Princess Pary Wrap up, Birthdays, and Tween fears

The princess party was a huge success! Even if at about 40 mins out I was still slicing apples and shaking nervously about getting it all done. We finished hanging the last decoration as the first guest arrived which to me is right on time. For the first time ever, everyone we invited said that they were going to be able to come. We did have two families cancel day of due to sickness, but that still left us with 42 people including us. Ha. It was crowded and busy and hectic, but it was wonderful. I enjoy having people we love and who are big parts of our lives here with us to celebrate. Eldest had a great time. We were sad to miss friends who live far away, one friend in particular who has been here to set up, celebrate, and clean up every year up until now. He moved away in January and we still miss him dearly.


Today was Eldest's actual birthday. We had our traditional morning wake up muffin and Happy Birthday song. Then Mom's family called (all together) to sing Happy Birthday. Dad took both girls out for lunch at a local Mexican restaurant, where she was given a dessert and made to wear a Sombrero while they sang to her in Spanish. Dad says the look on her face was priceless, glad he caught it on Instagram. This evening we went out to dinner with mom's family to celebrate more.


I also had 6th grade graduation tonight, and had a mini-melt down over the state of girlhood. I remember my 6th grade graduation and how awkward and childlike we all looked. The boys in their stuffy shirts and ties and the girls in "church dresses". Well tonight the boys still looked awkward in their stuffy shirts and ties, but the girls looked like they stepped out of this year's prom catalog! I saw several pairs of stiletto heels! I guess it has just been an emotional thinking back time for me since the weekend, but it makes me so sad. What are these girls going to have to look forward to in High School?  What sort of things will they be wanting to wear? Then what about my precious babies who were in Princess dresses this weekend? I worry about all the pressure we put on girls. How early it is starting, and how it comes down to the responsibility of parents to put their foot down and say "NO" they are only 11 and 12 after all. It is my prayer that my girls will find their beauty and value in who they are in Christ at that and every age instead of in what they wear or how they look.

Saturday

I love Saturdays. The girls got to bed rather late last night, almost 9 o'clock, so they weren't up before us this morning. Husband and I actually just got to wake up ourselves! There is nothing better in the world to me than that. Then we had our usual pancake breakfast. Yet, another recipe from the "red plaid" Better Holmes and Garden Cookbook. When I found that recipe I couldn't believe that I have ever made pancakes from a mix.



After Breakfast, I gave the girls a bath because I needed to roll Eldest's hair and I knew that those sponge rollers would need as much time in her hair as possible. Poor thing, she is like her mother and has very, VERY hard to curl hair.


Nana and Poppi came by with the tables and chairs for the party tomorrow. Then I made the dips, a chip dip and a fruit dip.


After lunch and naps, it was time to get Eldest ready for her first dance recital tonight. Miracle of miracles, her hair curled! She looked so cute! She did a great job at recital. We are so proud of her. 


Then this evening, we cleaned the floors. We have cherry hardwoods which are beautiful when they are clean, but are so hard to keep that way. We have a Shark steam mop, and I love how easy it is, but it had been leaving my floors kind of filmy and not shiny. This evening I had the idea to use a mopping solution with the steam mop, and the floors look great! I will use that from now on. The house is all ready for the party. Now all that is left is to finish food prep and decorate tomorrow.

Princess Party Prep and Graduations

The last two days have been really busy. My husband kindly took my Thursday task of cleaning bathrooms. Which was great because I had to work late, we had to run to the store, and we had Eldest's preschool class graduation. She won't be going to Kindergarten next year, but she will be moving up to the 3 day a week class. The graduation was "wild west" theme. It was very cute!



Today, Friday! Today's task was cleaning the girls' rooms. It mainly involved dusting and organizing toys. Eldest had rehearsal for dance recital tonight, so Nana took her to that because, Husband, little E, and I went to church for the Senior Dinner. We have so many kids graduating this year, it is going to be really bittersweet. After we got the girls to bed tonight. I organized treat bags for our party guests: swords and mustaches for the boys; wands and bling for the girls; plus lots of candy for everyone!


It is going to be a super busy weekend. I want to make sure I enjoy everything that goes on, because if there is anything the slide show at graduate dinner taught me, it's that you blink and they are grown.