Our Swheat Girl is Four!

Shortly after our move, this little girl turned four! We spent her birthday weekend river hopping, one of her favorite things; I guess that's a perk of being surrounded by rivers.

I think that's been one of our favorite things about living here, plenty of water time! 

When it came time to planning Grace's 4th birthday party, I really wanted to draw off the uniqueness of this new chapter in her life. When we moved to here, I was taken aback by the amount of cotton fields that surrounded our little town; it was a new experience for us to see random pieces of cotton blowing around in the streets. And then there was our peach house, the whole house (interior) is painted peach! It's not every day you live in a peach paradise, ha! 

I really wanted Grace's party to not just be aesthetically pleasing, but symbolize this new chapter in her life. This house and this town are going to forever be a part of her childhood; we wanted this party to mark the beginning of a beautiful, fun, and enriching year for her.

Inspired by the lovely texture of cotton, I wanted to create something that had unique texture... With a hint of femininity. So I came up with a backdrop that I hope captures the essence of fields of cotton on a cool summer evening.

With accents of peach to tie in our new abode, and plenty of gold sparkle to represent the birthday girl's sparkly personality... The party came into it's own. 

Our guest list was short, we really wanted to keep the party intimate; we wanted Grace to know her guests, and for our guests to already have a rich history with her. Granted my family is massive, and Fort Worth isn't exactly close, so we were thrilled by the fact so many drove down for her day! Nonetheless, we still wanted to send out invites; because they're fun and proper. ;)

I don't know why it looks so heavily pink here, but it's actually a lovely peach shade in real life. ;)

One of the things I enjoyed planning her party this year was getting to branch out and try new vendors! And ya'll, they really made this party come together! :)

We used a bakery in New Braunfels for her cake, 2tarts, they are awesome! If you're local, use them, you won't be disappointed. The cake was exactly what I wanted, and it was delicious! Once home all I had to do was make the toppers for the cake! I bought the florals at Blumen-Meisters right before picking up the cake, it's also in New Braunfels. Each stem you buy is perfectly packaged with a little water bottle to keep it fresh for the ride home. I couldn't have been happier with the service and selection. It made arranging them stress-free, after getting home, yay for no sad blooms!

I really wanted to add a little platter of french macarons to dress up the table, and since our guest list was all adults, I thought it would be fun to be adventurous with the flavors. Suprisingly, green tea wasn't a real crowd pleaser. ;) However, the quality was phenominal on these little souffles. Hello! Macaron in Austin is your girl, if you need a fix! :) In keeping with the theme of hearts jumping out of the desserts, I went ahead and made the macarons into minature stacks and added some home-made glitzy hearts to hold them together.

The four for the table was actually cut by hand by my incredibly talented and loving husband! All I did was cover it in sparkle. I don't think I can bear to part with it or throw it away.... I am a sucker for things made with love, but really... Who isn't? :)

The invitation was made by Oklahoma Ginger, I gave her my vision for the invites, and she made it happen! Also note the lovely peach color. ;)

Since this could potentially be one of her last parties with a mostly adult guest list (she's starting to show a little interest in kids near her age), we decided we should probably take advantage of it and trade in the kid finger-foods for a wine and cheese tasting! It was actually really fun branching out our taste-buds and seeing who liked stinky cheese and who didn't. ;)

What she enjoyed more than all the presents, were "her" people. That and the half-hour serenade she got (because if you're going to be sang to, happy birthday is just not a long enough song)! ;)

I tried getting a regular smiling pic, but my family doesn't know how to do that... And I love it!!!

When I think of her 5th birthday, I hope it is as full of love as this one was. And has lots of water, yes, plenty of that. 

I pray that year four is one for the books. Happy Birthday my Littlest Love, Mommy loves you so very much!