Briana's 8th Birthday Party - Spa Portion

This part of the party was sooo super cute. The girls slipped on their fluffy pink robes and they went to their stations for manicures and pedicures. Bri and I opted not to have facials done on the girls and instead decided to have the girls get light makeup during the fashion runway part of the party. 

The ladies asked if the girls had ever had spa treatments before...

The birthday girl ready for her mani...

Look how adorable!!!!!

The spa music played in the background as the girls soaked their hands and feet...

One of Bri's friends had to arrive a bit late and missed the spa portion of the party. But she still enjoyed snacks and cake (thus the empty chair)!

Me taking pictures of the girls...

The spa service provided girl/teen magazines for the girls to glance through while they were pampered...

The spa girls worked so hard and diligently...

Fan for drying nails faster...

The girls seemed so grown up reading their magazines...

It was amazing how quiet the girls were during this part of the party. They were so patient and waited their turns for pampering...

Briana was having so much fun...

Time for a final photo to show off their beautiful nails...

Simply adorable!!!

Briana's 8th Monster High Spa/Fashion Diva Birthday Party

I don't want to toot my own horn, but Briana's party turned out pretty dang swell! LOL!

Briana told me months ago she wanted a spa party. A Monster High themed spa party to be exact. And she only wanted girls. Well, you'd think that wouldn't be too terribly difficult/complicated, right? Wrong - it totally was. I wasn't originally planning on having Bri's party at my home - I wanted to find a place to have it. Bri had gone to a great party several years ago at a really nice spa for young girls. After looking into it, I found out that place was closing its doors for good (sigh). Nothing else was close to my house. So, I had to scramble and find someone to come to my house. I researched and ended up finding a spa service for girls on the internet - and they were amazing!! I am beyond pleased.

Due to the type of party Bri wanted and the fact I hosted it at my house, I unfortunately could only invite about half the amount of kids I invited last year (that was so difficult).

I had 11 giggly girls, including the birthday girl, in my house - and that was plenty! :)

I knew the service would bring a number of supplies for the party, but I really wanted it Monster High'd up. So I bought some MH decorations on my own.

Here is the birthday girl showing off some of the decorating we did (before the service showed up)...

Yes, I found Bri a Monster High dress at T@rget. I couldn't believe it...

Cleared out family room (with Bri's playroom rug that worked perfectly)...

Cake table...

Gift table...

Snack island...

I found these bubble wand microphones at the dollar store - I knew they were pretty cool, but I didn't realize what a hit they would be...

Dolls in the bathroom (heh)...

Then these ladies (from the spa service) showed up to decorate and pamper (they were awesome)...

This is how they transformed my family room and it was adorable...

Spa/Monster High (with labeled party favors and water bottles)!!!

The place was set. We just needed the guests to arrive!

The party was split into three parts - the spa treatment came first, next came snacks and cake, and then it was time for makeup, dress up and a fashion show.

Next blog post - the spa treatment!

The Last Days Of Summer Vacation (With School Update)

The last few days of summer were a bit crazy and hectic, but we had a teeny bit of down time. One day, Bri wanted to blow bubbles like she did at her Jacob's Ladder camp. I tried using regular bubble soap, but it wasn't strong enough to blow the bubbles that Bri wanted to blow. I asked my friend Val how they did it at camp, and she said to use glycerin soap - that was the key! 

Briana had the best time - she did this for an hour. She blew bubbles just using her hands - it was crazy!

It takes a lot to break them...

Feminine stance...

Bubbles = big time smiles...

Papa's birthday is a week before Miss B's, so the weekend before her birthday party, we had Papa's party...

My family, including the cousins, came over for pizza, cake, sliding and snow cones...

The Thursday before school started, the art center where Bri had her art camp held a showcase in the evening. The art teachers held onto one piece of artwork (per camp) from each student for the showcase. Bri was supposed to have two pieces in the show. Sadly, one of her pieces was lost. We luckily saw her astronomy picture...

