Happy Birthday Emma

This weekend we celebrated Emma's 3rd Birthday!  Such a fun morning!  We hosted her party at a venue called DefyGravity, this place consists of trampolines in a huge room where you can go crazy and jump all over the show.  They also have a dodgeball enclosure and a huge foam pit to jump into.  When we first looked at this venue I thought it lacked the child appeal and didn't think Emma would like it, but after looking at the party room I came out to see Emma jumping on the trampoline and she was so happy.  Rod immediately said, we're having the party here.   Emma had been looking forward to this party for so long, it couldn't come soon enough for her. 

From the time I asked her what type of cake she wanted (back in June) and what she wanted to do on her birthday we had been invited to 4 birthdays, each time she would see a gift wrapped up, she'd ask if it were for her, I felt so bad each time saying no, it's not for you, it's for so and so for their birthday.  She kept asking when it would be her birthday. Firstly I told her about the months, that her birthday was in August, and when August came she would say, "now it's my birthday?" I eventually made her a countdown, tearing off the number of days left till her party.  So soon as she woke up on Saturday morning I asked her what day it was, she said Saturday, hooray it's my party! And asked if her friends were going to come ot her party.  Such a huge smile and so happy!  Getting dressed and brushing teeth was such a breeze, wish it could be her birthday everyday!

When we got to Defy Gravity, Emma wanted to head straight for the trampolines, so very excited!  First we had to go to our party room, and set up, everything was...the cake for me?  the balloons for me?  the party for me?  Poor child sounds so deprived, like we never spoil her, but the great thing is that she seems so grateful for everything, something I wouldn't expect from someone so small.  Eventually all the guests arrived and we could go jump.  I wasn't sure if all the kids would jump for an entire hour, I had set aside crafts for the kids incase they got bored from jumping, but every kid jumped the entire hour and everyone had so much fun!  Emma did not stop, she wasn't her shy, timid self, which was great, she was even game to jump into the foam pit with Rod, which I would have thought would have been daunting for her.  But she did it over and over!
 

in the foam pit

When our hour was up of jumping, Emma snuck in every jump she could before clearing the floor.  It was so worth having her party there.  So wonderful to see all the kids sit down after jumping, and devour their pizza's and gulp down their juices....such tired little bodies.  One thing guaranteed is that they'd all have good naps that day!

We wish the party could have lasted longer.  After packing up our things and leaving, Emma looked at the room and said, "My party is all over now?"  She wasn't sad, but I was when she said this. 
She then carried on to say, "Thank You mommy for my party!"  Then I knew she had a great time!  Just like I know she enjoys my cooking, when she starts eating and two bites in, she'll say, "Thank you mommy for making a nice dinner!" So, Party - successful.

Such fun planning for her party...back in June I had asked Emma what type of birthday cake she wanted for her birthday.  She immediately said a castle cake, so I googled Princess Birthday Cakes and so many ideas popped up!
After looking at tons of images, watching youtube videos of how to make a castle cake, how to lay fondant etc etc, debating doing regular icing or fondant, baking test cakes and eating them....I felt pretty confident that I could pull this off for Emma.....until two weeks before, Emma told me she did not want a castle cake, but infact a Dinosaur Cake...are you kidding me?  I thought in my head, too bad girl, you're getting this castle cake whether you like it for not.

After last years cake, I learnt a few things, so had to give it another go this year, initally I just wanted to buy a cake but the more I looked online that more I was convinced that I could do it myself.
Until Friday night, first mistake was that I made the bottom tier of the cake a bit higher than I anticipated and ended up not knowing how much fondant to use to cover this....then at 11pm when I laid the fondant on the final cake it began to tear!! AHHH!!!!!
Had no idea what my back up plan was if this cake did not turn out!  So a bit of a panic attack and with Rods help and him calming me down, we managed to cover the cake with just 2 subtle cracks, which in the end I didn't even bother trying to cover up, made it look more homemade.  I was happy with the final result, and Emma's reaction to the cake was priceless and so worth all the effort.  Although  I did think to myself, that maybe next year we'll just do a regular square cake with icing, or if I've set an expectation for Emma, her and Addison will have to have a joint party every year, so I just have to do this this once a year. :)
The thing with these cakes, you start getting more and more ideas, so you tend to get a bit carried away....

So much fun though on all fronts!

Emma you turn 3 today (or in your world, 2 years months - we need to work on that), we cannot believe you're growing into this "big" girl!  We love you so much!!  Your laughs, smiles, enquiring mind and imagination brings us so much happiness, a different type of happiness that makes our heart sing everyday!!  We are so lucky to have you in our lives.  We hope you have the best day ever!!   Happy 3rd Birthday!  Love Mommy, Daddy and Addison  xoxo

This video is of Emma spelling Happy Birthday Emma!

More photos from Emma's Birthday Party