Happy 7th Birthday

We survived, I mean enjoyed Jodi's 7th birthday party....! We rented out our local downtown theater for a party and movie which really worked out perfectly. Jodi's favorite movie is "Tangled" so that was the feature of the night. We had a great turnout of her friends from school and church. As you can see, Jodi's special friend brought her a rose which he picked out himself! Fred is out buying a shotgun as we speak.....

We learned alot about hosting a party for alot of kids with alot of energy. Let me share my insights after the fact! Since we went with the Tangled theme, I decided to get some crowns for each of the girls to decorate as they arrived. I decided I needed something for the boys so I invested in a dozen blowup swords. Those of you who know groups of little ones better than I are already shaking your heads. What was I thinking, right?? I thought that the girls would want the crowns and the boys would want the swords. The girls did get their crowns but then proceeded to knock each other over the heads with the swords, running up and down the aisles chasing each other. The boys of course went crazy with the swords, knocking each other around. Then child after child came up to me asking where their sword was! Who knew??!! There were a few tears as a child or two got hit the wrong way but no casualties thank the Lord. I think I probably have a reputation now with the other moms who I was hoping to impress.... "Don't go to her parties... she's new at this..."!

We then played some games which the kids really seemed to enjoy. We served corndogs, popcorn, cake, and cupcakes. My friend Jackie put together the cake for us which turned out to be beautiful. Our other friend Caroline made some cupcakes that looked like Paschal from the movie. Really cute and good! The theater put together a CD of pictures we provided which was shown before the movie. We were tearing up as we saw pictures of little Jodi as she evolved into the beautiful girl she is now. That was a special moment for us! After we sugared up the kids (correct... that was the second mistake), the movie started. Jodi was sitting next to her special friend so Fred somehow ended up sitting behind them. After about 45 minutes, we started seeing some movement in the crowd. That's all it took and most of them were down in front chasing each other and you guessed it, hitting each other with the swords. All of that being said, I think the kids had a good time and I know Jodi was elated to have all of her friends in one place. The only thing missing was you all!

If you've seen the movie, Rapunzel's parents send up floating lanterns every year on her birthday. It's really beautiful in the movie so we decided to do it ourselves! We went over to the school's playground and sent up 4 which we kept tied to some yarn to keep them within safe range. I have to say that they are absolutely beautiful and very easy to use. It was very special and fun. We got a little too confident when we sent up our last lantern which of course has a flame to send it up. I let go of the string a little too early and we watched in horror as it sailed away from the playground, over the school, and way off into the distance. We never heard of any fires so we think it's all good! Live and learn, right???!! Love to you all.