Avery's obsession with her "pal Oreo" has only intensified with time, so it was only natural to have a party centered around that very thing. As most of you know, country, shabby, vintage, whatever you would call "cowboy style," could not be further from the type of decor we have, so we had to get kind of creative with the decorations so as not to spend a mint on a bunch of decorations that we would never display in our house. I think that in the end, it all turned our pretty great. We had signs to welcome all of the little cowpoke.
There was an old west town made out of cardboard boxes (thank you Uncle Ray for supplying us with the boxes). For those of you still not convinced that western decor is not our thing, the old west town is painted with left-over paint from the rooms in our house...the bathroom, living room, guest bedroom...all painted in those colors.
Avery's General Store was set up with all of the guest favors...old time candy, sheriff badges, cowboy hats and such.
Avery was so cute in her little bandanna dress and pink boots.
What would a pony party be without your best pony pal? Not much. So, thanks to Nana, Papa, Jeff and Julie, Oreo was able to make an appearance at the party. We didn't tell Avery that she was coming, so it was a big surprise to her and so fantastic that Oreo would come all the way to her party. I took a thousand pictures of Avery as she was seeing Oreo for the first time, but none of them seemed to do the moment justice...there was jumping and screaming and so much excitement.
After the excitement settled down a little, Avery gave Oreo a proper greeting...a carrot of course. And the party was off to a great start.
The birthday girl had the inaugural ride on Oreo!
Despite the fact that it was April 1st, the temperature was about 90 degrees outside, literally. While we had a rain plan, it didn't really occur to us to have a heat plan. So we did what we could to help keep everyone cool...tubs of water for the kids to splash around in, popsicles to eat and fans set up where we could. It was really hot, but there were no complaints.
"Baby Jillian" even took a turn on Oreo!
We had a couple of games for the kids to play, but in the end, most of them were a little too young to truly get the concept. They enjoyed them anyway though. There was a "Pin the tail on Oreo" game...most of the kids just placed the tails where they went with their eyes uncovered, but they loved it!
A pony party wouldn't be complete without a pony cake, so here it is. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but there's a barn, pail of water, hay stacks and grass with flowers for Oreo to enjoy. My cake-making skills have improved over the years, but making a horse was a little outside my abilities. Luckily, we have an abundance of horses in different sizes to choose from to add to the cake.
Avery enjoyed her chocolate cake with pink vanilla buttercream.
There was quite a stack of presents for Avery to tackle. It always amazes me how generous people are, especially to Avery. The picture is of Avery and her friend Lucy from her Little Gym class admiring the great gift that Lucy gave to Avery.
So many gifts to open!
It's difficult to get a good picture of Avery and Aunt Chelsea together...they both have trouble with a posed smile. This one turned out great!
After all the fun was over, it was time to say good bye to Oreo. Avery gave her a proper thank you, with another carrot of course, and walked her out to the trailer. Avery was sad to see her go and asked if Oreo could stay at her house. We eventually convinced her that Oreo would be sad without her other horse friends that she lives with at Nana and Papa's house. That seemed to help. All in all, it was a great day! It's so nice to see all the people that come to Avery's party every year, a true testament to how great a girl she is! Happy Birthday Avery!
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