movie party

As you can imagine we are a little busy around here and I am just now getting to posting some pics from Tally's birthday. My oldest turned 11 this month and we had a great time celebrating her and the precious girl that God is allowing her to become.

One of the things that we prayed for before we moved last year was that God would supply us with friends. We have learned to make quick connections and we really do have dear friends spread all over the United States. I believe that God has brought some precious girls for my kids to connect with for this season of their lives.

For Tally's birthday we decided to invite some girls over for pizza and a movie. In order to make it easy and enjoyable for all, the girls had their pizza on the back deck while Chuck and I stayed inside. We were trying to give them a little space to giggle and have fun with out us hovering.
We then quickly sang to Tally, opened gifts and got ready for the movie.
We gave the girls each a baggie with 5 tokens and they could use those to pay for goodies at the snack stand. I thought this would help ration out the sweets. Popcorn was free, but each candy was one token. Some girls spent their tokens right away, and some made them last.
Then it was off to the theater. We had a curtain up in the doorway and we had moved all of the furniture around to make for optimal viewing for the kids. Our movie was Horton Hears a Who. Chuck had also rigged surround sound so it was nice and loud just like the theater.
We gathered bean bag chairs and dish chairs and there was lots of room to lounge. Chuck and I sat on the other side of the curtain and watched from the kitchen. Again, we wanted to give the girls a little space. I can tell they are growing up. It is so different from the birthday parties that require lots of games and work. The movie was the entertainment.
I have to say, it was one of the easier parties I have thrown. The kids all loved it, the parents had an evening to themselves and it was a supervised evening of fun. I am just about ready to have another movie night.

HEE HAW

I know that you have all been on pins and needles trying to figure out what our party was that the flag banners were for (from my last post). Since this is the year of celebrations, we are planning on making the most of each season and every holiday. Last year for my birthday Chuck was living in a different state and the girls and I were preparing to move (HERE), so it was a little slim on the celebrations. Though we made the most of each situation, we now have the chance to throw caution to the wind and kick up our heels and have a roaring good time.


What better way to celebrate than to invite your new friends and demand that they show up in some kind of an embarrassing costume.

Our theme was HEE HAW, not only because I love country life (HERE), but also to embrace living in the south. If you are of my generation, you have seen HEE HAW, or at least are familiar with the concept. Simple country folk, banjo music, bare feet and a blacked out tooth.

Half the fun for me is the party planning. Once I get a theme, I almost don't know how to reign it in. I can't just invite a few friends over, oh no...that would be too simple. We have to deck the whole house out in flag banners, old quilts, hay bales and galvanized buckets of wild flowers.

Let's just say...we had a great time. I was thrilled that everyone showed up in some kind of garb and joined in on the theme (even my folks - and if you know my dad this was a big deal).

We served fried chicken, corn on the cob, baked beans and everyone brought a side dish to share. For dessert we had carrot cake, a selection of cookies and Moon Pies. Lemonade and "homemade hooch" (AKA - moonshine served in a bucket) for drinks.

We had everything from long underwear to Nascar for costumes. Lots of overalls and straw hats. Everything redneck or country fits in just fine with the HEE HAW theme.We planned a few games for both the kids and adults alike. Guess the jelly bellies in a jar, guess the farm animal (we put the animals in socks and hung them on a laundry line) and drop the clothes pin in bottle.
Here are the kids (and adults) playing the games. Here Stacee and Johnny are dropping clothes pins in the bottles (thought I should tell you what they are doing cuz' it looks kind of funny). I love the burlap sack on Stacee's waist - how creative.A BIG thanks to Chuck for helping make this a fun party (he made that awesome poster). He jumped right in with the country bumpkin theme and was such a good sport. And I am so thankful that all these great friends came (in such cute costumes) to help us with the celebrating. And just think - the year is only half over. What will the next party be???

her birthday was 2 months ago...

It has been busy around here and we have crammed about 9 months of activities into 2 and a half months. I am a total homebody and love to be home in my own nest. But, I have chosen to take advantage of different goings on to try and connect with more HS families and let my kids try and make some new friends. So we have done park days, nature center trips, watched bird banding, gone to the symphony, visited the zoo, checked out the science center, participated in the National Day of Prayer, signed up for summer camp, started tennis lessons, are finishing up a sewing class...the list goes on (plus throw in a trip to Disney and moving). If you know me, this is WAY more than we normally do. I embrace the SIMPLIFY way of life (HERE). But for this new season here, we need to get out and make friends and this is the best way to do it.

All that to say, Tristen's birthday was 2 months ago (HERE) and we finally had a party for her. I felt bad that we moved into our home just a few days before her birthday, so we never even had a cake. She wanted to invite some friends over for a party and since I have claimed this the YEAR OF CELEBRATIONS, we partied.

And this was actually a pretty easy party. Tissy loves pancakes (and doesn't like sleepovers) so we invited her guests to arrive on a Saturday morning in their jammies and we served pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast. 9 little girls all crammed around our table and full of giggles.After breakfast we had craft time in the basement. The girls made butterflies to hang on a mirror or a window. Instead of paint, we used colored sharpies, it was much easier.


Most kids just love to run around and play at parties, but to prevent too much silliness, we planned some games. I love the game where you have to look at a tray and try to remember what was on it. I put all kinds of things used to get ready in the morning.

All trying to see the tray. Trying to use those thinking skills to remember. They look so sweet in their jammies, but how nice that they got a good night sleep at home. =)We also played pictionary. Chuck had ideas for them to draw that had to do with morning or sunshine or breakfast. Here they are drawing on the dry erase board in the school room.
We also had music that Chuck had hunted down, just morning or sunshine songs. It created a fun atmosphere, along with sunshine cut outs and homemade posters. We figured out we have a good party house. Lots of room for both kids and adults to mingle and talk. Before we moved here, I had prayed that God would provide friends. And in just a few months, we were surprised that we could come up with a party list like this. I guess going to all those activities has been worth it.
And look, the birthday cake (made of of rice crispy cookie)...only 2 months late. =)