A Week of Celebrating Eleven

Our first born celebrated her 11th birthday this past week, and that celebration lasted seven full days.  After Nana & Pops came up to visit on Sunday, with arms full of birthday presents and a generous offer to treat us all to huge bowls of candy covered yogurt at YoLo, our birthday girl woke up to more electronic and stationery cards wishing her wonderful birthday blessings.

I put together a collage of her over the years, and I spent a lot of time last week thinking about how much she has changed and reflecting on so many wonderful memories we have shared together. (Gift #984)

She requested Golden Corral (I call it the "Pig Trough") for her birthday lunch, so we drove to her dad's workplace and all went together for a fabulous meal.  She ate way too much despite my warnings that she would get sick, and she has been nauseated ever since.  Maybe there is a stomach bug at work as well.   Hopefully, she learned a valuable lesson as well about moderation in all things, but I'm just excited that we all got to see where my husband works and join him for lunch for a change. (Gift #985) I didn't realize when I took these pics that her brother looked like he was trying to swipe her cotton candy.

 

Her birthday gifts were all art themed this year.  That big Santa sized sack was filled with art canvases from Kate, Luke, and the twins.  She received a very nice pencil set from my brother's kids and a huge assortment of acrylic paints from Witt.  Grandma sent a fancy art easel, and friends gave her art kits.  I guess now I need to get her art lessons. This year is the first year out of probably the past five that I haven't given her horseback riding lessons for her birthday as she is too busy with gymnastics team, choir, and drama, but I will have to find her some good art lessons to fine tune this new interest of hers.

At gymnastics, they celebrated her birthday by throwing her into the foam pit and burying her.

She insisted on another slumber party for her birthday this year.  Since we're on spring break, most of her school friends were traveling and could not come, but it was still a fun time with the three girls who came.  

After her birthday on Monday, we told the kids to start cleaning the 2nd floor for her party while I cleaned the 1st floor.  I had the 1st floor clean and decorated with favors wrapped and all the party preparations in place by Tuesday, while the kids accomplished nothing all week.  So on the morning of the party, my husband told the kids, "Your rooms and bathrooms better be ready for our company this evening when I get home from work." He walked in this evening to find "Off Limits" notes posted to the 4 different doors. That's not exactly what he meant.  Real, funny, kiddos.

Publix recently opened a new store in our town, and since so many of our new friends here are from Florida and Georgia where Publix stores abound, they were uber excited about it.  I shopped Publix when I worked in Georgia, but I could not remember much about it. I was a bridesmaid in a wedding for a Florida friend who married an IT network administrator for Publix, so he's been telling me how wonderful it is.  I had heard they make great cakes, so we ordered our daughter's birthday cake from the Publix bakery.  When I took the kids there on Friday to pick up the cake, you would think I had just taken them to Disney World with all the excitement in their eyes as they explored the new store and enjoyed the delicious samples galore.  Thanks for the cheap entertainment, Publix.

The party was easy to host with Hungry Howie's pizza for dinner along with a veggie tray I put together in a few minutes and some nabs and sweets.  I used E-vites for the invitations,  our daughter planned all the activities and helped me pick out easy favors, and we prohibited electronics so we would not have to constantly supervise or monitor any texts or online activity.  I'm grateful for a low stress party venue for our tween who is old enough to do much of the planning now. (Gift #986) 

The girls brought gifts even although I specified "no gifts" on the invitations, and our bunny was all about it.  Muffin was so cute "helping" her unwrap the gifts and read the cards.  That bunny continues to add a finishing touch of joy to our family despite the havoc she wreaks. (Gift #987)

 

The girls were highly entertained with creative adventures my daughter made up as the went along, epic Just Dance challenges on the Wii, and a movie.  The girls even let me watch the movie with them, although the fact that a our cute fluffy bunny in my arms who they used as a pillow helped gain me admittance.  I enjoyed hanging out with the girls, and I know my daughter enjoyed having me there.  Having someone else allow and appreciate my presence is a gift I don't take for granted, especially as I realize how much rarer that gift is as tweens turn into teens. (Gift #988)  I have no idea what time they went to sleep, but I was able to get to bed at 1:30am and slept until 9am, so I'm not complaining!  (Gift #989)

 Happy 11th Birthday, sweetheart.  Thank you for all the ways you make us laugh or smile.

Our son wasn't sure how he would survive the invasion of girls, but he and his dad coped by tuning out the noise of the loud, lively, giggly girls all around them and tried to watch the ACC game.  Our son decided to pull for Duke, and despite all the noise around him, he still managed to fall asleep.  Don't worry, my son. Pops pulls for Duke, and I've seen him fall asleep on the recliner during Duke games more times than I can number.  Pulling for NCSU is less boring as you just never know what they might do. (Example - Beating #1 Villanova during the NCAA championship play-offs) :-)