Emily's 12th Birthday

We started Emily's birthday celebrations Wednesday night, by baking a round of cupcakes for her to bring to school on Thursday.  She ended up sharing them with her teachers, since she didn't have enough for all of her classmates, and she didn't have anywhere to store them until lunch to share with just her friends.  

That night we took one final picture of Emily as an 11-year-old. = )

Friday morning, we woke up and celebrated our newly minted 12-year-old with cake and gifts!  The three little ones had school that day, though the big girls were off, so I got to spend the day with the birthday girl!

Friday night we were hit with a snowstorm, and Saturday morning we woke to a heavy, wet snow, that needed to be shovelled.  Luckily, we'd made the (third) birthday cake for the party the night before, and cut the vegetables, so we shovelled while Billy went to get the chick-fil-a! = )

Grace helped hang the packing balloon butterflies, that Aunt Rocky made, on the porch. = )

Emily got to invite friends, new and vintage, and I think they had a fun time playing games, visiting and snacking. = )

I must admit, I am liking this 'middle school' style party: I put out food, and they entertain themselves! 

I think our Emily had a lovely day visiting with her friends and playing with her siblings.

Happiest of Birthdays to my favorite 12-year-old!!

later days

you can see her party crafts post here.

and her 12-year-old survey here.

3-24-23: backdated for continuity.

Emily's 12th Birthday Preperation

Emily's birthday is quickly approaching, but starting just after Billy's birthday, we began crafting some fun things for her party!  I ordered some 'special' m&m's whose colors have become the color scheme for her party.

She started by painting some box board from the recycling.

The next morning, we were able to trace a large butterfly and a small butterfly onto one half of the board, and just a large butterfly on the other half.

With an exacto, I painstakingly cut out the smaller butterfly on each board.  Emily made sure that the same number of m&m's were present in each favor.

She placed her selections in a plastic sandwich baggie.

We placed the top over the baggie and the back, then I took them up to my sewing machine and sewed them closed.

I, personally, think they came out super cute!  There were plenty of leftover m&m's so people can eat mini Emilys at the party, then have some to take home too. = )

We tried making butterflies from dough with limited success.

But her origami butterfly invitations were quite pretty when finished!

She did have to wait over a month before it was close enough to pass them out, but now she's been able to pass them to all of her friends, and we are concentrating on the food already!!

I'll post a few more posts in the coming days, to be sure, to show our birthday girl before, during and after her celebration!

later days