Party, Party, Party!

September was a month for celebration.  A good friend of mine, Laura Moye, had her 6th baby!  Ethan has now joined this wonderful family.  In order to get everyone excited for his arrival, we had a little party in his honor.  This "li'l pumpkin" received some darling gifts and hopefully in return, the givers got to have some delicious food and fun conversation. 

 My favorite moment of the night was when Laura opened a handmade blanket from her 15 year old daughter, who had secretly made it at a friend's house weeks earlier.  Priceless!

Two weeks later, we had a birthday party for Lizzie.  August 31st was too soon for her to feel ready to invite friends over, so I gave her more time to get to know her class.  Then, I discovered that to have her teacher help her hand out invitations to the friends I didn't know, we would have to invite every girl in the class.  This took us up to 15 4-6 year olds.  Definitely, a larger group than I had mentally planned for.  But, we did it!  Thank heavens I can maneuver my way around pinterest and found some wonderful ideas and free printables.

 Lizzie wanted "target" cupcakes with arrows sticking out and the treats that the 3 brothers were always stealing in the movie.

 Treat bags with stickers, Merida necklace/lip gloss, gummy BEARS, and teddy grahams.

We first started having the girls decorate a personal CREST that they could take home.  Then we went outside to play some Highland Games...

 Who can throw the boulder (exercise ball) the farthest?

 Scottish Bulldog (basically sharks and minnows but on land)

 Everyone had a shot at archery

 Pepperoni pizza (Lizzie's favorite) and pop

 We had to sing to her and let her make a wish!

 The spanking machine.  Lizzie was brave to go through it 5 times!

 I love that Lizzie hugged her friends after opening their presents!

 These are the best brothers ever!  They let me dress them up in "kilts" and help me keep the chaos down to a minimum.

 "Feast your eyes!" - their favorite line from the entire movie!

30 minutes after Lizzie's party ended, we had Evan's party begin.  Evan had not had a birthday party since he was 8 years old and he really wanted one this year.  As I looked at the calendar, it was going to be the middle of November before we could have a free night to celebrate.  Again, it'd probably be pushed under the rug.  So, after some discussion, we invited the Beehives and Deacons over for cake and ice cream with 13 toppings to commemorate his 13 years on September 29th.  Allie Waris was already having her birthday party that night and so the beehives were busy, but with some compromising, they all came over to our house to celebrate their birthdays together!  Basically, the kids ate, played Ghosts in the Graveyard, Head Pimple, and a few other games, and then it was over.  So fun!  What a great group of teens!