Accio Birthday!

Adelaide had a very magical birthday this year! She started reading the Harry Potter series at the end of the school year. She flew through all eight books, and like many a child before her (including her parents), she was swept away by the story. 

So, it was easy to pick a theme for this year's party. Our little Hufflepuff awoke to an invitation on her door inviting her to a Hogwarts Birthday downstairs. We even follow the online tutorials to soak the letters and envelopes in tea and bake them in the oven for a parchment effect... Miraculously, we didn't even burn any! 

 Special delivery!

 Her invitation...

Oh, she's excited!

We also put a new wall sticker by her bed, so every morning she wakes up to a pretend window view of Hogwarts. Downstairs, she found the owls had delivered more than just letters. Every present was wrapped in OWL Post packaging. 

Owl post deliveries and sorting hat cupcakes!

 Giant smiles!

We put up Daily Prophet articles,

Ministry of Magic Educational Decrees,

and advertisements from wizarding business.

George & Fred defaced them with funny comments. 

Had to get dressed before we let her jump

into the presents pile... so hard to wait! 

She approves of the decorations, even the

most wanted sign of herself.

Have you seen this birthday girl?

The wrappings of her gifts gave clues to what was inside, and she and Eleanor had fun guessing and laughing when they figured it out. From the Quality Quidditch Supplies, a helmet. From Flourish and Blotts, books. From Hogwarts, a Hogwarts shirt. From Madame Malkins, wizarding robes. From Ollivanders, her very own wand! And, muggle gifts from packages marked "Transfer from Muggle Post."

She loved all the gifts, but was especially excited about her robes and wand. Matt carved the wand himself to recreate the one she was matched to on Pottermore. She could not have been more thrilled.

Opening her first gift...

What could it be?

 That moment when you are holding your

first wand in your hand!

 Casting some spells...

 So happy! Best gift ever!

 Robes!! 

 Officially the best day ever!

 The helmet was fun. She needed a bigger one for bike

riding. This one has a light in it. While she yelled, "Lumos"

and "Nox" with her wand, I clicked it on and off. The boys

were AMAZED at her skills.

 Don't forget the muggle gifts! Thanks Grandparents

for awesome books and craft kits!

Accio Birthday!

Adelaide had an extra magical birthday, because her best cousin buddy was done from NorCal for the holiday. So, we went from an incredible present opening party to a pancake party! 

 Ready for pancakes!

Happy Birthday to you!

 Birthday Crew!

Between presents and pancakes, it was a busy morning. So, we took the kids home for a break. We met up with the Parkers later for some pool play and birthday dinner. Adelaide enjoyed getting to play with her toys, and we ran everyone to the free community festival for some bouncy castle play. Which.... probably wasn't as restful as we were thinking. But, the kids had a blast.

 Mom and the Birthday Girl!

Red, White, and Blue Crew!

 Playing carnival games!

 Ready to battle! They popped an unbelievable

amount of these in their quest for justice.

 Back with the Parkers for pool time!

 And loving the giant bubbles from the

bubble kit Uncle David and Grandpa Thomas 

got for them.

Olivia isn't into the Harry Potter books yet, so we made some puppy dog cupcakes in addition to the sorting hat ones. They were super cute... WERE that is... until we drove over and hit a sharp turn.

Before...

 After... 

One of the puppy faces survived, and some of the paw prints... so we set that out for Olivia. Sorry cuz! Before cupcakes, we had pasta. Olivia loves butter noodles and Adelaide loves alfredo. So, we had a pasta bar. Dave found the food coloring and made his noodles patriotic.

 All-American Pasta

 Matt is rocking the wrong flag

on his pasta...

 8 is great!

She got Hufflepuff!

Adelaide loved the sorting hat cupcakes, though was so worried she wouldn't get Hufflepuff. She was so relieved when it worked out perfectly (don't tell, Melinda marked the bottoms of the Hufflepuff ones). Everyone else was pretty entertained to see what they got. Doug and Dave were proud Slytherins, and Dad and the boys got Ravenclaw. Eleanor was also a Hufflepuff and Mom was a Gryffindor. 

It was an incredible day. Dad and the girls wrapped up the day with fireworks, watched at our local park. The boys were just too tired and so Melinda stayed home with them so they could go to bed. It was an incredible, magical 4th of July and birthday. Love you little Hufflepuff!