It's a Girl (Party) Thing!

Jenna celebrated her 12th birthday today with some darling friends. I have to admit I was a little anxious leading up to the party because we had a lot of time...with little planned. This is hard for me because as a teacher, every minute of my day is planned. I did plan a couple of goofy games and kept my fingers crossed that they turned out okay.

Jen didn't really have a theme this year so decorating was sort of an afterthought. Since her invitations had polka dots on them, we cut out a bunch of circles this morning and slapped them all over the patio. We also threw some gourds in my pots and tucked some balloons in the middle. I always have something "fall" in Jen's birthday. This is my favorite time of year and it is so easy. At least this year we didn't do something with pumpkins. We have carved pumpkins, decorated pumpkins, played musical pumpkins....and this year Jen requested no pumpkins.

Once the first awkward moments of the party passed, the girls migrated into the house garage for a little ping pong, foos ball, and air hockey.

Snacks and drinks were set out in Blake's garage. The girls munched on junk until it was time for pizza.

Breaking into teams for volleyball.

The girls had a blast playing (or trying anyway) volleyball. It was fun to watch the girls help each other out.

Here are the party girls!

This is one of the games that I did plan. Each girl had a small balloon tied to her ankle with a piece of yarn. They had to try to pop each other's balloon without getting their own popped. Their were a few squished toes and lots of laughs and giggles.


This is the winner of the balloon pop. Doesn't she look smashing in her glasses? The "teeth" were in her prize bag. As soon as she saw them in the bag she ran behind the garage and came back looking like this. She is a nut!!

That's not lipstick...it's a Flamin' Hot Funyon. What a character this gal is!! She was the winner of the "other" game I planned. I read a "Left/Right" story. Sounds corny...but they loved it!

The girls came running when we hollered "cake time".

Checking out one of the great gifts Jen received from her friends.

The girls all had a great time! It was so gratifying to sit back and watch them "be girls". I couldn't have asked for a better party for Jen. She deserved every single minute of fun with her friends and she got it!

The night ended with a little lesson in helium sucking from a fun-loving friend of mine who came to pick up her daughter. It took a little training but the girls got the hang of it. It was dang funny too!

I am so thankful for the friends that Jenna is blessed to have!