The Friends

We started the party off by painting nails purple, face painting a wide variety of requests, and making bracelets.  From there we moved to the "photo booth" where we had props and let the girls pose for pictures. We made sure to get everyone with Erin, I'm hoping I didn't miss anyone! This turned out to be quite a hit, the girls loved it.

The second half of the party had a special treat. Tristen attends our church and we learned that he has a very special balloon talent. He happened to be available for the part of the afternoon so we asked him to come provide some fun entertainment and favors for the girls. He did a great job fulfilling all the requests and even brought lots of purple balloons. He also dressed to match the party which did not go unnoticed by Erin! Thank you Tristen! You made it a great party!

And he taught him self to do this. Now that's talent!

Thank you to everyone for making Erin's party so special!

Purplicious, Purpletastic Party!

Party day finally arrived! Erin wanted a party where "everyone hides and when you come into the room they all yell 'surprise'". I told her as much as I thought that would be fun I didn't think I could pull that off with her here all the time. Maybe when she's turning 16!

So we compromised and she made her guest list (left no stone unturned there!) and chose her theme. She wanted a purple party. Huh? Just purple? Yep, I was told nothing else just purple and that was the end of her involvement. When she said she wanted to be surprised I told her the only way I could do that was to have Lindy and Paige and I plan it and get it organized and surprise her with the decorations, activities, and food. Oh, she wanted chocolate cupcakes with purple icing. That was the last request!

Since Erin had never had a friend party and she probably won't for awhile, we wanted to make it super special. We indulged and spoiled her. She is the baby of the family!

I found different decorating ideas and my "committee" gave feedback. Well, they pretty much loved everything! So the purple party took shape with lots of work by very enthusiastic sisters.

Due to Erin's really bad ear infection we lost 2 days of set up and work so we were running way behind Friday. But everyone volunteered to help, even the boys. Erin was determined for this to be a surprise so we told her she could not go in the basement at all so we had a room to work.

Everyone took turns keeping her company. Once, she was alone on the computer and when I came upstairs to get something she said, "Now I know what its like to live by myself. I always wondered what it would be like to have the whole house to myself."

She never once whined about coming downstairs. She never peeked. She never complained.

When we started decorating Saturday Ethan took her for a bike ride and played basketball with her while the rest of the family worked fast to get things done. She was very pleased with the results!

My favorite part of the party planning was spending the time with Lindy and Paige. As we worked all day Friday I could see a flash into the future of what it will be like to do things like this when they are older. We spent evenings and all day Friday sitting around chatting while gluing, cutting papers and ribbon, working on games and favors. It was really a special time for all of us.

Party decorations are below.Party Pictures to follow.

The chocolate cupcakes! We made the toppers which have purple and monkeys on them. Erin loves monkeys so we wanted to find some way to incorporate them in the party.

New birthday banner! Loved making this!

The girls wanted a streamer wall for the guests to walk through.

We made giant tissue flowers to hang from the ceiling.

Erin's favorite flowers are tulips so we used purple tulips and hyacinth for the table along with candles.

Purple tulle bows on the back of chairs.

Lavender and purple M&M's in clear boxes with purple Easter grass.

Purple Peeps!

Purple Candy Bar for everyone to take home treats. It's very convenient to have your birthday near Easter.

Purple favor bags which carried candy boxes and purple flower hair clips we made below.

Rainy Day Bubbles

 The birthday celebration is in full swing and started Thursday when the first gift arrived from our friend Rachel who couldn't make the party today. Then Friday Erin's sweet friend Eva dropped of a gift since she couldn't make the party. Apparently Eva insisted that they get Erin a gift and deliver it before the weekend. I insisted it wasn't necessary but Eva had other plans and they involved shopping for Erin. I'm not about to take a shopping trip away from a girl!
Of course my camera battery was charging when Eva arrived so no pictures of the girls together. Later that afternoon Erin was trying to keep herself busy while we worked to get her "surprise" party ready. She called us all out to the driveway to see her bubble creation. Bubbles were just one of the many gifts that Eva chose!
So the girls and I all watched as Erin got up close and personal with the driveway while it drizzled. She used up over half the bubbles and Paige and I were cracking up because she was so adorable. The cuteness factor was especially high due to the fact she put her skirt on backwards over her leggings!
It was so sweet for her friends to bring her gifts even though they wouldn't be here. I know that she's my little girl but she is a sweetheart and it seems that her friends feel the same way about her.

Formal is a Hit!

More pictures to come but I had to get Kyle and Cynthia's picture posted. All the kids had a great time and so did the adults who were helping, Bill and I included!
We started with everyone learning the Swing and Rumba basic steps. Everyone had time to practice with a partner and then we let them dance the rest of the night away. Even the reluctant boys had a great time which I was so happy about or I would have been in serious trouble.
We had a photographer get pictures of all the kids throughout the night so we will have plenty of great pictures in a couple of weeks so more to come!
The after party was a huge hit with video games, pizza, poker (?!), Just Dance, food, and all night fun. Not sure how much sleep everyone got but we didn't care since we went to bed!
Thanks to Owen and Jayme for providing a wonderful place to have our event, Owen for great enthusiasm and getting kids off to a great start, Kristi for helping kids create memories of the evening, Aimee for awesome food, and Cynthia, Kassi, Sam, Alyssa, Jenna, and Anna for planning a great night.
Thanks Lindy, Paige, Erin, and Grace for fixing my hair and getting me dressed up!

One Down, One to Go

 Lindy's first competition of the season wrapped up tonight after a crazy afternoon of three dances in 40 minutes. The Juniorettes did awesome winning 1st place in tap and lyrical. They also received High Gold in all their dances including Jazz.
I love the fact that I am not the only mom who gets teary eyed watching them dance! When the lyrical team does their lift and puts Lindy above their heads and carries her it just looks so awesome. They work so well as a team and have become great friends over the past 2 years.
Miss Brittney gave each of the girls a bracelet and a sweet note of encouragement before the day started. It was so sweet and a wonderful way to give some last minute confidence.
Having a Junior team who cheers them on really makes them all feel so special to be a part of the whole team. As a mom I love knowing that Lindy is always where she needs to be with the Juniors and her big sis looking out for her.
After a lunch/dinner break we ran back to take home awards. I lost track of how many trophies both teams took home, I know that Miss Sandy was very pleased.
Huge thanks to Miss Sandy and Miss Brittney for a wonderful year.

 Lindy and her "Big Sis" Lexi

 Lindy and Helen

Spaghetti Warehouse Break! 

 Packed stage for awards!

Finger Knitting

Paige and Lindy are learning to crochet and one of the things they have learned is finger knitting. It is so cute to watch them with their huge balls of yarn sitting and making scarves and chatting away! Paige was very excited to make a scarf for her Mimi who proudly wore it to work and got many compliments.

We Love Cake Boss!

We have been so busy I have not even taken the pictures off my camera for almost 2 weeks which is unheard of! Never in my life have I been THIS busy. And Bill is just as crazy with scout stuff and work. It is bordering on insanity in our household, but all good stuff. As you can see from the newest pictures, really fun stuff.

Two weeks ago our good friends invited us to go see Buddy from Cake Boss. Being that we are huge fans we were not turning that invite down. We saw him last year when he was in town but we didn't get to meet him. Thanks to our friend McKinley's diligence in getting good tickets we were able to get pictures and autographs. Thank you McKinley!!

Both Lindy and Erin wore their Cake Boss t-shirts that we got last year and not only did Buddy sign pictures for them he also did their t-shirts! He was also so sweet and posed with each of them individually. The kids loved it!