Birthday Party!

Here's TONS of pics (seriously photo heavy here - and completely unedited ones at that, because who has time for editing when you're playing catch up?) of Eris's 7th b-day party we threw in mid November. The guests were Brad & I, Ella Grace, Ehren, Gammaw & Nanny, aunt Ellie, cousins Shaylyn & Lailah, Amy Kaelin's daughter Kaylin, Rhonda & Tom Speaker's daughter Savannah, from church Emma Kleinman, Linda Wach, Isabelle Kaul, Morgan Hunt, and Hadley & Jenna Harp, and from Eris's class Alice Lococo. Aunt Tina had to work and missed it. And a couple other friends from school had to miss as well. Ethan was with the boys, Jared & Triston - Sarra was sweet enough to take them all to the park and let the girlie party be just that. Thanks Sarra!!!

The theme: Little Red Riding Hood.

Ella Grace made the bunting that said Happy Birthday Eris and was on big scallop circles of Little Red Robin Hood patterned paper. Sorry the pic came out fuzzy. My friend Pam was kind enough to come and take pics of the party while I ran the show - she was using my camera and wasn't used to it in the beginning. My fault for not showing her! Thanks Pam for helping that day!!

We started out with a reading of the story.

Savannah & Ella Grace

Jenna, Ehren, Lailah, Emma

Lailah, Shaylyn, and Eris all listening to the story.

The story was a bit long, and somewhere along the line the kids began to clap each time Ella Grace would finish a page. It was pretty funny to the adults, kept the children listening, and kept Ella Grace motivated. Total win/win situation that cracked us up!

And the big bad wolf lay in waiting to scare us all at the proper time in the story...... he ran out and gave his big ROAR....the girls shrieked and giggled. It was pretty darn cute. And Ehren ate up that attention! lol

I goofed at the story reading thing and should have proofread....this version got a bit gory at the end and we had to cut it short before the ax took off another limb and shed more blood! lol OOPS! (Hope there weren't any nightmares!)

So we moved on to the SCAVENGER HUNT. Because we couldn't be Little Red Riding Hoods ourselves if we didn't each have capes and baskets, right? So the girls were given a clue, which led to a clue, to another clue, 5 in all I think, and ended up in Ehren's closet to a stack of baskets with their names on it and handmade hoods for each.

reading the next scavenger hunt clue.....ooooooh, the anticipation!

and then the group RUNS to the next room to look all together! In hindsight, I made those clues too easy! lol

that clue was in our fridge and I said Hey - WHAT are you doing in our fridge? Some acted like they got caught doing something they shouldn't! lol

And others obviously thought this was the most boring-est baby-like thing they'd ever done. I didn't see her and Ella Grace much after this.....about 5 minutes after they went upstairs to make some beaded bracelets and necklaces and no one saw them til the party was ovah. Fur realz.

Yep, this was it. They didn't get a red riding hood cape or a basket (which they knew ahead of time cause they are big girls and the dress up stuff was for the little girls [which means I only sewed 10 and had more kids come than anticipated]). So they were out fo sho. Oh, and that's Nanny, Brad's mom in the pic there. She came in during this scavenger hunt crazyness. Surprised the didn't turn right around and go back home!

My Mom helping Lailah tie on her hood.

Linda and Isabelle

Emma

And again enters the Big Bad Wolf chasing the Red Riding Hoods thru the living room and up the stairs and then back down and around again for 20 rounds. Please pass the Excedrin.

Lailah and Jenna getting chased back down the stairs.

Then we had birthday treats!

red velvet cake balls (recipe courtesy of Bakerella's blog)

peanut butter & strawberry jelly (to keep things red as much as possible)

twizzlers, red velvet cupcakes, smarties, and the kit kats were a hit!

marshmallows, marachino cherries, and oreos with red filling of course!

Shaylyn

Pam with her cute girls.

After a good sugar-fest, I sent them outdoors to run, swing, and jump it off. We also played a few rounds of Mother May I that they seemed to love. A couple of them REALLY wanted to be the next Mother so they could boss everyone around. That was pretty darn funny! lol













Then I guess we did more treats, open presents and play some more, and final pictures with all the guests that were still around and willing to pose.













If you read all of this and looked at all these pictures, I should pay you $1.00 Call me and tell me to give it to you.

they trick me

They do, totally trick me into doing these things. Enter my give-a-way.....follow me on FB, and on twitter, blog about me, post a cute comment, and I'll choose you, I promise I will! Don't you hear the voice? I totally hear it! And the voice this time is saying I'm going to be chosen to win a Kitchenaid Mixer. I've totally wanted a REAL DEAL Kitchenaid Mixer for 15 years, no lie! I have my favorite colors.....oooh, the lime! The turquoise!! The silver, red, white, PINK!! DH and I have this rule (initiated after our first Christmas together as a married couple) where he's not allowed to buy me anything that plugs in as a Christmas present. Yes, well, the Kitchenaid Mixer is the one exception to that rule. And he still hasn't jumped on it.

So I resort to these temptations. These tauntings. And you, unfortuneately get to read about them. Sorry peeps. Know that I still love ya. Know that I still care. Know that I REALLY want a stinkin' Kitchenaid! Someone, call Brad and tell him the lengths that I'll apparently go to already. For the love of Pete! ;-)

If you go to SwagGrabber you can read about their give-a-way in detail. Look close and you'll see my name in print as the winner I bet! Well, tomorrow it will be there anyway. Right?!?!

And as for the rest of my world right now - I'm editing photos to share the pics from Eris's Little Red Riding Hood party from late last month. As well as catch up on photos from Thanksgiving, our trip to Alabama, and stay on track with my Christmas crafts I want to get done. We're trying to decorate the house a little every night. (why don't the lights for the tree work when I know they worked when we boxed them up last December? huh??) I'm making 100 cake truffles for Friday's teacher appreciation and Saturday's Christmas party with some Louisville Mommies. (kind of scared there, I've never met any of these gals in person! yikes!) I have a lia sophia party on Friday night, my house needs cleaning, and I'm working 8 - 2pm the rest of the week. I need more than 24 hours in a day this week!