The Party

We decided to party on the 18th - seemed like a good day. :)  K-lady invited a few friends (I made her keep it small because I'd been feeling like my brain might explode), and we had a good time.  My wonderful dad arrived the night before for the weekend's goodness, and our wonderful friends Heidi and Doug & their girls came down for the weekend. (please forgive the huge long post and overload of pictures - Heidi took pictures for me, and I love them all!) :)

K-lady wanted a rock star party, but, like I said before, I was in danger of loosing my mind if the party got too big, so we kept it relatively simple (none of that build-a-stage-and-bring-out-the-drum-set-and-karaoke-stuff).   I also had a little mini-personal-crisis about getting too carried away in the fluff of a party, and not remembering the importance of this birthday (in our church children are baptized when they are old enough to be accountable - 8 years old - so it's the beginning of making covenants with God - that's pretty important to us.)  In the end we decided a party would make K-lady happy, and not building a rock star stage would make me happy.  :)  Win-win.

Some of the girls, waiting for a few more guests to arrive.

Decorating their cardboard 'guitars' (crafty/gluey/sequiny/glittery things like this are so nice with girls.  They spent FOREVER getting their guitars just. right.  J-boy and his little buddy were too busy using their guitars as  nunchucks to bother with much decorating)  :)  The girls took these home instead of goody bags.

 

Monkey here was quite happy blowing bubbles while the girls decorated and the boys nunchucked.

 Then we headed inside for some nail polish - it was so fun having the dad's around!  They helped paint the girls' nails. :)

K-lady insisted on helping every other girl paint their nails first, THEN and only then would she allow her nails to be painted.  She was a sweet little hostess.

Another dose of uber-processed-foods for dinner - The dad's took care of making dinner (K-lady had requested cheese and pepperoni pizza, more dorritos, chicken nuggets and mini-sodas.  I really hope these things are appealing because they are rare in our home and she's a kid.  She will grow out of that, right???).  

 Dad helped me put up the decorations. It was so fun having him there!  

It kind of looks like she's sipping that soda in a worshipful way, doesn't it??  :)  (she really was in heaven to have her very own little can) 

And if the food by itself wasn't enough to make your tummy ache, how about a game of twister right afterwards???

Back to the kitchen for cake and candles and wishes and presents and ice cream (yes, all at once, we were a little crunched for time there at the end). 

She bestowed a huge hug on each gift giver.

And the girls rocked out a little right at the end.  :)