It's a Campout Party!

O.k., so I finally have a minute to sit down and catch up just a little. Man, this has been quite the whirlwind month! Before I could recoup from Brooklyn's party, it was time to party again. Fortunately for me, Brynn is so easy going with this stuff that it doesn't take much to make her happy (as far as parties go anyway). And I guess I have to say that Brooklyn would have been happy with a more simple party also, but I just felt the need to go all out with hers. No, it's not favorites, it just happened to be her turn this time.

So anyway, she chose an indoor camp out theme since she wasn't able to go on the daddy/daughter camp out the week before because Dane had to work. Of course, you have to start with invitations...

I can't take credit for the cute poem. My mom is always the go-to gal for poems around here. She never fails me. Yeah, I love her!

I found this cute digital scrapbooking template online and just thought it was cute. That's all the explanation I have for that.

The Party Details:

Dinner: roasted hot dogs, chips, olives, watermelon, crackers, & cheese cubes all on Toy Story 3 plates and napkins, naturally.

***little side note*** I wanted to include Brynn in all the party details so while we were at the store, rather than getting the "camping" type plates, etc. I let her pick out whatever she wanted. So that's why we have Toy Story plates. She originally chose Phineas and Ferb napkins to go with them, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I mean, there had to be SOME cohesiveness to this stuff, right? Well, the next day I was feeling guilty about making her settle on Toy Story napkins so I went and bought Phineas & Ferb napkins to use for the dessert. Here's our conversation when I got home and showed them to her:

Brynn: "Why'd you get those?"

Me: "Because you wanted them."

Brynn: "I was o.k. with what we got. I didn't really care."

Oh well, at least I tried, right?

Dessert: a campfire brownie with Twix for logs and fruit roll-ups for flames, s'mores, a chocolate fountain, and lots of candy junk

The girls were so full of candy and junk after dinner that they didn't even want to do the whole blow-out-the-candles-on-the-cake thing. Mental note: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT have that much candy and junk for them to eat at a slumber party again. It sours their stomaches and also makes for a VERY LONG sugar high.

Activities: Singing songs around the campire (which I think only the adults actually liked), opening presents, random playing, watching a movie, playing with Mad Libs (you know, the game where you fill in the blanks with nouns, verbs, adjectives, and so forth and then read the story), and giggling ALL NIGHT long.

It was so funny to watch how quickly the Mad Libs caught on. It started with a couple of girls who were trying to figure them out while the others were watching a movie. They were doing them all wrong so I had to show them how it was done. When I read it back to them they were laughing so loud that the other girls all gathered around to see what was going on. Then, after explaining it to the rest of the group, they started working on them in pairs, groups, and individuals for the next 1 1/2 to 2 hours. By then it was the middle of the night and they were getting really slap-happy. Every other blank spot was turning into something either poop or fart related. Their moms will probably never let them come back again.

Goodie Bags: I found some canvas backpacks on clearance at Michaels and ironed on their initial to the front. Then I filled them with a pillowcase with their initial on it, flashlight, Mad Libs game, pen & candy bracelet.

It was a really fun and really LONG night. I finally crashed around 2 a.m. and told the last three die-hards to talk quietly until they fell asleep. I think everyone had a good time and we finally got around to doing the blow-out-the-candles-on-the-cake thing the next morning after breakfast. Good times, good times!

(As always, you can click on the photos to see them larger.)

The Toothless Grin

A couple of nights ago, about 5 min. after going to bed, Brynn came downstairs to show us that she FINALLY lost her first tooth! You would have thought it was Christmas morning…she was that excited. She said, “I was just laying there wiggling my tooth and it just came out! It didn’t even hurt!” I’m telling you, she has been waiting for this moment for probably a year now. She kept asking me when she was going to lose her first tooth. I kept telling her, “I don’t know, whenever it’s ready, I guess”. Aye, Aye, Aye she was making me CRAZY with this question! So I guess you could say that we were ALL very happy when it finally happened. As she was lying down in bed (again) she told me, “This is my best day ever! I can’t even wait until tomorrow so I can show my teacher and Brody (her cousin & best friend) and my friends!”

Here are some tidbits of our conversations that followed the next morning:

Me: Did you see what the tooth fairy left you?
Brynn: Yeah, I already saw it in the night.
Me: You did? Did you see or feel the tooth fairy?
Brynn: No, I didn’t even hear her wings.
Porter: I hear-d her! It sounded like a bee.
Me: Oh really? You heard the tooth fairy in your room?
Porter: Yeah.
Me: I guess maybe she went in there to check to see if you had any teeth for her.
Me: (to Brynn) So is this what you thought you would get?
Brynn: (slightly disappointed) No, I thought I would get a penny or something.

So, of course, I had to explain that a dollar is way better than a penny. And that it was more than I ever got when I was a kid. I guess that was enough to make her happy so she went on her way to get ready for school. But she just HAD to take her dollar to school to show everyone.

A few hours later…

After Brynn got home from school, she told me that she had lost her dollar at school. She was pretty devastated by it. She asked me if I could give her a dollar to replace it. I told her no because I wasn’t the one who lost it. But I also told her that maybe she should write a letter to the tooth fairy letting her know what happened and then just see what she does. She went straight to work. And that night, what do you know? The tooth fairy actually came back and read Brynn’s letter. And she even brought her another dollar. But this time she left a note at the bottom of Brynn’s letter:

The next morning…

Brynn: You didn’t write that (the note from the fairy).
Me: How do you know that?
Brynn: Because you don’t know how to write like that. You just know how to write like this (swirling her hands in a cursive motion).
Me: Cursive?
Brynn: Yeah!

Whew! Man, am I glad the tooth fairy remembered to change up her writing at the last minute after starting the note. But cursive? Where does she get that? My “normal” handwriting is print with just little bits of cursive interjected here and there. (By the way, do you like the BIG word…interjected? Makes me sound smart, eh?)

Congratulations, Brynn, on losing your first tooth! We're all so happy for you!