Gwen in Sevenland

For Gwen's 7th birthday party she wanted to have a Mad Tea Party/ginormous Alice in Wonderland fiesta. Which of course made me SO happy! My middle name is Alison and for the looooongest time I thought Alison Wonderland and I shared a name, which of course meant I naturally loved everything Alice in Wonderland!

As usual I made way too much food, tried to do too many decorations and had a lot of frustration that all the fabu things in my head my inept hands couldn't produce. Major "wins" for the day? Gwen couldn't have been happier, I managed to actually take pictures, AAAAAAAAAAAND I somehow caught the Englishman unawares and managed to extract a promise to dress up (he must not have been listening to what I was asking him, or known what/who Tweedle dum and Tweedle dee were when he agreed!)

We had a great time having White Rabbit sack races (hurry, don't be late), painting our own mad teacups, playing red heart croquet (don't lose your head), eating snacks, drinking tea pink lemonade and hanging with a "real" Alice or two.

All of us doing the "important things". Gwen=facepainting - I think by the time Alice left not a square inch of her face/arms etc wasn't covered in face paint! Englishman= trying the dessert table, and me= instagramming

Cheshire Cat Toms

Saved the best pic for last!

A Giant Birthday!

Gwen started out her birthday like most other birthdays (why oh why did I ever start this tradition?) eating ice cream for breakfast! At least this year I managed to bamboozle her into eating the ice cream atop a waffle... seems a bit better than just a straight breakfast bowl of ice cream?!?!?

We (me, the Englishman, Gwen and my parents) all then went to the Giants game! I had signed Gwen up to be the Seal-ibrity of the game so she got to take a little ride with the Giant's mascot Lou Seal during the 3rd inning around the baseball field. Offffffffffff course she needed a chaperon so I was in for the action too! Good thing I have been practicing my princess wave my whole life - I may have been outed as future Queen by Kate Middleton, but I sure waved the heck out of  AT&T today!

We watched the first inning (and an almost fight!) then were whisked back behind the scenes to meet Lou Seal, check out his golf cart, and wait for just the right moment to make Gwen's big birthday appearance!

I know you are dying to see some video of our awesomeness now too right?

After our ride, a few more minutes were spent hanging out with Lou the Seal, his ginormous championship rings, and his ever present thumbs up!

We then hightailed it back to our seats for some garlic fries, hot dogs and a whole lot more Giants baseball!

The Giants ended up winning (especially for Gwen on her birthday and my mom who kind of hates baseball and only came because she is the best grandma in the world and I bought her that Vince sweater to wear!) and the weather was gorgeous and sunny all afternoon! It was the perfect way to celebrate my little baseball lover's birthday! (And let's be honest, I love baseball, all four of those crazy companions of mine, hot dogs and the sun. I couldn't have masterminded a better Wednesday afternoon if I tried!)

We raced home to open Gwendolyn's birthday presents - she couldn't wait a minute longer - and then went to our fav Mexican place for some chips, guac, chicken tacos and a special birthday churro/ice cream combo dessert. Then it was home for MORE ice cream... Gwen's ice cream birthday cake and candles!

Happy 7th Birthday my sweet Gwendolyn!