"Come Clown Around With Rachel"

"...in celebration of her 6th birthday!"

That's how the invitations read, and that's what happened here at our house today! We had a clown themed birthday party for Rachel. It was very simple - just a few afternoon snacks, cupcakes, and ice cream. And lots and lots of silly kids running about.

The invitations also read to come dressed up in your best clown attire (oversized shirts, pants, big shoes, etc). For the last few years, my Mom and I have been wanting to make Rachel a clown costume, and this was the perfect opportunity! After a trip to Joanne's, we found the perfect material, and after almost two days straight, my Mom sewed and put together Rachel's costume!!! She even made her a matching little bag to take with us trunk or treating this year!My nieces came dressed in their best clown attire, they came dressed as Rodeo Clowns! Having slept in pink spongy rollers, their hair was absolutely adorable, and their costumes were priceless, complete with yellow rope suspenders and my brothers shoes!I had a few games planned, very simple, inexpensive, yet fun. First up was the balancing beam, because every clown should know how to balance! And they should be able to balance holding an umbrella and wearing oversized glasses. This was so much fun to watch the kids do, especially those wearing their Daddy's shoes!This game was short and sweet, maybe too short. LOL. But it was simple. I divided up the kids into two teams and they had to toss the colored ball in to the bucket. I had a third game planned, but truth be told, the kids all seemed like they would rather just play in the backyard. Which was totally fine with me. This last week, we've been experiencing an extreme heat wave and today was in the mid 80s (it literally had cooled down about 30 degrees since the beginning of the week), so it was nice to be outside and enjoying the beautiful day the Lord had blessed us with.

What party isn't a party without cupcakes and ice cream?!?! All the little clowns enjoyed the cupcakes and ice cream and following that, it was Rachel's favorite time of the party - opening presents!She received a lot of nice things, including Mario Kart for her DSi, Twinkle Toes shoes, a beautiful craft box filled with craft stuff, a Tinkerbell Tea Set, Toys R Us gift card, hard cold cash, and even a football! She definitely had a great day and we're so very thankful to our friends and family who came to help celebrate Rachel's birthday with us!