Just Another Day In Paradise

Celebrate.

 

My youngest sister, the one born when I was already thirteen years old, whom I played second mother to until I moved out and had my own children, has turned into an adult herself. Last Tuesday marked the day of my little sisters foray into adulthood; finally 18 years old, and last night we had her birthday bash to celebrate. My parents rented a building so that there could be sufficient room for family, friends, dancing, music, and tons of food. Here's a glimpse of the evening's festivities.....

 

The birthday girl, herself.

 

 

 

 

 

The theme was Hollywood, and what Hollywood party would be complete without a red carpet, a bouncer, and excited fans wanting autographs?

 

 

 

 

There was enough food to feed a small army....and this was only half the table!

 

 

 

 

After dinner, the music and dancing began! The effect is lost when having to use flash in a dark room, but strobe lights, glow sticks, and black lights lit the night.

 

 

 

 

 

Even the youngest attendees got in on the action....

 

 

Some even got a bit charismatic about the whole event....

 

 

 

My two sort of meandered the dance floor instead of partaking in any actual dancing.

 

 

 

 

 

There were some very zealous dancers at the party.

 

 

And then there were those who watched from the wings.

 

 

 

 

And of course there was a certain very pregnant individual who was afraid that any dancing may cause a certain baby to enter this world on a dance floor....so she stuck to playing photographer for the evening.

 

And it's not a party without the gifts! Gift cards, candy, and fashionable gifts filled the table. Of course, Stitch and Boo were all over the gift-opening portion of the evening.

 

 

 

It was a fun evening filled with those important to Steph.

 

It's so strange to watch this kid, from newborn to 18 years old, turn into an adult. When I learned to drive at 16 years old, my parents allowed me to take her places (she was 3). Often, people asked me how old my "daughter" was. Seriously, I already looked younger than my 16 years and people still referred to her as my daughter. Yes, I had her when I was 13. And since I looked younger, I would have had her when I was 10 or 11. Think people! It was interesting venturing out with her, to say the least. And now she's no longer three years old, but venturing into adulthood.

 

Happy Birthday Rapunzel!! I hope you had a great birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad we only got a shower and not a hurricane.

 

Early last week, weather experts were unsure of whether Hurricane Irene would head straight towards Florida or begin an eastward swing that would take her up into the Carolina area instead. If headed towards Florida, she would surely have made landfall on Saturday, the day of my second baby shower. I really, truly only wanted a shower and not the torrential downpour of a hurricane.

 

 

 

As the week progressed, we watched Irene trek eastward, taking the threat of hitting Florida along with her....thus leaving Saturday to be a blazing hot August day to have a baby shower.

 

The shower was thrown by my wonderful mother, sisters, and grandmother. For starters, we played a game. You know, the one that should be subtitled as "Guess how fat Mrs. Incredible has become." You pull the appropriate amount of yarn from a roll until you feel it matches the exact circumference of the pregnant mother's belly. I'm thankful to those who only pulled off a small amount of string, carefully preserving a pregnant mother's dwindling view of her body image.

 

 

*Nana always decorates herself. :o)

 

We snacked on light appetizers, brownies, cake, and soda. There were also gifts abounding. Baby C was definitely showered with love and all the things that she will need when she decides to make her grand entrance into this world.

 

*The cake decorator at Publix must have missed the memo on what a clover looks like. Those are most certainly *not* clovers.

 

 

 

 

 

After the gift opening portion of the shower (in which my two children went into a Christmas morning, paper ripping frenzy), each person received a plain white onesie and some fabric markers. They were instructed to create a custom made onesie for Baby C and then I, the mother to be, would vote on my favorite(s).

 

 

 

Nobody informed me that all invited shower guests were closet artists with mad skills and I'd have a horrible time choosing a favorite.

 

 

 

It was a nice shower and we had a gret time, surrounded by those who already love our upcoming daughter. Thank you to everyone who helped plan it and/or attended!

 

Party Time.

 

Stitch's birthday is not for a few more days, but we had her 7th birthday party this weekend. Man, she's been stoked about this day for months! She's talked about it non-stop, planned, hoped, and dreamed about what this day would have in store.

 

 

She chose a carnival theme for this year's party. It was oringally planned to happen in our backyard, but due to certain circumstances (forecast of rain, extremely windy day, and one tired pregnant mama who thought that dealing with 85 degree heat would wear her out) we ended up moving it indoors. It was a little disappointing at first because we thought the whole "carnival atmosphere" wouldn't be quite the same, but it ended up working out well. Stitch loved it so that's all that counts.

 

I put ribbons, balloons, streamers, and flags galore. The flag banners that I got from Oriental Trading were the perfect touch for a carnival theme!

 

 

 

We had 5 games....ring toss, knock down the bottles, the lollipop tree, ping pong toss, and the duck pond. We also had face painting, tattoos, balloon animals, and a whole jar of M&M's to guess and win. I couldn't have pulled it off without the carnival crew!

 

 

I sent out invitations shaped as carnival tickets.

 

 

Upon arrival, each kid received 20 carnival tickets, along with a bag to put all of their prizes in. I've been planning for one of the kids to have a carnival party for a few years now....therefore, I've been saving prizes forever. We had hundreds of prizes, everything from stuffed animals, to unopened Happy Meal toys, to items I've picked up at Target's Dollar Spot.

 

And then...much to Stitch's delight....I sent the kids off to play!

 

Stitch, playing the Ping Pong game.

 

Shannon, working it at the Duck Pond Game.

 

Aunt Steph, painting faces.

 

Stitch, playing Knock the Bottles Down.

 

The girl's cousin, working on the Ping Pong Toss.

 

Another one of the girl's cousins, playing Ring Toss.

 

 Boo, trying to pick the right color from the Lollipop Tree.

 

 Guess the M&M's table....Aunt Sandy won! She was only 8 off!

 

Boo, attempting the Ring Toss game.

 

Aunt Kim...balloon animal extraordinaire.

 

Choosing a prize is not an easy task.

 

My daddy, helping run the Knock the Bottles Down game.

 

 

 

I love this photo of Boo!

 

 

 

Of course...my family is completely normal!

 

After the kids had spent their 20 tickets, we moved on to the food and cake! I purposely do not plan parties at meal time so that I don't have to serve a meal. I set out simple finger foods...chips/dip, a fruit tray, muffin cups filled with Cheddar Bunnies.

 

And the cake! Stitch chose a cookie cake decorated with clowns.

 

I love having a big group sing Happy Birthday to Stitch. She puts on her shy smile, eyes darting from the ground to members of the group, trying her best to hide how much fun she's having.

 

 

And before she'd even finished blowing out her candles, she was already closing her eyes, making her very important birthday wish. She very much wanted this particular wish to come true!

 

 

And it did!!! Stitch had been hoping for an American Girl Kit doll for the past few months. She kept commenting on how she didn't see any gift that was large enough to accomodate Kit. Little did she know, I had only wrapped Kit's brush! Kit was waiting in the closet. This made one little seven year old girl very happy.

 

 

 

A birthday, a carnival, celebrating with friends and family, and a wish coming true....what more could a little girl ask for?