How To Turn Twelve

There were two things Julia wanted to do for her birthday.  The first was a sleepover party and the second was to skate in the Sculpture Garden on the National Mall.  The second, we did on her birthday.  It was the perfect night, not cold, not warm, just perfect to skate.  The girls skated for a couple hours and Mark got us coffee and we sipped and snuggled and giggled watching our kiddos, thinking that time with them is flying!

It was the perfect skating night.  They had trouble getting the lights working at first, but when they came on, it was magical.

So, now for her other desire...the party.

Like all good parties these days, the start of this particular party was Pinterest.  I'm not sure how we planned anything without Pinterest before.  Seriously.  There are times that it makes me feel like a failure in so many ways.  My house isn't perfectly organized, my kids don't do cool projects, my recipes can be hum-drum, but I gotta tell ya, if I need an idea, that's where I go.

And that's where my total fashionista goes too, Julia, because when you turn 12, it has to be perfect.

After wrestling over the invitees (great thought when into who to invite due to her many different circles of her friends never intersecting with each other) she decided to invite the neighborhood girls.  And the colors had to be perfect, not too kid-like, but it had to be pink.  She settled on a sophisticated palate of pinks and white.  Everything else fell into place: pink punch and make your own soda in raspberry and strawberry flavors, pink paper straws were a must and to find the perfect shaped glasses (at a reasonable price) put Julia on a mission.  She decided instead of having a cake, we would make cupcakes and let the girls decorate them themselves.  The frosting would have to be varying shades of pink with pink sprinkles to go on top.  The decorations had to be perfect too.  Yup, you guessed it, pink and white.  Shall I just insert pictures here instead of going on and on?

(Please notice Joshua Chamberlain joining the party!)

This photo booth thing is all the rage, so Julia thought it would be so fun to do it for her birthday party.  Here are the results:

Are they waaaayy cute, or what?!?

Katie, Julia, Sophie and Sasha

This is Hope and Madeline, Sophie's sister...these two little ones had a blast in the shadow of the older kiddos. 

Here's one more party pic....the cupcake decorating!

Then we had a second party!  Julia's bestie, Kimberlee, has a birthday 2 days after Julia's.  We had a party with her too!!  Here's a pic of the cake I made for that party, and I'll post more when I find where I put them...

This is an Oreo cake and it was good.  Recipe found on Pinterest, where else?

Happy birthday, sweet girl.  We are blessed to have you in our lives.