Sleepover for #13

This past weekend our new teenager invited some friends over for a sleepover to celebrate her birthday. We kept the invite list pretty small and it turned out that it was Rachael's quiet friends that were able to make it. She tends to get along really well with smart interesting kids and it turns out that a lot of them are pretty calm. Rachael and her friends have a great a balance between them.

The girls shared pizza and salad and snacks before heading down to play some sort of hide and go seek in the dark, that involved scaring people as much as possible. Rachael had helped make and decorate her cupcakes that afternoon. She made cupcakes with Pop Rocks in them and then she made a few that looked like sheep. She was thrilled to share them with everyone when it was time for presents and cake.

The sisters all participated in the food and cake but then they gave Rae and her friends plenty of space to hang out together. Megan was a bit entranced by Rachael's teenage friends but Megan was wonderful at respecting boundaries.

Rachael and her firends played games and watched a movie before crashing out at a decent hour. At first I was concerned by Rachael's 7AM game the morning of her party but it turned out to have sapped just enough energy to let her be able to fall asleep. Everyone woke up and enjoyed breakfast together before a few games and parent pickups.

This party had a mature feeling to it. It was both foreign and good. Rachael is growing up.

Bridget's Frozen Birthday Celebration

Bridget's winter birthday and her desire to see the new Disney movie "Frozen" came together for a great 7th Birthday Party this past weekend. Bridget invited a group of her girlfriends to join us at the movie theater and they excitedly chattered as we waited for everyone to arrive. The big sisters joined us for the movie while Papa and Johanna walked the mall.

When the party goers were ready we went in and all picked up kid's snack packs and our 3D glasses. The girls were all so cute and willing to help carry popcorn and drinks. Emma and Rachael had gone in early and saved us seats, while Megan helped carry and hand out things for our guests. It took the girls a little bit of time to get settled in a way that would prevent the seats from folding up on them, and watching them manage it reminded me of how young 7 still is.

We all thoroughly loved the movie. The story was great, the animation beautiful and the soundtrack fun. It was especially nice to see a film about sisters that had a solid message with all of my girls together. Bridget and her friends were all beaming and chattered as we walked through the mall. While we were watching the movie Jim was setting up a table for us in the food court and gathering supplies from the car. Everything was ready when we arrived from the movie. We shared cupcakes together and sang Bridget a Happy Birthday.

Downton Abbey Party

Emma, Rachael, and I have become big fans of the BBC series Downton Abbey. The show is in it's 4th season but we only discovered it this past summer. Our summer included a number of Downton Abbey marathons as we caught up on the past episodes. Emma so thoroughly enjoyed it that she asked for the DVDs for her birthday, and this provided us the opportunity to watch the episodes again in a more leisurely way. We also discovered that our new passion is shared by many of our friends and we were all eagerly anticipating the season 4 premiere.

This excitement turned into a plan for a premiere watching party, complete with doily bunting, tea sandwiches, fine china and silver, trivia, a drinking and bingo game, and a painted mural. We divided tasks among friends and  our family handled the decorations and games. I had a blast finding images and sayings to watch and listen for during our games. Emma spent a few hours of her Winter break painting the abbey and we strung doilies while re-watching the season 3 finale.

The party itself was wonderful as we were surrounded by others who were just as excited as we were. The food was great and the 2 hour episode didn't disappoint.