The "Bride" balloons that became "Die" became my 9!
Every year for Callie's school treat she brings leftover Doritos from Halloween. She has a good attitude about this, "Yep, I bring chips!' She looked so cute in her new birthday outfit. She wanted to have a friend party so I looked through the older sisters birthday books to see which party she hasn't had yet. We decided on S'more fun! This is the fourth time I have thrown a variation of this party. We wrote on the back of the invitation that they could wear their pajamas if they wanted and to bring a favorite stuffed animal. She invited 13 girls
because we were certain some wouldn't be able to come on a Friday night but
guess what, they were all available! We let
everyone take a turn doing show and tell. They told their animals name and why
they brought it or why it is special to them. 
The first activity was fishing. Matt gave them each a glow bracelet and necklace...
Downstairs Ava had set each of
their places with their own tea light. They used graham sticks, mini
marshmallows, and chocolate squares to make mini S'mores. They also nibbled on cheese puffs, pretzels, and
Capri Suns.
Skit time! Like we've done at the Taylor reunions, each group acted out a different
genre of Goldilocks. The thing is though, weather they were action, comedy,
drama, or horror, they all acted it out the exact. same. way.
Graham was in one of the skit groups. He was happy to be part of any and all of it. It reminded me of when Ava had this party and Grayson too was always close at hand.
We opened gifts
outside in the tent. Ava had it decorated so cute with twinkle lights and glow
flowers. With 13 girls you can bet Callie got quite the gift haul! In the
summer when Callie was organizing her room she said, "I have too much
stuff! At my next birthday party I don't want any more stuff!" I told her
that we could have kids bring Toys for Tots or cans for the food bank. She
thought this was a good idea at the time. I reminded her of this when we were making the
invites. She said, "Well, I did get rid of a lot of things...I have room
now." So more loot she got! Callie opened a Ken doll and they all passed him around;) It was a pretty goo' lookin Ken. I asked the girls if they were too full for cupcakes and
they all shouted, "NO!" So back downstairs we went for cupcakes. Seeing Callie with her friends who clearly adore her was the sweetest thing. She is such a perfect combination of sweet and sass. If she loves something she will tell you. If she doesn't, she will tell you that too! We were having a debate after scripture study one evening about weather Ammon really cut off the Lamnites arms or if he "dis-armed" them. Finally Callie said, "You just have to pray about it!" She also showed a lot of heart while watching the hurricane devastation, "All the pretty places get hit."
We were
done right at 9 pm so we could send the party guests on their way with a scratch n' sniff treat bag Ava had put together. We did not give any more
candy! This party took many hands (re-lighting tea light candles over and over again for example). Ava is always my right hand gal. I was teasing her though about her lack of enthusiasm when she is explaining things to the kids. She laughed because she knows exactly what I'm talking about! We spent the next hour just looking at all of Callie's things, and the
next hour cleaning up. Mallerie mailed her a cute Colorado purse. Callie loves little purses and filled it right away. So sweet.
She sure got a lot of little pink trinkets...
The following Sunday Grandpa Mike and Grandma Donna came over to celebrate with her and see her gifts.
Grayson was thrilled to have Grandpa Mike to play Connect Four with over and over and over again. Grandpa even eventually won!
We ended the evening by laughing till we were dizzy from this:
