Sage's birthday beach bash!

Well, another birthday under the belt. It's hard to believe our baby is four. Jack and I were just talking about how much easier Sage has been as a toddler than the boys were. It's not that the boys were particularly difficult but boy were they BUSY. With Sage there's been no broken toy of the day, no need for reverse locks on her bedroom door and no worries about her tumbling out her bedroom window. I know this probably means we will be in for it during those dreadful, hormonal teenage years when she'll probably be locking us out of her bedroom as she tries to sneak out her bedroom window but for now, we are enjoying the moment.

Since Sage didn't really have a particular theme she was interested in for her birthday party, I was stuck on my own trying to figure out what to do. A couple weeks ago (in the midst of our unseasonably, dreary spring weather) Sage asked, "When is the sun going to turn on it's light?" We all got a good chuckle but it sparked the idea for a beach themed birthday party! It's no secret the Roddy family loves the beach so this was right up our alley. Even if it meant pumping up the heat and hanging a tanning bed over the dining room table we were doing it. Thankfully the sun "turned on it's light" and the weather was beautiful.

I'm no baker and definitely no cake decorator but I have to say I'm really liking cupcakes. I love that I can test out an idea on a cupcake and if it doesn't turn out there are a couple dozen more I have as backups. I am far (and I mean far) from being a domestic diva but I have to say these cupcakes turned out rather cute! The boys were especially angry that I decided to again have Sage's party while they were away at school so I tried to make up for it by making them some shark cupcakes that were waiting for them when they got home.



No need to worry about blowing germs onto everyone else's piece of cake...just concern that all the candles get blown out!




How cute are these girls!!! They decorated sun visors, played pin the sunglasses on the sun and tested out their their water balloon tossing abilities!





One of my favorite images was watching all the girls gather tightly around Sage with their presents begging her to select their gift to open next. Boy, what a different scene this is compared to the one I use to witness when the boys attended parties at this age. It's bad enough having to listen to all the complaining beforehand about having to give a gift that they would want to always keep for themselves but compound that with the shedding of tears during the opening of presents and a full on tug of war between them and the birthday child over the gift, made for one ugly scene. Thankfully, those days are now a distant memory and a memory we didn't have to revisit with Sage.




Now I better run and start thinking about next year's theme...