Happy, Hawaiian Luau, Abby!!

Abby turned 10 years old on Tuesday!!  She was my first kid born in CO.  We did not find out what we were having.  I was convinced this baby was going to be a boy.  Boy,(no pun intended) was I surprised when out popped this beautiful little girl.  At a year old, she only weighed 14lbs, but would walk around and talk like crazy.  It was a bit freakish to see such a tiny little girl walking and talking.  She was and still is a cutie pie.  It was her year to have a friend party but we did not have it until Wed. night. 

 On Tuesday, I got her a yummy Frappe' to celebrate.  

 She decided to have a Luau Sleepover.  Since she is gluten free now, we went with an ice cream cake:  Vanilla ice cream(her choice) topped with blue colored Cool Whip for the water and brown sugar for the sand.  She decorated with Swedish fish, umbrellas and gummy candies.

 She is my crafty girl.  She made this little decoration for the table on her own.

 The Dining Room

 I love how the table turned out!

 The goody buckets for the girls to take home

 We planned some outdoor water/messy games.  Literally the minute we started playing, rain started coming down and it began thundering and lightning.  I did not have a Plan B in place for bad weather. So, we put this water balloon tossing game on hold.  (Tossing a water balloon back and forth with a towel)

 We moved inside to do the hula hooping contest.  Abby was the winner!

 It didn't take long before the storm passed and the clouds disappeared.  I was so thankful!  We headed back outside for a round of coconut bowling.  At one point, the coconut cracked and every time we rolled it, coconut water sprayed everywhere.  It was very exciting.  

 Lauren won first place winning a lip balm.

We also surprised the girls with a prize for last place.  Micah won that one!

I got the next idea from my friend, Courtney's blog.  I get lots of great ideas and inspiration from her.  

I bought 6 cans of shaving cream at the dollar store.  Basically, each girl got her own can, and I just let them go for it.  They had a blast!!

Quite the crew!

Girl Power!

There was so much shaving cream on them and the ground that they were able to slide across the yard.  

That became the next activity.

What better way to get shaving cream off than with water balloons.

We had 250 water balloons.  They started by playing a few different games.  

Then, it was a free for all with a water balloon war!
We also had limbo planned, but never got around to it!

Once the girls were all cleaned up and out of their swimsuits, we came in for dinner.

Fruit Kabobs

We named this delicious drink:  Lemon Pineapple Paradise

I did a couple of things differently to the recipe.  Instead of using Country Time Lemonade, I just bought a premixed lemonade in a 2 liter bottle.  We also felt like the pineapple taste was too strong according the recipe so we added about 3 more cups each of Sprite and Lemonade.  Finally, I put it in the freeezer about 4 hours ahead and it was so nice and slushy.  It was sooooo yummy!!

The Birthday Girl

Let's Eat

We had "Hawaiian" Beef (It is actually called Korean Beef, but we adjusted the name for the purposes of our party).  It is Abby's favorite meal and it was a HUGE hit!

Ready for some ice cream

She did it!

Abby opened her gifts, then we did pedicures.  

I did foot soaks, massages, and scrubs for the girls.

They painted their toenails and added some decals.

They headed to the basement with a big bowl of chocolate popcorn, bottles of Pepsi, and "Journey 2."  They spent the night in the tent in the basement.

For breakfast, we has Dallas Cowboy waffles and Orange Julius Smoothies!

I have to say that I budget $100 for each kids' bday.  If they have a friend party, they know that most likely, that will be their gift from us.  They are allowed to have a friend party every other year.  This party actually cost less than $100.  If we do a family activity, the money goes towards that first.  Any money left over goes to gifts for the Bday child.  10 years old is a milestone bday so we do something extra-special.  In addition to a party, the bday child gets a $100 bill.

Abby is pretty happy to have her first $100 bill and her flip flop earrings

Abby,
I love the young lady you are becoming.  You live loud!  I love how you "opera sing" every song we listen to.  I love to watch you get joy from organizing.  I love hearing you play piano.  I love that you are crafty and like to decorate. I love to see you care for your younger brothers and sisters.  You are my little "Martha Stewart"(minus the jail time).  You love monkeys and apes.  You have very strong opinions about fashion and hair.  You have so many amazing gifts and talents.  You have a heart and passion for Africa and feel called to make a difference.  You have endured years of headaches.  It has been so nice to see your smile and zest for life come back over the last couple of months as you have experienced some relief.  You are tough, girl.  I do still think on some days that I might need to wrap you in bubble wrap from all of your injuries, but you just bounce back up and try again.  You are beautiful inside and out.  God is going to take all those amazing gifts mixed with your incredible personality and do big things with you!!  Double digits, baby.  How did that happen?  You are my Abba doo ya!  You are my dream come true!
Love you, spider monkey,
Mom