Julia's 9th birthday!
Three adults, one preschooler, and 15 nine-year-old girls in a 786 sq foot house for three hours. Loud, a bit chaotic, but fun. And I'm glad it's over for another year ;-)
As soon as were all up, Julia opened her gifts from us. Jack and I gave her Toy Story 3.
Julia gave Charlotte a big hug for her gift - Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
Charlotte was realizing that she wouldn't get to open any of the presents!
Kim gave Julia her very own copy of Twilight. Normally, I would fix the red-eye in this picture, but I thought it was kind of appropriate ;-) Julia did nothing else but carry this book around and read it, updating me every time she finished a chapter. She loves the movies and is glad to have her own copy of the (first) book!
Julia requested french toast for breakfast. Ask, and ye shall receive, birthday girl.
I gave Julia some brown bags and a pile of markers and stickers to make loot bags for her friends. The bags were empty and the girls each 'won' prizes for the games at the party to take home with them.
Julia's cakes! I had only planned to make one but when I realized that all the girls in her class were coming, I made two!
The first few guests that arrived were suitably impressed by the cakes. "Are these pizzas for supper!?"
We played several lively games of Pizza bingo. The girls wanted to keep playing long after the prizes were all handed out so I pulled out some fruit rollups from the cupboard for more prizes and kept going! I even got rid of some of Julia and Charlotte's Halloween candy ;-)
After bingo, the girls gathered in the kitchen to make their own pizzas. I had to bake them in shifts since our oven certainly couldn't hold 15 pizzas at once!
While the pizzas baked, Julia started opening her presents, literally surrounded by her friends! (And I could never quite fit all the girls into one picture! 55mm lens and a small house just don't work well together)
Kim was a big help. She poured pop for the kids, played music DJ, made Charlotte's pizza, and even quickly braided Charlotte's hair!
While the girls ate their pizzas in shifts, Kim played dj and put some hip hop music on. Charlotte's dancing was a real hit with Julia and her friends.
Go Charlotte....go charlotte....go charlotte!
*sigh* always on my mind. Bittersweet that one of Julia's classmates has the same name. Many of the girls stopped to look at Abby's picture frame in the living room and Julia was proud to tell them about her baby sister.
With games, supper and gifts over with, it was time for cake and ice cream!
Happy Birthday to you...
And for those who are curious, this is how I made the cakes:
I baked the cakes in foil pizza pans, and one deep dish pizza pan. One cake mix filled the two shallow foil pans, and another cake mix for the deep dish pan. Vanilla cake, as Julia requested, and the golden color was the perfect color to look like a real pizza.
I used strawberry jam for the 'pizza sauce'
I cut up wine gums into 'olives and peppers'.
I used a small plastic container to cut 'pepperoni' from red fruit rollups.
And finely shredded coconut for 'cheese'.
When we closed up the box to make room for supper, some of the cake toppings stuck to the lid of the box just like a real pizza would! LOL
The day was a success. Jack came home early from work, halfway through the party. He made pizza for the two of us, scooped ice cream, served cake, and killed a spider that dared to dangle from a web over the kitchen table while we ate cake. You can imagine the sound of 17 screaming females when Jack pinched off the web and dangled the spider in our direction! Yup, two advil on board now, and I'm going to have some more cake before I call it a night. As much work as it was, Julia was so happy and her friends all had a great time so it was worth it. Now I get a month before I have to do another party - for Kim!
As soon as were all up, Julia opened her gifts from us. Jack and I gave her Toy Story 3.
Julia gave Charlotte a big hug for her gift - Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
Charlotte was realizing that she wouldn't get to open any of the presents!
Kim gave Julia her very own copy of Twilight. Normally, I would fix the red-eye in this picture, but I thought it was kind of appropriate ;-) Julia did nothing else but carry this book around and read it, updating me every time she finished a chapter. She loves the movies and is glad to have her own copy of the (first) book!
Julia requested french toast for breakfast. Ask, and ye shall receive, birthday girl.
I gave Julia some brown bags and a pile of markers and stickers to make loot bags for her friends. The bags were empty and the girls each 'won' prizes for the games at the party to take home with them.
Julia's cakes! I had only planned to make one but when I realized that all the girls in her class were coming, I made two!
The first few guests that arrived were suitably impressed by the cakes. "Are these pizzas for supper!?"
We played several lively games of Pizza bingo. The girls wanted to keep playing long after the prizes were all handed out so I pulled out some fruit rollups from the cupboard for more prizes and kept going! I even got rid of some of Julia and Charlotte's Halloween candy ;-)
After bingo, the girls gathered in the kitchen to make their own pizzas. I had to bake them in shifts since our oven certainly couldn't hold 15 pizzas at once!
While the pizzas baked, Julia started opening her presents, literally surrounded by her friends! (And I could never quite fit all the girls into one picture! 55mm lens and a small house just don't work well together)
Kim was a big help. She poured pop for the kids, played music DJ, made Charlotte's pizza, and even quickly braided Charlotte's hair!
While the girls ate their pizzas in shifts, Kim played dj and put some hip hop music on. Charlotte's dancing was a real hit with Julia and her friends.
Go Charlotte....go charlotte....go charlotte!
*sigh* always on my mind. Bittersweet that one of Julia's classmates has the same name. Many of the girls stopped to look at Abby's picture frame in the living room and Julia was proud to tell them about her baby sister.
With games, supper and gifts over with, it was time for cake and ice cream!
Happy Birthday to you...
And for those who are curious, this is how I made the cakes:
I baked the cakes in foil pizza pans, and one deep dish pizza pan. One cake mix filled the two shallow foil pans, and another cake mix for the deep dish pan. Vanilla cake, as Julia requested, and the golden color was the perfect color to look like a real pizza.
I used strawberry jam for the 'pizza sauce'
I cut up wine gums into 'olives and peppers'.
I used a small plastic container to cut 'pepperoni' from red fruit rollups.
And finely shredded coconut for 'cheese'.
When we closed up the box to make room for supper, some of the cake toppings stuck to the lid of the box just like a real pizza would! LOL
The day was a success. Jack came home early from work, halfway through the party. He made pizza for the two of us, scooped ice cream, served cake, and killed a spider that dared to dangle from a web over the kitchen table while we ate cake. You can imagine the sound of 17 screaming females when Jack pinched off the web and dangled the spider in our direction! Yup, two advil on board now, and I'm going to have some more cake before I call it a night. As much work as it was, Julia was so happy and her friends all had a great time so it was worth it. Now I get a month before I have to do another party - for Kim!