Los Angeles, California: Leo turned three years old today and his parents threw a big shindig (at Leo's pre-school) with a farm theme. Friends, classmates and family attended.
A few weeks ago, Lisa, Angela (Leo's Godmother) and Ryan painted a canvas back-drop for the buffet table:
And though Lisa usually prefers to cook all the food herownself, Lisa is going to have a baby any day now and it wasn't difficult to convince her to have the food prepared by a favorite bakery/cafe in Atwater Village - The Village Bakery & Cafe. The Village baked the little smash cake, mini-cupcakes and Lisa and Lenny ordered fried chicken, potato salad and cornbread muffins. The only thing I had to do was slice a few watermelons. Super easy and a great menu for a "farm" party.
Lisa also allowed someone else to bake and decorate cookies - cows, horses, pigs, ducks, sheep and adorable little red barns! Lisa served many items in small red-bandana-lined bushel basket. Clever!
The young guests received treat bags with a farm animal screen print. Depending on the age of the guest, the bag contained farm animal bath toys or a Duplo farm set - plus other little surprises.Then Lenny and Lisa arranged for a petting zoo/pony ride company to bring in some critters.
Ponies, goats, sheep, a llama, a turkey, an 80-year-old Desert Tortoise, bunnies, chickens and a Guinea pig!
Since the party was held outdoors at Leo's school, there was already a bounce-house and plenty of playground equipment to occupy the kidlets when they weren't petting animals or eating fried chicken.Already in comfortable and familiar surroundings, with only family and friends in attendance, Leo loved being the center of attention when it was time to blow out the candles and sing Happy Birthday!
After we sang, and cupcakes were passed-around to the guests, Leo and a few of his little pals attacked the smash cake!
Besides the Birthday Boy - there were two other stars at Leo's Birthday Bash - his great grandmother (Lenny's maternal grandmother traveled from Cincinnati) and Leo's Mom - who orchestrated the whole celebration (for 60 guests) just weeks before giving birth. That's Our Girl!Until my next update, I remain, your very happy correspondent.