Paris with SNOW!

Grace's 11th birthday was last Thursday, on the 27th. However, her real celebrating didn't start till Friday, the 28th.


She invited 4 friends to spend the night (and one for Ev). So that's 7 kids in the house. 5 of which are NOT MY OWN.


This is why I only have 2. (but I guess that's beside the point.)


So, since her room is all about Paris with Eiffel Towers and "Parisian" looking things, we carried that over for a birthday theme.


Let's just say right now, my lack of pictures for this event is pitiful. Really. I'm embarrassed for myself.


Now, I didn't go out and make some HUGE tissue paper flowers to hang from the ceiling (I might later for her room, though!) and I didn't have a chandelier over the table or anything....but I did have these little diddies I found at Target a couple of weeks ago.


I happened upon them by accident in their $1 section. Gotta love that $ section!

How cute are these? Even though they weren't quite the color scheme I was going for, they had Eiffel towers on them, and that's all that mattered.

Once I found these, I headed to Pier I (of all places) and got some trinkets to go inside.

I highly recommend going to Pier I after Christmas. They have a whole table filled with clearance items. I got ALL the items for 5 baskets for less than $8!


There were jeweled up nail files, little zippered bags that contained little beaded rings, a Chinese fun toy, and a sleeping mask.

Then there were the plates and napkins. Oh, and the Eiffel Tower cookies which about put me over the edge on the night I made them. (Let's just say an Eiffel Tower cookie cutter might look cute, but when used, is a WHOLE different story.)


Our color scheme was turquoise and purple, and the napkins (which we also found at Pier I) said exactly what Grace's life motto is! This girl is ALL about fashion lately.


Before supper, all the girls and the two boys headed outside to play with the 4-wheeler.


At first there was a lot of standing around. You know girls this age...should we act cool? or should we play in the snow? Fun finally overruled, and they got down to business.

Grace pulled a couple of them around on a sled behind the 4-wheeler.

That is, until Brent got wind of what was going on, and decided to go out and liven things up a bit. He's all about the "wildness" of playing in the snow.

He pulled all the kids around, whipping them here and there, turning corners fast so they'd fly off, jumping over bumps, for about an hour.

I got plenty of hilarious video clips to watch over and over.

Needless to say, they all came in wet, cold, hungry, and with more than a couple bumps and bruises on their backsides!

When we woke up the next morning there were food dishes all around the kitchen from a late night eating spree. There was even word on the street that they went to bed at 4am. I highly doubt that. My child has never stayed up that late in her whole life.

I'm pretty sure that's the "new time" these kids are throwing around lately.

I'm assuming they all had a good time. You don't hear much outta the girls. I mean face to face interactions and responses from them. Sure, there's a lot of giggling and talking going on within the group, but when questions are asked from the parents, suddenly it's deathly quiet.

Evan's friend had no trouble telling me though, "This is the BEST birthday party I've ever been to!"

Thanks boys...you made me feel so much better!