Saturday, June 28, 2014

More of birthday #8

 
Miss M needed a cake on her "real" birthday, and I was more than happy to oblige!  I love to bake, so birthdays are extra fun in that respect. I rarely bake cakes - we just never finish them - but there are usually some extra folks around for birthdays to help us out!

The day actually started with a fun new tradition, the birthday streamers, that Big J and I set up the night before. (And the birthday streamers started with Little J's birthday last year. Due to a crazy schedule, we needed something a little extra fun and crazy to commemorate his big day. It was such a hit, Miss M has been eagerly looking forward to it this year!)

It's sure hard to get good pictures at night! We set this all up the night before, after the kiddos were asleep. 

I missed seeing M wake up and discover all of the streamer craziness, but Big J said she loved it!

I let her take some selfies with my phone on the way to day camp, we had her well check that afternoon (thankfully no shots, and she was excited to get her hearing checked!), then met her Birthday Buddy (a friend from church with the exact same birthday, just a couple of hours older) for ice cream. That evening, we had dinner at a restaurant of her choosing (Cheddar's) and came home for birthday cake!  Yep, you can have two desserts on your birthday - and one before dinner!

There were a few gifts waiting at home - a couple of art and activity books and a camp chair in her favorite color (blue!). She's also gotten a couple of birthday cards with money and gift cards, so today we took her shopping to buy something special. She picked out a Lego set, which she completed with just a little help.  I'm pretty sure she's going to enjoy Lego camp later this summer!

Happy #8, M!

My kids are growing up, y'all. And last weekend we had a party for the littler of my littles (though they really are not so little any more). Miss M turned 8!  We had a small, backyard party that she helped plan. She also helped with some of the favors and decorations. Our theme was "magical rainbow" - and here's a bit of what we put together...

Wreath for the front door with removable number 8. As you can see, I hadn't actually attached it at this point. 

Water bottles - and plenty of them - since the weather would be pretty warm, even for a party in the morning. 

Tissue paper pins for decorations - eventually hung underneath the canopy we set up (to provide some shade for the refreshments). 

Party favors in progress - magic wands, of course! These were definitely a team effort - and so much fun!  Each party-goer got their own color or wand, silly string, and goody bag (see other items in the background).

Cake pops!!! So yummy! And all 35 disappeared between party goers and parents (Miss M is ever the hostess, so she gave them to parents as they picked up their kids from the party).  Which was good, since I knew I'd be baking a layer cake for her actual birthday.

Centerpiece painted by Miss M!

The refreshment table. I didn't get a good pic of the poms hanging underneath - but they really added a lot!

It was such a low-key, fun morning! Additional festivities and pictures to follow - her real birthday wasn't for a couple more days!