Be Our Guest

Feb 18 - In February, the high school near our house did Beauty and the Beast for their musical. We were really excited to see it. Especially because a couple of the young men Darren works with were in it. It was amazing! We had a great time seeing it and the kids loved it. (Well... We didn't take Avery. It started late and I thought it would be a little too long for her.) Rylee was waving to Belle forever at the end when they were bowing and took their curtain call. She LOVED it! And when she got to meet the characters after, she was in heaven! On the way home, she said something about the ones that weren't real, meaning that she thought most of them were the REAL characters.

A few days after we saw the play, I had a little surprise for Rylee. The high school did a special Princess Tea Party, so I took Rylee. I had been thinking about taking her to the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast for her birthday in March, but it was SO expensive and it was recommended for ages 8 and above, so I wasn't sure if she would like it or be able to sit through it all. This ended up being the perfect little alternative! It was all the cast members and she was SO excited! She got all dressed up in her Belle dress and even wore high heels. When we got there, she was a little bit shy. The cast was great though. They all made a big fuss over her pretty dress and soon she warmed up to them a little bit. When we first got there, we were greeted by this flower. You can tell Rylee is still pretty unsure about this...
When we got there, Rylee got a tiara, an autograph book and a rose made from Hershey's kisses. Then when she got up on the stage, they announced her. She loved it!
Rylee with the silly girls that love Gaston. She really liked them. She was pretty nervous about Gaston. He was really cute with her though. She let him sign her autograph book and he put a heart around his name, which she loved. She refused to have her picture taken with ANY boys though. Not even Lumiere, who was in our ward. And especially NOT the Beast! Rylee and Mrs Potts. She was really cute with Rylee
Rylee meeting the "REAL BELLE"!!!
My cute little Princess!
After we met most of the characters, we got to have some treats and Rylee colored a picture
After our refreshments, there were a few people Rylee still wanted to meet. These are the napkins that danced during the Be Our Guest number. Rylee really liked them!
And Mom wanted a picture with Belle, too.
What a fun day for our sweet Princess!!!

A Perfect Pink Princess Party

March 26 - In March, Rylee turned 3!!! How this happened, I have NO idea! She is getting to be so grown up! At least SHE thinks she is quite grown-up. We had a fun little party for her friends a few days before her birthday. She decided a few months ago she wanted a PINK Princess party. Being the Princess fanatic that I am, I had no complaints about that. Rylee's favorite thing right now is dressups, so it was the perfect! We planned a really fun party for her and a few friends and she loved it!
Ry was in her curlers still for these pictures. I love these new curlers! They are the best invention!!! Before the party, Mom and Dad gave Ry a special present - A princess crown and...
A beautiful Belle dress to wear to the party! Can you tell she is SO excited!!!
Here are Belle and Cinderella to greet all the Princess guests.
I saw this online and thought it would make a fun Ballroom for the girls to drape these plastic tablecloths like this. It didn't look quite the way I thought it would, but it worked pretty good and was fun for decorations. I had to call my friend over to help me get it all up at the last minute - Thanks Jenn!!!
The Princess Ballroom. As always, I planned to do way too much and it wasn't going to happen in time. Thankfully, Jenn helped me finish decorations and took my kids for a bit, Darren came home to help with the party and my mom and sister, Heather, made the trip up to help with the party and pick up the cake for me! I don't know why I can't ever have everything ready, but I always seem to need to be rescued when I plan an event! Thank goodness I have people to rescue me! Thanks guys!!!
Rylee ready to greet her party guestsShe is a little cheesy, but I just love it!!!
What a pretty Princess!!!
On the party invitation, we told each little girl to wear her dressups or to come ready to wear something of Rylee's so they would be ready for all the Princess activities. The first activity we did was for each Princess to decorate their own Sleeping Beauty tiara. Since Rylee wanted a party with ALL the Princesses, we tried to incorporate as many different Princesses into the activities as we could. I didn't plan this one too well for the age group - The stickers were REALLY hard to get off the paper and the stamps were impossible to open. Once we got things going, the girls had lots of fun making their special crowns. What cute princesses!
They were SO focused on making their crowns


I love watching Rylee and all her funny facial expressions! After all the party guests had arrived, there was a knock at the door! Who could it be??? It is BELLE!!! (Logan had to open the door for Rylee - That is why he is in the front of the picture...) It is kind of a long story, but I looked everywhere around for a Princess to come to the party, but there are no companies up here that do that. The closest one I could find charged over $100 just to drive up! I had given up that idea and then about a week before the party, we were at the home and garden show and found a place that rented costumes and my sister, Vanessa, helped me find a great Princess and it worked out great! (Vanessa also took most of these pictures with her awesome camera - Thanks!!!)The part that I didn't plan on with having a REAL Princess come was that Rylee (and most of the other Princesses) would be scared of her!!! Rylee was totally plastered against the wall and wouldn't move when Belle came in. She wanted nothing to do with her for quite awhile, but she finally warmed up to her by the end of the party. Here she is getting a pep talk from Dad.
She will at least talk to her now, but she still wouldn't get too close and she did NOT want a picture yet!
I LOVE this picture!!! Next, it was on to the Party games. We played a Hot Potato type game with Ariel's seashell. The girls had fun with this one, except they hated being out. I forget how little 3 year olds are! Then we played this Pin the Tail on the Donkey type game where you put Cinderella in her tower. The 1st 2 girls put her RIGHT there so I thought they had to be able to see, but the rest were a lot further off, so I think the 1st 2 were just really good!
Next, the girls had a Poison Apple snack from Snow White and Belle read them a story. They LOVED this and looked so cute sitting there in their dresses! Next, we had a ball and the girls practiced dancing! They LOVED it!!! It was SO cute! Belle taught them how to "swish" their dresses around and they really had fun spinning and dancing like PrincessesRylee swishing her dress
Rylee dancing with Belle - She is starting to get over her fear.
This was the first picture we could get of Rylee with Belle. We had to kind of sneak Belle in from behind. After the dancing, she liked Belle a little better, but she still wasn't too sure...Logan was fine with his picture with Belle though. He was a good sport with all the girls.
Next, the birthday girl got to sit in her throne and open some presents!
I love this sweet girl!
Ry got lots of fun stuff!
Everyone wants to see!
I don't think I can remember everything Ry got, but here are a few things - An Ariel doll for the bathtub, a Cinderella doll, a Strawberry Shortcake doll, some Princess jewlery and makeup, some stamps and craft stuff, some cooking stuff and a cute apron!

All the Princesses with Belle - This is the best we got of everyone. It is hard to get this many 3 year olds to sit still!
After presents, Rylee decided she was OK with Belle and finally took some cute pictures with her - YEAH! I guess this was a good warm-up with a REAL Princess before our trip to Disneyland this summer! Silly faces with Belle
Next, it was time for some delicious cupcakes from Tiana's bakery and singing to the birthday girl. Rylee had been talking about blowing out her candles ALL day!


I hope her wish comes true!
Yummy cupcakes!!! After the cupcakes, we were going to make some Jasmine bracelets, but after how hard the crowns were, I decided it was probably not the best idea. The girls were much more interested in watching a movie anyway. They watched Sleeping Beauty - for about 20 minutes or so. At the first of the party, they were all a little weary of Belle, but by the movie, they were all fighting over who could sit by her.
I love this picture - It captures Rylee's funny little personality while she is talking to Belle. She obviously overcame all her fears and now she is chatting Belle's ear off!
This sweet little Princess was SO good and napped all the way through the party until we had cupcakes! She made it so much easier for me to enjoy the party and get everything done. My sister was so worried about her because she slept for so long and through so much noise and kept checking on her, but she must have just been being perfect for mommy! Isn't she cute in her tutu? She was happy to join the other Princesses when she woke up.

Here are pictures of all our cute Princess party guests - It is so fun to have so many cute little girls around for Ry to play with that are just her age!
Kiley - I think she is the only one who never wanted a picture with Belle. We could never talk her into it! Madilynn - Madi was really shy during the party, too, but we did get one of her and Belle. Melody - She was always one of the first in line for a picture with Belle and she was a great dancer! She was doing all the waltz steps - It was way too cute! Olivia - She was the only other one who wanted a picture with Belle in the beginning. She drove all the way from Layton to come to our party and we were so glad she came! Thanks Carlie, Olivia and Ethan for coming! We miss having you guys close by. Sky - She decided she liked Belle right about the time Belle was leaving Eliza - She came in a pink princess dress, but changed into Rylee's Snow White dress sometime during the party. So funny! Cute Avery!
Logan was a good sport! He was a little bummed that the party wasn't more for him and that everything was for girls, but he was a pretty good helper and had fun.
Felicity didn't come to the party - She is Melody's big sister, but she wanted a picture with Belle when she picked Melody up.
Here are a few with Rylee and her buddy, Madi. They share a birthday, so we had to get a couple pictures of them together.

Rylee with Aunt Heather and cousin Ethan - They made quite a drive to come to our party! Thanks guys! We love you!!!
Rylee with Grandma and Avery - My mom always shows up when I need her most! She is so great and does so much for us! Love you!!!
Rylee was actually pretty sad when Belle had to leave, so we took one last photo shoot!
Hugs for Belle - She came a long way from standing against the wall and wanting nothing to do with her!

My Princesses and Belle
My cute kids with Belle - Hey! If you pay for the rental costume, you might as well take advantage of the photo ops, right???
Me and my girls with Belle - With my Princess obsession, I needed a picture, too!
It was such a fun day for our Rylee! I am so happy that she had a fun birthday! She is a sweet little girl and so full of personality! More on her to come... Thanks to all her cute friends for coming and having a fun day with our Princess!