Happy 12th Birthday Taylee!

With all the partying last week, Taylee's actual birthday was pretty mellow.

We ate Taylee's birthday dinner request (BBQ chicken shepherd's pie casserole), then she opened her presents. She received lots of artsy type gifts (surprise, surprise), a make-up bag, mascara, swim goggles and some food items.

Treyson's gift to her was bubble gum that dyed your mouth.
I asked Taylee if she wanted something other than cake, since we had cake at the party. She was indecisive and indifferent, but finally said, "Surprise me."
So we had BIRTHDAY CAKE SURPRISE.
Instead of running to the store again, I used what we had on hand. We topped our "fun fetti" cake with cherry pie filling and whip topping. It actually tasted pretty good.


The kids decided to try out the gum Treyson gave Taylee.
Treyson's tongue turned Bronco Blue.

I think the red dye has gone straight to Abree's brain.

Ewww, Taylee has a BLACK tongue!

Next, we went to the YMCA for a free family day. Taylee was looking forward to rock climbing. When we got there, the rock climbing wall was closed and the swimming pool was PACKED. They gave us a family day pass to come back another day to try rock climbing. On to Plan B... Merrill Park.

We chose Merrill Park because it has a rock climbing wall.

Taylee was surprised at the size of the hand/foot holdings... small.

Don't know where Abree learned it, but she likes to give me peace signs now.

We didn't stay long, because it was so windy and COLD. We decided to head back home, get our jammies on, snuggle up and watch a movie together. It was a nice evening.

Taylee is SO EXCITED to be 12. She's had her primary and bishop interviews and will be going to Young Women's for the first time, on Sunday.

She can't wait to go on Trek, this summer, but is worried that they've already done all of the FUN activities before she came in. She's just sure of it.. ask her. :)

PS- Rylee left for Anaheim, California, Thursday evening, with her Cantus Choir group. She'll be competing in the Heritage Festival and then playing in Disneyland all day on Monday, then coming back on Tuesday. Lucky.

Taylee's Night Owl PJ Party!

And finally we get to the PARTY...

We welcomed all NIGHT OWLS with a sign.

Notice Taylee's new pj pants. They are orange (her new favorite color?) with an owl print. She also received an awesome owl necklace, from one of her Activity Day leaders. So cute!

Friends started arriving around 5pm.
While dinner/breakfast was baking and being prepared, the girls jumped on the trampoline and hung out.

Breakfast for dinner...one of my favorites.

Ham & Cheese Breakfast Casserole, mini muffins, bananas, grapes and orange juice.

Yum!

By this time, almost everyone had arrived.

(Several girls had sports after school, so they came when they could.)

Things were quite calm at first, but then from no where GRAPE GOOFINESS broke out.

Maddie as a bunny rabbit.

Sage as a monkey.

Lauren as.... what do you think?

Next, the girls "hatched" their owlets and started stuffing and decorating.

It surprised me how much they enjoyed stuffing, decorating and sewing their owls.

Every owlet needed a name, so BIRTH CERTIFICATES were filled out.

Rachel and her little owl FREEDOM.

Taylee & Courtney

Bella & Sage

Maddie & Lauren
Check out the "nerd glasses" , sunglasses and guitar. So funny.

Kristin & Brittany

Maddy & Bailey

All the goofy girls and owlets.

Next we played "I have never____" or some call it "Never, have I ever___".

Someone starts out by saying, "Never, have I ever water skiied or gone fishing or seen a buffalo, etc". Then if you HAVE done that thing, you have to put a candy in the bowl. Some girls picked on their friends so they were the only ones putting the candy in the bowl, others said funny/outrageous things no one had ever done. All were good sports and SO fun to be around. Some of these girls are hilarious!

Next, Taylee opened gifts.

She received lots of great things; bottle cap necklace with interchangeable magnet pictures, scrapbook set, bracelet making set, ceramic figurines, purse, lip gloss, candy, gift certificate, and more.

Thanks friends!

Next on the agenda, was the movie "Tangled". The girls each got a bag of popcorn and added candy, pretzels, raisins, chips and cookies for their NIGHT OWL MUNCH MIX.

After the movie, we sang Happy Birthday and had cake/ice cream.

By then it was late and parents were arriving to pick up their girls.

On their way out, they grabbed some COOL silly socks as a favor.

Taylee bought these with her own money and was SO excited to give them out. She loved the neon colors and weird prints.

What a FUN night. Happy 12th Birthday Taylee!!!

More Party Prep

I didn't think that one cake would be enough, so I wanted to make owl cupcakes. This is what I ended up with.

Does it look more like an owl or a Jim Henson Muppet?

For the actual cake, I wanted to make a "log", so I decided to do it jellyroll style. This was my first time ever attempting a jellyroll type cake, so I was a little worried how it would go.

It came out of the pan and rolled up while it was warm, just fine. When it was time to fill, things didn't go as well. As I unrolled the cake, it cracked and broke apart several times. (I think I needed to let it cool more and maybe use a different recipe. I just used a cake mix.) But because it was going to be a "log" I didn't let that stop me. I slathered on the fudge filling, kind of gluing it together, then carefully rolled it up and put it in the freezer.

The morning of the party, I took the log out of the freezer and frosted it with chocolate frosting, going for the bark look. I also used some large stick pretzels covered with frosting for a branch.

Next I stuck wooden skewers into the styrofoam owls and popped them onto their log, along with candles and Taylee's name.
Voila!

Taylee and I made extra owls using the invitation template. I used them to make a banner.

Rylee bought this balloon for Taylee. It was a perfect addition to the party.

This was one of our first ideas when planning the NIGHT OWL party... a bed table.

I like how ours turned out, but check out our inspiration party...amazing!

My "crazy" doesn't even compete with her CRAZY. :)

Project #1

Taylee wanted to MAKE something, with the girls at her birthday party.

I found a stuffed owl pattern on the Internet, dug up some fabric scraps and started cutting. Taylee LOVES the eclectic, homemade look, so we put lots of different combos of fabric together to make each owl unique. Taylee had invited 12 girls, but I ended up cutting out about 16...for options. I felt crazy at the time, but soon discovered that cutting would be the least of my problems. Sewing the owls proved to be a little challenging. Taking something flat and sewing it into something curved or 3-D is not all that easy.

The hardest part was tail in back, not pictured.

Once cut out and sewn, we carefully folded them and put them into eggs.

Our plan was to give one to each girl and let her "hatch" the owlet.

When "hatched" each girl stuffed their owlet, added buttons for eyes and felt shapes (stars, flowers, guitar, sunglasses, etc.) to further personalize and decorate. Some also added ribbon bows for the CUTE factor.

They also filled out Birth Certificates for each of their owlets. They got to choose a name, date of birth, place of birth and put their own name down as "mother".

I wasn't sure if everyone would be into making something, like Taylee, but they all seemed excited to create their own owl. I heard girls say, "This is SO much fun.", "I can't believe we get to MAKE these!", "Your family seems crafty...and that's a good thing." :)

Each one was very unique and personalized. I think the funniest accessories were the sunglasses/guitar and the "nerd glasses". One of my favorite names was "Lemon Drop".

So cute!

Project # 2

From felt, a styrofoam ball and googly eyes.....

to cute little owls.....
to Taylee's birthday cake decoration.

I loved how they turned out!

What a HOOT.