But no oceanography picture was displayed. I was not happy. We spent a lot of our time there trying to figure out where it was and what happened. The center started to say Bri that had probably/accidentally brought all her art home that week. Not true - I specifically heard the teacher that week convince Bri to leave a different piece than the one Bri had chosen to leave (Bri had originally picked a simple picture because she wanted to take her favorites home). I never saw which picture they finally decided on and Bri couldn't remember after two months. She and I finally figured out when we got home it was a seahorse picture. I e-mailed the center to let them know. I got an apology but unfortunately no picture. It's not the end of the world and Bri had a ton of great art that she brought home. But, I was upset the center tried to put the blame on a 7 year old and didn't seem to want to take responsibility for the mistake. They are just lucky that Bri had attended two camps. If I had gone all the way there to have nothing on the wall (with a disappointed kid), it would have been bad. Just sayin'.

And the Saturday before camp was the BIG event. 

Briana's Monster High/spa/fashion diva 8th birthday party extravaganza!

It was awesome...

I have so many pictures and so much to blog about regarding the party - that will be a whole other post (ok probably multiple posts - heh).

The party really was the wrap up to an amazing summer break. It really was great. I'm going to miss it. And miss my girl.

On the bright side, 3rd grade is going great so far...

Miss B got flowers from daddy on her first day of school...

And Briana finished her first big project for school. An "all about me" poster...

I can't believe it is Friday. I go in a couple of hours to pick B up from school. I have no plans for the weekend (except having Briana write lots of thank yous). I am still in recuperation mode from our gotcha day anniversary, B's birthday party and real birthday, B's open house and B's first day of school and B's school project. My dad also had surgery in the middle of all that, so I spent some time at the hospital too (he is doing really well now).

I'm ready to sleep in a bit tomorrow. I'm trying to get back into this waking up at 6AM thing and my body is feeling it!

8 Is Great! (Happy Birthday Briana!)

Happy 8TH Birthday to my beautiful, sweet, happy, smiley, lovely, sassy, fun, amazing gal!!!

Here is a video montage look back at last year - Briana Age 7! Enjoy!

She Went Off To 3rd Grade

 

She went off the 3rd grade. I cannot believe it.

She was her super silly self this morning before we headed out...

My grown up girl...

Monster High and My Little Pony ~ two of her favorite things...

Walking her into school today...

She was quite unhappy when I asked her to stop and take a picture in front of her room. Can you tell (see below)? I told her that I knew she was probably mortified. LOL!

A very sweet teacher overheard me say that to her. She came up to me and said she would go ahead and embarrass her more by offering to take a family photo. LOL!

Once she was in the classroom, she got quite nervous. She kind of seemed like a deer caught in headlights. I got a forced smile...

I asked her if she was ok and she whispered to me "I'm kind of nervous."

Her good friend had not arrived yet when we got there. I know as soon as she did I'm sure Bri was very happy.

Going to head out to car line early today. I know first day release will be a madhouse. I pray she had a good day!

Last Day Of Summer Vacation

 Today is the last day of summer vacation. School starts tomorrow at 8AM.

3rd grade. How did that happen?

The last week of July and first week of August are always crazy busy in my world. Briana's gotcha day anniversary, Bri's birthday, my father's birthday, Bri's birthday party, school open house, school supply shopping and the first day of school always occur during these two weeks.

This year has been crazier than ever. I'm on the home stretch now. First day of school is tomorrow. Bri's birthday is on Tuesday.

Open house, Bri's gotcha anniversary and Bri's birthday party are now complete. My dad also had some surgery on Tuesday, so I was at the hospital the whole day. This past week has been so busy and a bit stressful.

 After Tuesday, I hope to start breathing again.

I hope.

Briana is not the "I love school" type of kid. She'd be happy if summer vacation lasted all year round. She loves her sleep (as you can see above), she likes to play and she likes her freedom. She's already stressing a little bit about Venture unfortunately, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. Venture doesn't start until two weeks into the school year.

Good news is that she has a very good friend that will be in her class this year. Somehow, these two girls have been in class every single year together - it is quite amazing! I can breathe a bit easier in that department now. And B's new teacher seems great (I've heard great things about her), so I'm hoping for a really good year...

So starting tomorrow, I am back to rising early, sitting in car line, making lunches and helping with homework. Dreaded homework. Bri already has an "all about me" project due on Friday. Sigh.

I have a ton to blog about, but it will have to wait a few days. Things should calm down a bit after Bri's birthday.

Fingers crossed...