger 3 layer Dora themed cake....it was pretty cute considering it didn't take much time/effort...thanx to our Dora Candyland game for supplying the figurines!) :) Shelby's fav. part of any party as most of you know is the cake...so this was a big highlight for her....though I think she only ate one bite...she was too excited to sit and eat. From the food we moved onto pin-the-backpack on Dora...simple enough....they colored their own backpacks and then stuck them on Dora's back (thanks to Big Sister Hailey for coloring the big ol' Dora!)....the kids actually loved this game...Shelby said later it was her most FAV. part of the party....it's always the simplest things for kids. After this we attempted a simple craft....foam visors. All they had to do was stick the sticky foams on them...it actually went ok. You never know how 3 yr olds will do with crafts....but they visors turned out cute. Then it was onto the BIG Dora adventure outside....whohoo...finally the kids could get outside, which they'd been itching to do all afternoon (thank goodness it was a beautiful 80 degree day out...it's never like that for Shelby's b-day so this was a welcome, rare treat!) :) Kev put sooooooooo much work into the adventure and making the map for it...it was really cute. I came up with most of the ideas, but he did all the "dirty work" and set it up....from "frog pond" to "candy cave" to "rainbow bridge over mucky mud" to "shape trail" all the way to "Swiper's hideout" (our playset) where they finally found their treat buckets to take home. It was very cute and the kids seemed to really enjoy it....and even all the big sisters who came along loved it too (and thankfully helped their siblings). It was a crazy, busy, fun and exhausting day. Shelby was full of life the whole time (as you can see by the pictures)...she loved every moment. The funniest part of the whole party was when during the Dora adventure (on our deck) Shelby somehow fell into the frog pond (our sandbox filled with water) and was completely drenched from head to toe (see pic above)...it was quite a sight and shocked the socks off her. She was in rare form from that point on. But, she had a great time celebrating her b-day with all her bestest buds and everyone was so generous with gifts...she got lots of Dora things (actually everyone gave her something Dora-themed)...it was a memorable day of Dora fun (and if you know our Shelby there is nothing better than having a whole day full of Dora). Anyway....part of me is sad the day is over but a bigger part of me is glad all the craziness has passed (for now). It really took a lot of effort and time on both my part and Kev's...I didn't mind spending the time on it, but with me being sick 5 days last week that took a huge toll on my energy. Kev actually had to take the day off on Monday to help me. I owe him my eternal gratitude. Not many husbands would bend over backwards like he did to make this party happen. Shelby is one lucky girl to have such a great daddy who loves her so much. So, there ya' have it...lots of birthday fun. And now the birthday girl is sick and we're all exhausted...but it was worth all the effort and lack of sleep! :)