Rachel's Birthday Sleepover

Rachel turned 11 this year. It wasn't as traumatic for me as some years are. For example, when she turned 5 it was harder because at 5 you just aren't a baby anymore. Ten was tough because she hit double digits. Twelve will be hard to take because it is the last year before she is a teenager. Eleven is just there.

I usually let the birthday child choose the dinner menu for his or her birthday. Rachel's Girl Scout troop was having dinner at Scouts that night, so we didn't do the traditional "pick your favorite" dinner that night. Aaron and Hannah did surprise her with a cookie cake for breakfast and she used the celebration plate. I had the camera out and she said, "You aren't planning to take a picture are you?" Well, I was, but I can appreciate the 11 year old not wanting her picture taken in her bedhead.

Because I knew she wouldn't be home for dinner, I had mentioned a week before that I would take her to Starbucks after we dropped the other two at school. It had slipped my mind, but she reminded me the night before.

Here she is enjoying her DECAF Java Chip Frappacino. I skipped my usual nonfat vanilla latte and opted for the seasonal pumpkin spice latte. It tastes like Fall. I may have to treat myself to another one when it actually feels like Fall around here.

My kids have had a birthday party almost every year of their lives. Rachel would be quick to point out that she turned 6 on the cross country trek from California to Illinois so we kind of missed that year. We also didn't have a party when she turned 4, but we took her to Disneyland. Hello! Who wouldn't rather do that?

This year she wanted to have a sleepover. Big surprise there. I kind of like my sleep, so I don't "heart" sleepovers. Having one friend sleepover on a non-party night is fine, but when you have multiple friends there is a lot of excitement. Rachel invited eight friends and all of them came. I also let Aaron and Hannah have one friend sleepover to keep them out of Rachel's hair. More to keep Hannah away than Aaron. When there are multiple girlfriends in the house Aaron tends to make himself scarce. PK was still out of town for the party so I was a bit panicked as party time arrived and I realized I was going to be outnumbered 13 to 1.

The kids were all great! All of Rachel's friends got along well and there was no drama!! Bonus!!! Hannah had several friends sleepover at one time last Spring. It was a bonus sleepover...not a birthday sleepover and there was DRAAAMAA! The key to any successful party is to keep the kids busy.

We started with dinner. Rachel wanted to do snacky kind of things. We had Pigs in a Blanket, mozzarella sticks, chips with salsa and cheese, cheese cubes, strawberries and a vege tray. What is is with kids and Pigs in a Blanket?

Here's the spread. Loving that center island, by the way.

The girls enjoying dinner. We had one late comer who wasn't here yet.

What would a party be without a little Twister? The girls played while I cleaned up the kitchen and got ready to paint t-shirts.

Rachel wanted to tie die the shirts, but I have never done that before and with the number of friends we had that seemed a bit overwhelming to me. Instead we used puffy paints. I found multi packs at WalMart that were reasonably priced. I bought packs of men's t-shirts instead of buying individual shirts in the craft section. I think I got a pack of five for less than I would have paid for two individual shirts.

Hannah and Paige working on their shirts.

They worked on the shirts for about 45 minutes. I thought they would be done in ten.

Cookie cake at the dining room table. Aaron and his little friend did not participate in any crafts. They chose to hang out in the basement and play LEGOs instead.

We found out the nine girls is the maximum amount of kids with sleeping bags we can fit in the rec room in the basement. About 9:00 they all got set up and watched two movies. I came down to check on them about 1:00 and Rachel had started movie number three. She said, "This is our movie to fall asleep on." I said, "Uh, no. That is what the last movie was for." They were all out by 1:30 and slept until they smelled the bacon and cinnamon rolls around 7:45. Not too bad for a sleepover.

Aaron did get in one shot before breakfast. They had cinnamon rolls, bacon (with 13 kids two packages are not enough) and yogurt parfaits.

I found some suncatchers on clearance at Michael's and the girls worked on those and Fusion Beads until the parents came.

It is fun to sit back and watch them interact. Their personalities are so different and I couldn't help but envision their high school graduation and all the memories we will have made before then.