Brenna's 8th Birthday Slumber Party

This birthday we spent a little time looking back.  Recently Brenna has enjoyed looking through her baby pictures and videos and we've enjoyed telling her the stories of her early years that she's doesn't always remember.  It's amazing what this little girl can do.  In these first eight years she's moved twice, relocated to another country, attended four different schools, studied three different languages, and logged more flight time than any other kid her age I know.  And through it all she still radiates pure joy!  People, places, and things; she find excitement and adventure in it all.  God knew her path and He blessed her with this amazing personality that has driven her through all these life changes.  I try to teach her so much stuff, but its nothing compared to what she's teaching me.  The greatest lesson so far being that there's happiness everywhere.  You just have to find it, and if you look hard enough, you will.  She's beautiful, smart, active, and fearless.  It's a scary combination.  She does everything with determination, especially her sports.  She's a terrible loser, especially stubborn, and likes to be right.  All around, she keeps us on our toes and in the middle of some "The lesson to be learned is...." situation, either for her or us.  We love her beyond measure and pray for her constantly.

This year for her birthday, Brenna decided to keep things small.  Rather than a large party with all her school and neighborhood friends, she decided to have a slumber party with just a few of her favorite girl friends. I thought it was a great idea!  A small group at home meant they could enjoy the day longer and have more fun activities verses a quick party with tons of kids at another location.  After she decided on the slumber party went started to discuss the theme.  Each year Brenna picks her party theme based on her current likings.  She said she wanted something fun, colorful, and girly, which quickly materialized into a butterfly theme.

She had a long list of activities that she wanted to do; scavenger hunt, piñata, slip-n-slide, hot tub, painting, fort building, movies with popcorn, mani/pedi.  I did my best to accommodate all her requests, but even I had to draw the line at a candy themed game of hide and seek.  I was afraid it would attract too many bugs!

Brenna carefully selected a cute butterfly background for her invitation.  She and I worked together to decorate the house for the party.  I found some fun headbands, pajamas, and crafts that went perfectly with our butterfly theme.  She also picked out a cute butterfly outfit for her party dress.

The girls all came in excited and ready to get the party started.  We started with the crafts.  The girls got to paint and glitter butterfly canvases and masks.  After they finished up with paint, we moved on to the scavenger hunt.  Brenna had been looking forward to this activity the most.  I had hidden a series of 15 clues all through the house.  The girls had to decipher the clues to discover where the next clue was hidden.  The girls ran through the house, up and down the stairs to the basement, and in and out of house chasing after the clues.  In no time at all they had completed to whole thing.  It didn't take as long as I expected.  Brenna told me later that the scavenger hunt was her favorite part, but next time I needed to make it harder.  At the end, they found the treasure hidden away inside the washing machine.  There were four clue cards, one for each girl, with a toonie attached.  After the hunt the girls finally settled down for pizza.  They giggled and laughed while they ate until they were finally full and ready to move on to the next activity.

The girls changed into their bathing suits for some outdoor fun.  They made so many trips down the slip-n-slide that they bore a ditch into the yard.  The water guns and water balloons were well supplied and they had a great time soaking each other.  After the water fun, we hung the piñata.  It was one of the most durable piñatas I've ever seen.  Each of the girls got several swipes at it.  It shed one wing and then the other before they finally decapitated the poor butterfly and candy flew everywhere.

Just as it began to get dark, the girls came inside and changed into their matching pajamas.  We finally sang Happy Birthday and Brenna blew out the candles and opened her gifts.  I laughed when one of the girls read Brenna the card she got her and said, "Look, I even spelled color and favorite without the "u" since you're American!" (Meaning she didn't spell it colour or favourite.  This has caused us some problems with spelling tests.  Eventually, they began to grade Brenna from the American standard, Lol.)  One gift was neon colored, glow-in-the-dark fingernail polish.  Within the hour, all the girls nails looked like rainbows and they were huddled together in the inside bathroom, dancing in the dark with their glow-in-the-dark nails.

One friend couldn't stay overnight and had to leave late that evening.  The other girls slowly started to wind down.  We popped popcorn and moved to the basement so the girls could get settled into their beds for a movie, with hopes they would fall asleep before the end.  Brenna and I had negotiated bedtime earlier that day.  She wanted to stay up until mid-night.  I said 11 PM was late enough, so we settled at lights out at 11:30 PM.  The reality was, two Barbie movies later and a half hour in the dark, and they were still giggling at 1:30 AM.  It was a LONG night!  Eventually, they gave in.  But it didn't slow them down the next morning when the first one woke up at 7 AM!  They weren't as spunky as the day before, but they still enjoyed they're last little bit of time together with morning cartoons, iPad games, and McDonalds pancakes.  It was a great party and it marked another birthday in the books for Brenna!