THE Birthday Party

Gracie has now celebrated the momentous decade celebration 4 times! And lets face it, this is the "big" one.

I am such a bad mom. This is only friend party #2 for her entire 10 years of life.  I threw her a friend party when she turned 5 and invited all of her preschool friends to the church fellowship hall for pizza and cake and games.  That was the last one. Of course, every milestone of her life big and small are celebrated in this house, and I always do her family birthday celebrations up super big with decorations and a handmade cake and all sorts of girlishness--so I think that makes up for it...at least a little. :)

Gracie took a LONG time to finally settle on a party idea for #10.  She wanted to go all sorts of places, but I just couldn't fathom the idea of having to invite all 21 girls from her class and coordinate (not to mention pay) for them to go them somewhere.

I knew that she was in love with the movie Frozen, and she already picked that as her theme, so why not have a movie party? She was thrilled at my idea, and I told her she would have to wait a few weeks to celebrate as the movie didn't come out until the 18th. Still she was excitedly on board. The next part was a little harder, but she rolled with it.  I told her she could pick 5 friends.  My Gracie is such a big hearted little girl, and is friends with everyone she meets. I knew giving her that responsibility would be hard, but we just couldn't fit the entire class in our living room.

I know this picture is out of place, but I just love it!  Of course, they didn't look like this when I found them, I lined them up for a neat picture opportunity :)

She choose 5 friends and I emailed those parents individually for their addresses, because I think it is cruel to take party invites to school for only a few (if that isn't a rule, it should be).

Gracie has been bouncing off the walls all week. She has looked forward to this party since we dreamed it up together.

So, off the bus climbed jumped Clara, Mary Gray, Leanna, & Sarah.  Ashley arrived later in her mom's car.

(I know you are thinking "where's Thomas, read the next entry for that summation :) He was good and having fun with his best friend after Grace "kidnapped" him :)

Since they all had their Reading Olympics medals on fresh from the awards ceremony (Leanna's team came in first, Gracie's came in second, Ashley's in third, and the other girls were on honorable mention teams) I asked (nicely) for a group picture on the porch.

I had a snack set up for them on the back porch, and I excitedly got to use my vintage Tupperwear--yea!  They were all still bouncing from the day, and the bus ride, and the Reading Olympics competition it was a wonder any food made it into their mouths as they giggled and squealed and talked and talked and talked! (It was so cute...and loud)

They spent the remainder of the afternoon playing outside with chalk and our very large collection of outdoor toys.  They went from outside to inside playing and squealing and giggling and talking and talking and talking. (It was cute...and loud)

Then they got bored. Yep--bored! How 6 girls with a full room and a whole outdoors can get bored I have no idea. But they did.  So I did what I do best. I got creative.

We planted some snow flowers (you know I love a theme!) and I made up my own game of "pin the nose on Olaf," I think they liked that the best.  I blindfolded them and gave them each a carrot I cut from orange paper to pin on the printable snowman.  I think they loved this part the best, and they laughed and bounced and giggled and talked and talked and talked. (It was precious...and loud!)

I ordered the pizza and they burned off a few more pounds of girly energy before we sat at the pretty snow-themed table for dinner.

 I had decided to save the movie for last so they could settle in and watch it and (hopefully) wind down.

So they ate, and giggled and laughed and talked and talked and talked.  (it was loud)

Then came the cake.

This is where the story gets "interesting."

See how pretty it is?!

I spent hours on it!

And, then, it caught on fire while I had Gracie pose for a picture with it.

The girls panicked for about 30 seconds, and then the laughing and hooting and rolling of bodies didn't stop until the cake was mostly eaten.

And, then Gracie opened her presents. She is so blessed to have such giving and generous friends.

Thank the Lord, time for the movie.

Realizing I hadn't planned for 6 girls to have to sit on one couch, I got creative...again. And, I made a movie theater by putting the futon in front of the couch.

They loved it. But, demanded blankets and pillows and many many refills of popcorn and drink. (I was seriously waiting for these girls to explode!)

5 bags of popcorn, 7 apples, 1 completely empty bag of chips, 2 x-large pizzas, 3/4 of a cake, 4 1-liter bottles of flavored water, 9 bottles of plain water, and 4 packages of peanut butter crackers later, they were watching the movie.

Well, "watching" is a loose term. They watched with mouths closed for about a third of the movie, the rest was spent loud whisper talking, giggling, and arguing about the rules about singing the songs. (It was hilarious...and loud)

Now, my ultimate idea for this whole Frozen themed day was to capture a video of the girls belting out the Let It Go song. I did.

It is awesome....and loud.

Enjoy!



Gracie had a wonderful time, and I think all of her friends did too. She is clearly a very celebrated and very loved little girl.

Share this post