***the pink and gray petting zoo party***

She started planning her party months ago...I should have also. Actually, I probably would have, but she couldn't stick to one idea. Her first request was an Olivia (from the children's book with the pig) party at Zoomar's Petting Zoo. Perfect, I thought, that goes together, pigs and a zoo, and great easy colors red, white, and black. I even found cute red envelopes with tiny white polka dots on them at an estate sale which would have been perfect for the invites.That idea was solid until she saw a card at a store with a turtle on it. Her new request was a turtle party at the petting zoo. That would still go together nicely, right? The new colors could just be different shades of green. No...she had pink and gray, her favorite colors, in mind as the colors.

OK, pink and gray turtle party at the petting zoo. This was becoming a tall order. A couple of weeks before the party she wanted to change it one more time and this time she was for sure. A pink and gray wolf party at the petting zoo. Oh, of course, her favorite animal is now a wolf. Wolves and a petting zoo party, hmmmm, I think wolves eat all of these types of animals. After a little discussion and convincing on my part, we settled on keeping it a little more simple with just a pink and gray petting zoo party. Whew!

Ella and Julian's favorite part of this particular petting zoo is the guinea pig and rabbit area.

Ella could stay there for hours and be perfectly content. Even baby Saylor was in love...or is that fear?

Of course she found the only hen in the pen.

She will do just fine on our someday farm. So since the guinea pigs are Ella's favorite I decided to do a little guinea pig craft/party favor. I was inspired by cakies and a little kid's craft she did at her daughter's b-day party. I kept mine pretty simple by just making little oval pillows and drawing little guinea pigs on them with fabric marker. The kids got to color the guinea pigs with fabric marker at the party.

(Ella's crown is from cakies)
Train rides.
Friendly sheep.

This cake is supposed to be guinea pigs but as you can see, it is questionable. At least I make myself laugh...and the kid's laugh.

Ella and cousin Kate.

Turns out guinea pig pinatas are really hard to find, so we made our own.

One of her favorite gifts was a little plush wolf...I love that her favorite animal is a wolf.
She is still talking about how much she loved her party so I would say it was a success.

She had fun and felt celebrated. We had fun watching her have fun.

Mission was accomplished.

A big thank you to all who celebrated with us and helped us at the party.(another quick and easy party favor: put a cookie in a bag, make labels on cardstock, fold it over the bag and sew)