Birthday Girl on the Loose

This girl just turned 11!

At 11, she is a beautiful and compassionate young lady.

She is still as delightful as ever, a big huge warm ray of sunshine.

She is so good with her little brothers, patient and kind,

and always eager to help and serve others, usually without having to be asked.

She is also really good at seeing the best in people and situations.

And she is one busy girl...and if she isn't busy, well that rarely happens.

 

Since there were a lot of things going on in the community on her birthday,

we decided to celebrate as a family on her special day

and then she had a friend party the following week.

 

Family walk by the lake, followed by a pancake breakfast

 

We have been working on redecorating her room with a World Traveler theme

so this Eiffel Tower from Grandma and Grandpa was perfect.

She also received trunks to decorate her room with

(aka storage solution to hide all her stuff :)

 

  

For her friend party, we gave her a budget and let her plan her own party. 

Because she wanted to go out to eat and go to the mall,

she kept it to just a few friends from school.

 

Together we made the invitations

although she did most of the work by herself. 

 

She made a paper wallet, and we made the invite look like a receipt.

She made little credit cards and camera's out of paper just for fun.

And she requested a rainbow cake again

That evening her friends arrived at our home

ready for a girls night out

Everyone had a chance to sign the cake

Dad was even kind enough to cover

my cake decorating mistakes with his fancy artwork

First we went to Jason's Deli for dinner

(because it comes with free ice cream)

It was a cold rainy night,

we were rained on, a lot



They each had a shopping bag

and a list of things they had to find at the mall.

 

 

A trip to the make-up counter

 

Smelling good at Bath and Body Works

Bouncy Balls at Old Navy

Which one is the Mannequin?

A little massage at Brookstone

The biggest hit of the night

Even for our chauffeur

Who knew he had such a wild side

And apparently, he wasn't the only one...

 

We even found a few extra One Direction goodies while we were there

Then off to Von Maur for evening wear

We closed down the mall, I think we were the last ones to leave

 

The girls came home with all sorts of goodies

Rainbow cake

and the birthday girls favorite ice cream

it's a seasonal flavor and it's pink...

good thing her birthday is in November

And a little photo bombing by the big brother (the Nixon)

(Followed by the Sasquatch...)

Because brothers just wouldn't be brothers if they didn't do those things

(exactly the reason why every picture of my childhood includes bunny ears)

 

This might have been my favorite birthday party ever,

those girls were so cute and we had so much fun

chasing them around the mall.