Cowgirl BIrthday Pictures

Ella's 3rd birthday party was yesterday.  We had so much fun.  The weather cooperated, thank goodness, and we had a great day at the farm.  We had our party at Homestead Farms in Keller.  For a very small fee, you get to feed the animals, have a hayride and use the picnic tables for your presents and cake.  It was the most stress free, easy to put together party I've ever done.

Here's the cake:

I always make the kids' cakes myself, because I just can't bring myself to pay $30-$60 for a cake when we could use that money for something more permanent.  Plus, the kids really like it when I make their cakes.  I am no where close to a professional, but it's fun to do.  I got this idea from Betty Crocker.  It was very easy, and Ella loved it.

These pictures are of Ella with one of the baby goats at the farm.  There were 3 brand new baby goats; they were triplets...only 1 day old!  There are no words to express how cute they were...and the little squeaky sounds they made--I felt an irresistible need to sell all my worldly goods, buy a farm and several goats.  And that dog in the picture...he's only 16 weeks old...still a puppy.  That is going to be one HUGE dog.  He was very sweet though.

This is Aidan checking out the bunnies at the farm.  I love it when Aidan wears this cowboy hat.  I could just eat him up.  I don't know why I say that...it's kind of weird if you think about it...so, I just don't think about it...because he's so sweet I could eat him with a spoon. 

Chickens!

Feeding the goats...this was ONE hungry goat.

This donkey followed us for a good portion of our Hayride.

The horses and dogs followed us for a bit too.

This horse wanted to get a closer look

Time for some Cactus Punch!

To drink, we served root beer and cactus punch.  To make the cactus punch, I mixed 2 liters of Ginger Ale with 2 packets of lemon-lime kool-aid.  It packed a punch, but the kids loved it.  You could also use Sprite and Kool-Aid, or just Sprite died green with food coloring.

Ella got so excited when everyone started singing, "Happy Birthday."  I love how she clasped her hands together...so sweet.

Baby Goat Triplets...did I mention they were CUUUTE??

Sweet Birthday Hugs on a Tractor

A few more notes about the party...the cake isn't very big, so I also made chocolate cupcakes with a cream filling.  They were yummy.  I didn't get a picture.  But, I found some boot decorations for the top at Hobby Lobby.  The kids really liked those.

For goody bags, I bought pink bandanas at Hobby Lobby, filled them with some little horses, sheriff badges, candy, and a couple of other trinkets.  I tied them with Jute cords (also from Hobby Lobby).  I covered the cake board with a pink bandana also.
You can see the goody bags in this picture of my sweet little nephew, Hayes:

It was a great and easy party.  Here are a few more pictures from the day: