Mid-Month Randoms: Focus on Sophia and James

I went through my camera roll and decided to do a "Mid-Month Randoms" post with some of the pictures that were on the reel, and then realized that all of them focused on Sophia and James.  I blame that on the fact that we just got done celebrating their birthday month ...

On the morning on her 13th brithday:

Later in the day, she opened all of her presents from us and then we headed to Relli's for dinner, her restaurant of choice.  Grandpa joined us, of course.  

Sidenote: the weather was unseasonably warm.  In fact, the next day (my birthday), the high reached 72 degrees which broke a record.  Crazy!

********************

The same weekend that we celebrated Sophia's birthday with friends, we had a "Family Party" to jointly celebrate both Sophia and Jimmy.

I made a cake for Sophia and she absolutely loved how it turned out.  I kept it a secret on how I was planning to decorate it and it made it even more special for her.

Because I had already decorated a cake for Jimmy for his earlier party with friends, I kept it more simple and did some dinosaur-topped cupcakes.  That way, we had the option of either white or chocolate cake for our guests:

We kept the balloon arch up, although it was starting to lose a bit of its "ooomph:"

I then added a little plant to this adorable disco ball planter that I found and used it as a centerpiece.

A sign of a good party is wild hair when it is time to blow out your candle!

Sophia's hair was a bit more tamed, ha!

********************

As a potential decoration for the disco ball party, I custom ordered this neon sign for Sophia.  When it didn't arrive in time for the party, I completely forgot about it.

The following week, it showed up on our doorstep.  I had a good laugh about it and then waited for Sophia to get home from school.  Together, we did some rearranging in her room and then opted to put it above her vanity.  It is PERFECT there.

********************

Once a month, Jimmy comes home with an "extra credit math project."  It is completely optional, but we like to do them anyway.  The teacher gives the students plenty of time to complete them and we tend to add a little extra creativity to the project.  For this particular assignment, Jimmy had to compare the distances of two planets from the sun and share a few random facts about them.  He opted to use watercolors and the final project turned out awesome!

********************

St. Patrick's Day

This year, St. Patrick's Day fell on a Sunday which meant that we started the day out a little slower and not as rushed as we might have if it was a school day.  The kids slept in a bit and I made sure that there was some special holiday treat waiting for them, as usual.

Rainbow Sweet-Tart ropes, a favorite of everyone, set out on gold placemats with a shamrock place card:

Sometimes, simple is best.

I did add a little bit to the mantle for the holiday and chose to keep a couple of the star balloons up, leftover from Sophia's disco ball party.  The kids all dressed in green and obliged me with a traditional picture.

St. Patrick's Day is one of Steve's favorite holidays and he was ready to celebrate by mid-afternoon:

Actually, we had plans to meet up with a group of friends down the road and then head to a couple of places in Lansing.  We had a great time!  

We didn't stay out too late -- one of the perks of having the holiday on a Sunday is that you can start celebrating a little earlier and then end earlier.  I ordered pizza for the kids for dinner and had it delivered and we made it home shortly thereafter to make sure that everything was lined up for the next morning (school and work).

Sophia's 13th Birthday - A Disco Ball Theme

I knew that I wanted to do something sparkly for Sophia's 13th birthday and suggested a "disco theme" early in our planning stage.  While she did not want an actual disco dance complete with lights and music, we both agreed that the sparkles with silver, black and hot pink would be a great place to start, and then we could integrate a few other special items.

Of great importance was a balloon arch.  I have to say, we are getting pretty good at these now and I love how it turned out.

A true labor of love was the homemade disco ball pinata that I made.  It was layer upon layer of newspaper mache, which I then spray-painted silver and personally glued all of the sparkles on it.  The sparkles were actually punched-out circles from silver notecards that I found on clearance at Walmart.  I filled it with ALL KINDS of goodies and then sealed it up (more paper mache!) and used a coat hanger for extra support inside when hanging it.

Disco Cowboys!  We found these at the store and knew that they would be absolutely perfect for denoting everyone's special glass at the table.  (Everyone took their cowboy home after the party as as a souvenir.

All set up at the table and just waiting for her friends to arrive to celebrate.

I made virgin margaritas for everyone, using special glasses, and there was a lip gloss placed there before the party as another favor.

Sophia's Disco Cowboy was named, "Peace."

Ready to party!

Steve and the boys had other plans so I was on my own to make sure that the pinata was secured in the garage.

It definitely lasted longer than I thought and the girls ended up with TONS of items from the disco ball when it eventually broke.

Lots of silver sparkled adorned the floor afterwards, but it was worth it to see the girls having so much fun with it!

Afterwards, I planned another fun game for the guests.  The girls love playing BINGO, but I added a little extra twist to it.  Whoever won each game got to go to this homemade board and punch out one of the cups to reveal their prize.  

Everyone was allowed to win three games so they ended up with various gift cards and/or some cash.  This is such a big hit with teenagers!  In the end, they were allowed to switch with someone if they liked another prize better ...

All prizes were claimed!

We ended the evening -- before the sleepover began -- with 'brookies' and ice cream while singing 'happy birthday' to our newly minted TEENAGER!