2012 Week 41

This week is all about the birthdays.  I had a very happy birthday on Monday.  Everyone had the day off.  The kids and Sam made breakfast and we finished painting the new shelves in the pantry - love them!  They also snuck out and bought me flowers.  And Sam made a very nice dinner for us all.
The rest of the week is a bit of a blur with normal stuff and party prep for Kaitlyn's birthday.

Hat Day on Friday!  Followed up by Kaitlyn's first big slumber party.  10 little girls, excited, hyper, happy, LOUD little girls.  They had a blast.

Kaitlyn's requested theme was a dance party, with rainbow colors.

And dance they did.  The music was on practically non-stop with them just dancing, playing a few dance games, putting on "shows," the limbo, and we even turned off the lights and did some dancing with glow sticks.

Sam and Tyler went out to dinner on their own but got back in time for cake.  Then at 9:00 everyone spread out their sleeping bags and we turned on the movies.  Too bad half of them were too excited to settle down.  Between one thing or another I pretty much got no sleep that night.

But everyone woke up happy in the morning.  And Kaitlyn had the best time, which is all that matters.
She was quite the little hostess too.  It was kind of fun watching her direct things without hurting feelings or walking on anyone.  She made sure the ones that were a bit scared of staying somewhere different had a place right by her to sleep and woke up with her friend that was having asthma/coughing problems almost every time I did.

Sunday was her actual birthday.  We set up a balloon avalanche behind her door the night before so she was greated with it as soon as she opened her door.  She thought that was great.  Sam had to work all weekend, so it was a bit hard for her to wait most of the day to open her presents, but I think she had a good day anyway.  She had her gifts from her friends and the books she had opened from us in the morning.  Once her dad got home, she ripped right into the gifts.  Then I made her do a little photo shoot while Sam lit the fire in the firepit.  Kaitlyn's request for dinner that night was to roast marshmallows and hot dogs - which I thought was a great idea.  It felt very festive, but didn't require a lot of prep or effort.

Isn't she pretty?!

And smores are just as yummy as cake - maybe even more so when they are made with home made marshmallows!
Happy Birthday to my Kaitlyn. I can't believe she's 9 years old!