Birthday Party #2--Friends and Scavenger Hunt!

Kendra invited three friends over for a pool/scavenger hunt/sleepover party to celebrate her birthday.  I've said it before, but Kendra has a real gift for discernment when it comes to people.  She picks some GREAT friends.  They were loud, they were crazy, but they are such good girls---it was a lot of fun for ME to hang out with them, too!  :-)

The girls arrived around 1:00 and the first item on the agenda was some pool time! 

We were having one of our famous 1,000,000 degree days, so after about an hour we decided that we would move on to the next thing on the party agenda and return to the pool after the sun stopped baking us to a crisp within moments of exposure!

So, the girls showered up and we piled into my car and headed toward the mall!  I had planned a scavenger hunt for the girls.  The clues would lead them to certain stores or mall locations and they had to do something and pose for pictures.  Instead of making gift bags for the girls with useless junk they would just throw away when they got home I gave them each $10 to spend in the mall on anything they wanted.  They LOVED that! 

The clue cards...I tried to use the names of the stores somehow in the clue.

And...they're off!

This clue said to choose a cap for your favorite team and represent!  (For the record, Kendra wanted a Detroit Tigers cap, but they didn't have one!)

This clue said to relax their tired tootsies

This was in Aero where they were supposed to pick something they'd like to have for Back to School.  They all went for a scarf instead!

This clue said to find the sign for the year of Kendra's mom's birth, showing the GAP in our ages.  :-)

The clue told them to try on some lip gloss at Bath & Body and pucker up!

They all had to pick shades with Kendra's favorite color:  Sparkles!

Trying on crazy shoes (they all were DYING to get them off because they HURT!)

The last clue said "Time's up...choose a fun watch and take a pic"

There is a pretty cool photo booth thing in our mall that Kendra has been dying to try for a long time.  I told her to wait until her birthday party because it was kind-of pricey.  But it turns out it was a pretty good deal---for $6 the girls got to take 5 pictures with 5 backgrounds of their choice which were then printed on a sticker sheet, but the best part of the deal is they were then emailed to us!  We entered in all of our email addresses, so each of the girls got a full set of pictures that they can print or use however they want!  They loved it!

C almost dropped Kendra on her head! 

Here are the five pictures sent via email.  SO CUTE!  (the funniest part was that since the booth used a green screen and J wore a green shirt it looked like she did a costume change for each picture! ha!)

After the scavenger hunt we went to a few stores for the girls to spend their $10 cash-ola.  Two of them bought things and two chose to save the money.  Then we headed back to our house for yummy pizza!

Next, the girls gave Kendra the gifts they chose for her.  Background story on the first pic:  Kendra's friend F had asked her via text what she might like for a present.  Kendra didn't really have a good answer, so F said, "Ok, I'll get you some plain black socks, no sparkles!, and a Barney video."  We got  a huge laugh at the time...little did we know that F would be true to her word!!!  :-)

I LOVE how much Kendra is laughing at this! 

Kendra was spoiled by her friends...a cool custom notebook, pens, a neat t-shirt, several earrings and hair bows, nail polish, and fun "nerd" glasses!

A closeup of the back of the tshirt---I couldn't get the pic to turn!

We headed back to the pool...so much better without the beating sun!

YUMMY ice cream sundaes!!!  (Love that Lucy is front and center!)

Nail polish fest in the a.m. before parents came to get them

Kendra said she had a total blast with her friends.  Mission accomplished!!!

Birthday party #1--Fruit Ninja style!!!

Kendra is lucky in that she usually gets TWO birthday shin-digs each year.  One is a family party in Michigan and the other with a few friends when we get back.  My sister's family has four kids, and throw in grandparents and good ole mom and you have a pretty decent sized par-tay! 

This year I saw an idea on Pinterest (credit), made some adaptations of my own, and Voila!  We had a fun party that everyone enjoyed.  My sister's kids range from age 9-almost 16, so that's a challenge!  My sister graciously offered to let us host at her house!

We did some of the prep for our party at home in Texas...we painted paper plates to look like sliced fruit and bought the paper supplies.  After getting Kool-Aid flavor pouches for a steal, I decided to do water bottles instead of soda and customized them for the kids with their names (plus Ninja!).  I also bought candy fruit slices for decor and munching, and the paper products HAD to include sparkles (Kendra's favorite color, you know.)

I even got sparkly birthday party hats, which I was sure would be a waste of money.  The kids proved me wrong---they loved them! 

My sister rockin' out the cone

Aaaaaannnd...my brother in law going for the unicorn look.  Classic.

We checked off two more "Michigan food items" from our list for dinner---a Greek salad from this really yummy place and Hungry Howie's pizza! 

Next came dessert!  Instead of doing a cake or cupcakes, we stuck with the Fruit Ninja theme and went with Fruit Pizzas!  I had the idea of doing personal sized ones and letting the kids make their own---they LOVED it.  I made yummy sugar cookies and the "sauce" was a frosting recipe floating around online---vanilla pudding and cool whip.  HUGE hit.

LOVE this pic...what an awesome bunch!

My sister will love that I posted this...here she is, the Frosting Ninja.  :-)

Next, presents of course!  Her major gift from me was our Disney trip, and her dad sent her some money to go shopping (a favorite pastime!).  She received a pair of Toms shoes from my mom and Troy, money from my dad and step mom, an Amazon gift card from my brother's family, and a curling wand from my sister's family (which she discovered she wanted when we were there and Gracie "wanded" her hair).  It was decided a long time ago that Kendra could begin wearing makeup at age 12 since it is the age she joins our young women's program in church, so I got her a makeup bag and some makeup to unwrap, too.

A little happy with the makeup! 

And the wand...

I don't know what she was opening but I love this laughing face!

Our final activity to the party was....Fruit Ninja---Water Balloon Style!!!  We blew up a ton of water balloons, cut up some Ninja headbands from one of Papa's old t-shirts, and borrowed my nephew Luke's wooden ninja sword!  Everyone LOVED this!

Ninjas READY!

 

Even us adults got in on the action!

THEN, my brother in law Jack got sneaky....

I love that he's still wearing his hat!

Go ahead, try it!

Nailed them!

One cold girl...Michigan hose water is FREEZING!!!

The party was super fun and Kendra loved it! 

The next day was Kendra's actual birthday, and we continued tradition with the birthday pancake.  Gracie and Tessa slept over after the party, so they got to choose a special shape for their pancakes, too.  Then we met my sister's family at Toby Keith's for lunch.  Can't ask for a better birthday!

Love the sleepy eyes.  I wonder how much longer she'll let me post pics like these?

Mickey ears and a heart for the other girls!

We found this orange yumminess at a local stand in Michigan...so refreshing!

 We left Michigan to come back home the day after Kendra's birthday.  When we got here, the Young Women's organization at our church had decorated our front door welcoming Kendra to Young Women's (she joined the youth program when turning 12)!  She is in a class called the Beehives, so they left her this cute note saying "Welcome to the Hive!" and the girls in her class also wrote sweet notes on the little bees.  Sadly, the Hershey bar succumbed to the Texas heat, but nothing a little time in the fridge couldn't solve!  Kendra felt really special that they left this for her!