Birthday Party Sleepover, Oh My!

Brenna and her friend Avery have been together since the start.  Well, at least 4.5 months from the start, because that's how long it took for Avery to come along behind Brenna.  The Jones have always been special friends for us long before the kids came along and Avery has always been a special friend for Brenna.  They were both born in Beaumont and shortly after we moved to Houston, the Jones were not far behind us.

This year Avery decided that she wanted to have a sleepover birthday party.  When Jamie first told me of the plans, I wasn't sure if Brenna would stick it out until the end.  When I told Brenna about the party, I thought she would be hesitant about the sleepover part, since this would be her first time away from home ever!  To my surprise, she was nearly busting at the seems to get the party started.  We even had a party countdown that started 10 days out!

On the day of the party, I drove through the pick-up line to get Brenna from school.  As she was getting into the car, the teacher on duty said "She's super-excited about the sleepover tonight!"  Brenna was sharing her excitement with whoever would listen!  We came home, took a short break, had a snack, and then it was off to Avery's house!

Counting the birthday girl, there was a total of seven 5-year old girls ready for some all night fun!  Jamie is a brave, brave woman to attempt this!  We dropped Brenna off with a quick hug and a kiss and she was off with the rest of them!  To my delight, Jamie is a picture fanatic like me and she told the story of the night in pictures.  There was dress-up and treasure hunts, cookies and cake, movies and popcorn!  All the things that little girls love to do!  Here's a few of Jamie's shots from the night!

I just love this picture, not because Brenna is front and center, but because she's standing there in this fu-fu outfit, which I'm sure she picked because it was pink.  There's one girl standing in the middle of the bed stripping, another shooting a bow-and-arrow in a tutu, and Avery's on the side digging out more stuff to play with.  I can just see the chaos of the moment!

Brenna and Avery were the last two to give up the fight somewhere around 10:30 pm.  I can't believe she lasted that long.  The girls were up bright and early the next morning and kicked off the day with ring pops!

This was another one of my favorites.  You can see the pure joy on their faces!

After several jokes thrown Jamie's way about carting a bunch kids home in the middle of the night, the party was a complete success!  Everyone made it through the whole night.  Brenna wasn't even ready to leave the next morning when we came to pick her up.  She was still bubbling over with excitement.  That night in bed, after we said our prayers and listed what we were thankful for that day, she said that she was thankful she went to Avery's birthday party.  Then she added "I wish I was still at the sleepover!"

This was such a special event for Avery and all her friends!  You can check out Jamie's post on the entire party.  Avery's 5th Birthday Mermaid Sleepover.  Thanks to Jamie for being brave and giving these little girls a night to remember!  It was definitely a party that won't soon be forgotten!