Elena's Cowboy B-D

We celebrated Elena's birthday a little early and had her birthday dinner on Friday.  She wanted spaghetti and meatballs, green beans, and garlic bread.  Yum.  

And she was very excited, can't you tell?

She wanted a cowboy birthday, and all she wanted was horse things and cowgirl stuff.  Hence the cowboy boot cake. 

Her abuelitos gave her a Breyer horse and Schleich cart and horse, which she loved, and a sticker book of horses.  Oh, and a puzzle.  

Leo and I bought her cowgirl gear--the boots, hat, and 3 western shirts (the shirts were an AWESOME find at Once Upon a Child--sometimes Texas is cool for things like that.)

Then on Saturday we had her birthday party.  I'm following my sister's plan of only having b-day parties when they turn 7 and 11.  It's just too much otherwise.  We took "wanted" pictures, that I plan on mailing a copy of them to the kids in their thank-you notes.  

 I love Sebastian's!

 Then we played pin the tail on the pony.

 Then we went outside (the whole party was supposed to be outside but it rained all night, so it was too muddy) and had barrel relay races around 5 gallon pails with a few stick horses I made.

 Seven year olds are the perfect age for a party--they love everything you do and are easily entertained! They all loved it.

 Then we practiced our lassoing skills.  I was going to make a paper maché bull's head to lasso, but unfortunately paper maché takes 8 million years to dry here in Houston so that went out the window.  Luckily, we had Bull's Eye to stand in.

Then they practiced their quick draws against some ornery cacti.  That was definitely a hit!  Hee. Hee. 

Then we had some snacks--Lil Smokies wrapped in crescent rolls, licorice, pretzels, and juice.  I was going to put cute tags on them, like "rope" and "cactus juice" but frankly, I got lazy and said who cares?  Not me, and not Elena for that matter.  

Elena's second birthday cake.  

 

Then we opened presents, which Elena loved, and parents came and picked up their kids, and Leo and I laid on the floor for the next hour trying to recuperate.  Wow.  It was mayhem.  But Elena loved it!  She was so happy.  :)  Two of my friends at church both said their boys loved it too.  So that's good.  One little boy didn't want to take his mustache off, and now he wants to be a cowboy for Halloween.  

 So each kid got a bandana, and a hat, and when they left, a little galvanized bucket with some candy, horse stickers and a sheriff's badge.  

The end.