CRA - age 10

Carolyn is one deacde old.
I blinked and it happened!
I can't wait to see what the next blinks brings her.

 

She chose to celebrate her birthday dinner at Benihana.

The Greatest Birthday Ever!

I said I was not going to do a birthday party for either girl, this year but turns out that a number of their friends were in town, so they got to invite some neighbors and friends over for a Circus theme party.  It was held just a few days before Carolyn's birthday.

The invite encouraged them to come dressed up as their favorite circus performer.  Some did, and for those who did not, we had plenty of costumes, face paints, hair chalk.  No one refused a costume and most people tried several throughout the evening.

 

Ha!  How awesome is Steve!?!

The girls asked if he would be the bearded lady for the party.  Without saying a word, he snuck away at the start of the party and came back in this!  The girls thought it was so funny and even cooler when he let them paint his face and chalk his hair. 

 Circus food is pretty easy and fun!  

We had hot dogs, nachos, lemonade, soft pretzels, popcorn. 

And how great are these party favors -- it is a bar of soap!

At a circus party, games are a must!  We did the doughnut-on-a-string game, the toilet-paper-mummy game, and other minute-to-win-it games.  A new game was the shaving cream head game, where you see which team can get the most cheese balls stuck to the head of your partner.  I lost a bit of control on this one and it turned into a free for all.  Pretty funny.

 

This photo perfectly captures so much of the silly fun that was happening all night.

 

Put an oreo on your forehead, then get it into your mouth without touching it with your hands.  

Random dance parties broke out in the yard.  

Once the sun went down, the outdoor movie theater was set up.  We watched "The Greatest Showman".  It was dark, so did not take many photos, but imagine that big screen in the dance photos above pulled down and lots of blankets, pillows, bean bags, and camping chairs all cozied up to the screen.  

Some kids left after the movie was over, and the rest had their teeth brushed and were asleep in the "little house" within 10 minutes (seriously!).  

I cannot say all the slumber party girls stayed asleep -- one girl woke up every hour to come to the bathroom, to get water, to find something in her bag (I do not know), until I finally grabbed her at 3:30am and put her to bed inside by herself where she slept the rest of the night.  Another one decided it was time to get up at 5am.  I just turned on Netflix and gave her the remote control and told her I would see her again at 7ish when the bagel store opened.

What a fun party to start the summer

And, what a great group of kids!
They are thoughtful, kind, funny.