she's six.

six years ago yesterday... our lives changed forever when our baby girl was born. more reflections to come this week, but for now... payton's carnival birthday celebration.

a celebration of payton's life. a celebration of down syndrome. a celebration of every thing that she is... and so much more.



the snack bar.


i made this after being inspired on pinterest. isn't it adorable? i love the pennant flags!

icy cold lemonade.



swirly pops and popcorn.





cotton candy and nachos. churros and roasted peanuts.





carnival games.

duck pond.







bean bag toss.



clothespin drop.





face painting.







photo booth.



party hats, rock star sunglasses. and don't forget the lips and mustaches. just don't glue the mustaches upside down like i apparently did... oopsie.


i adore this photo... payton and some of her classmates.

when we had a garage sale fundraiser a few years ago for our adoption of nika, someone gave us a polaroid camera and film. we didn't sell it and it has been sitting in storage since. kyle pulled it out and found it was fully functional... yes! photo booth perfected.







my absolutely scrumptious niece. love her.



the limbo.







hold the line please. snack break.


she's a trip.



the prize booth.







happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!
happy birthday dear payton, happy birthday to you!



for party favors... we sent each of the girls home with a goldfish. i was really nervous the parents would kill me for this... but i knew the girls would love it. we wanted to make sure they all had some food on hand, so we borrowed some ketchup containers from *cough* a fast food chain *cough* to hold fish food.

*snickers*



trying to keep 35 goldfish alive is hard... we bought them the night before the party and 19 of them died. that is not a typo... seriously! stupid fish. we restocked the morning of the party. lessons learned... do not feed the fish and do not admit to the pet store that the fish are for a birthday party or a carnival... because uh, they aren't allowed to sell them to you if you do. why yes sir, we do have a 10-gallon tank of um, just goldfish.

*grins*



i have to say... the goldfish were damn brilliant. love it... and i think everyone else did too.

after most everyone went home... we went outside so payton could let her balloons go into the sky. whew... that made my emotions let loose a bit. the finale to an amazing party... sort of symbolic, sharing the love and happiness from our day with the world.





and then more than half of the damn balloons got stuck in the trees.

*sigh*



let's just pretend that part didn't happen.



bye boons... in the sky!



the perfect ending.

best part of the day... seeing the happy, giddy faces of payton and her friends. there is so much that you miss when you are the party hostess and have your face behind a lens. but... i loved hearing stories from our friends and family after everyone went home.

it makes my heart happy.

happy 6th birthday payton... i hope your day was everything you could have ever hoped for and more. one thing is evident... you are loved and supported by so many.

we are blessed beyond measure.

::


party tips... coming in a bit...