Skylar's 8th Birthday Party

Having eight 8-yr. old girls to celebrate Skylar's 8th was a bit overwhelming! Girls can make so much noise. Anyway, we decided to celebrate with her friends early since the baby should be coming soon, next weekend is our 11th anniversary and then it is Lena's wedding and then summer is in full swing and so on and so on. It just seemed to be so packed at the end of May, beginning of June, that this seemed our last chance to get it done. I try to alter what we do at the party a little, but Skylar likes to do the same things every year, so if it ain't broke...

We start the morning with a nice birthday girl choice breakfast, with the special placemat and plate.

We start the party with a little activity, making shrinky-dink charm bracelets. The girls color in their charms and then we put them in the oven and they shrink. Then we put them on little bracelets. The only problem was that the little links were too difficult for the girls to open and close, so I had to do them all. My fingertips are a bit sore from adding 50 charms to the bracelets.

James always loves to be a part of the party.

I obviously need to concentrate to add those charms!

Then it is time for some pizza and cake.


And of course, you can't have a party without a pinata (I'm hiding behind the tree so I don't get hit in the belly by the bat). The top of the pinata fell off after the first hit, so we had to be a little creative to rehang it.

The dive for the candy!

Then it was time for presents!


After all of the friends left, we let her open our present to her. She has gone a little crazy for Zhu-Zhu pets (toy hamsters that act real, but no poop/pee/stink), so she got the Giant Hamster City for them to live in. Overall, she had a blast and it was "the best party ever!" Can't ask for more than that!



Of course, see the shutterfly site for more pictures:
http://thedeanslife.shutterfly.com/