Gloria's 9th Birthday Party!!

I love this age of girls... it is so much fun to play with these girls and so easy to have a good time. It feels like we are hanging out and having a good time- compared to younger kids when you feel like you are a constant referee!!! So, we had a lot of fun for Gloria's birthday. Here is a breakdown of how the birthday girl spent her day.

6:00am. Dad wakes up the birthday girl (on a Saturday) and gets her and her brother and sister dressed for a Birthday Surprise Horse ride. They drove (2 hours) up to the High mountains and went for a 2 hour tour on horse back. They went around a lake and had a really nice time. Then they drove the 2 hours back. Meanwhile, I stay at home with Livie (she's too little to take on the horse ride) and ready the house for the party that will start at 2:00. Dad takes the kids out to lunch and to play while I finish getting ready for the party at home.

2:00pm. Kids start arriving for the party. 15 girls, to be exact. THANKFULLY I have a really good friend who showed up and told me that Grayson did not need to be involved in such a girly party and whisked him away for the day (and night) to play with her son. Grayson was VERY thankful and I know he had more fun there than here.
We started out by giving each of the girls their very own cake to frost and decorate. I gave them a little sample lesson and then had a few cakes that they could try their techniques on before they put them on their own cakes. We learned to make flowers, leaves, and borders and I showed them how to make clowns.... but no one wanted to try the clowns. The heads were put straight into the cake and the girls were fine with that!! The girls did a great job with their cakes.

Then we sent the girls outside to swim with Travis as the lifeguard on duty!! The girls had a GREAT time swimming and it felt great on a HOT day. We let them swim for about an hour while my friends (Kellie and Jill) and I cleaned up the mess inside and prepared the items for our next project..... braclets!! The girls loved making bracelets and they all looked so nice. Poor Kellie and Jill ended up putting the clasps on all the girls bracelets while we were doing cake and doing presents!! It took a long time, but I am so thankful to them for doing that for me, it would have taken me too long- Thanks Jill and Kellie!!

After bracelets we ate our cakes that we tried out our decorating techniques on and that way all the girls were able to take their whole cake home as a party favor :)

Then we did presents and with the last 15 minutes we let the girls swim or play a game (Guesstures) until parents came.

It was a huge success.

After everyone left the party (6:30) Gloria and 2 of her friends and I went out to dinner (Gloria ended up getting sick at dinner..... ewwwwwww) and then we came home and had a sleep over. It was a great day and a great party. I am so thankful for my wonderful 9 year old, Gloria.