Birthday Girl

Today was Paige's Birthday! I can't believe how big my baby is getting!


As her birthday is so close to Halloween, this year we decided to turn our basement into a dungeon (it's not that big of stretch) and have a Halloween-themed birthday party. It was pretty much impossible to find a free Saturday this month to hold the party with soccer and church activities so we ended up having it on Friday which happened to be her actual birthday. It also happened to be a day that the kids had off from school, so we had the party in the early afternoon which was very convenient except some of our friends who don't have the same school schedule as us couldn't come. However, it all worked out in the end and was a good opportunity to get to know some of the kids Paige goes to school with and meet their parents, most of whom live in the same subdivision as us.


But I am getting ahead of myself, birthdays in our house always start with the Birthday Girl's favorite breakfast. In Paige's case, pancakes with homemade berry sauce:

Then we let her open presents from her family as we knew she would have plenty to open at her party later in the afternoon. She got a fancy new dress from Mom, a Webkin from Ashley and some new games for the Nintendo Gameboy from her Dad. She also got some cards from her grandparents and an adorable outfit from Grandpa and Grandma Smith.

Then it was time for last minute preparations for the party. Here are the cupcakes, topped with white chocolate spider webs I made:



Before we knew it, it was party time. Fortunately, Dave took the day off to help and Ashley was home too, because all three of us were busy going from one activity, to clean-up, to set-up, to the next activity, etc.
All the kids wore their costumes and we played a game called "toss the spider on the web." We also made slime. The kids were pretty intrigued by it but also a little grossed out!

Ashley led a game of Halloween Bingo

Then we sang "Happy Birthday" ate cupcakes and ice cream and opened presents

After that we had time to make Halloween candy necklaces
and then finish off big with a pinata

And if all that wasn't enough, after the kiddos went home, the family went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner at Paige's request. (Of course, I made the girls change out of their costumes before we left, but when we got to the restuarant there was a sign that said "kids in costumes eat free"--figures.) You would think by now we would be done for the day, but we still hadn't carved pumpkins and Halloween was the next day, so guess what we spent the evening doing...