A Royal Birthday Party

"A Princess Party" was the party idea Rebecca stuck with for her 4th birthday. She 1st wanted a water party, then a water party with princesses, then she decided a princess party without water would be best. Today was so hot and humid that some water might have actually felt really good.

We planned some fun games for the party.

Pin the crown on Rapunzel. 

I free hand drew this after looking at a cd cover. 

The crowns were just cut out card stock that I decorated.

 The Princess and the Pea 

I started out by telling the kids the story of the Princess and the Pea. We had 4 pillows and a green bouncy ball "pea" for the game. I hid the "pea" under a pillow and the kids would sit on each pillow and try to feel the pea. The "pea" we used was too small to feel in the grass, so we changed it out for a baseball. All the kids were able to find the "pea" this way.

Poison Apple

This game is like hot potato, but with a poison apple instead. The kids passed the poison apple around until Corrine stopped the music. Whoever had the apple pretended to fall asleep. They were then awoken by a kiss-a Hershey kiss. After all the kids got a turn to get the poison apple and get awoken by a kiss the kids ate their very messy melted Hershey kisses.

Treasure Hunt

We hid wands and pirate eye patches in the strawberry patch, rings and bouncy balls in the sand box, necklaces on the fence, stick on earring in the flower box in the clubhouse and bracelets in the playhouse on the deck. The kids had so much fun going around finding the treasures.

Princess Cake

If you have a princess party-you need a princess cake. 

This princess was struggling to not melt in the heat of the day. She stayed nice and cool in the fridge until it was time to cut into her fluffy dress.

Presents

I love the looks on all the kids faces as Rebecca opened her presents. They were all admiring the fun gifts the other kids gave her. She was so sweet and gentle, yet excited opening them.

A couple other fun pictures I got at the party.

A grumpy princess not wanting her picture taken.

A Happy Princess playing with her friends.

A totally engrossed in her new wand from the treasure hung princess.

A sad princess.

 A tongue sticking out prince.

Rebecca and her friends had such a fun time playing prince and princess today! I'm glad she has such sweet friends that were able to come celebrate her special golden birthday with her.

Going on Tour

Simeon's been talking about going on tour with the 6th grade band for weeks. Today was the day and we started it off at the wrong school! Thankfully a friend saw us drop Simeon off and called me to figure it out. She was already bringing a van load of kids, so she took him along. 

I was able to chaperone the tour, so I was able to participate in the day with him. There were around 60 kids split between 2 buses, so there was alot of counting and roll taking to make sure all the kids were accounted for.

The kids have gotten really good on their instruments! Next year at South East they are going to sound even better.

Simeon was the only Baritone in the band.

It was a fun day of touring the 3 schools that the band kids come from. We started at Hoover, then went to Longfellow. Then we headed out to the Coralridge Mall for lunch. We ended the day at Lemme playing for their own peers. Dad, Rebecca and Grandma Smith came to hear the performance.

Arianna, April, ??, Julia, Nick, Kayla, Simeon, ?? and Megan (down front).

Dance Marathon 19

This was our 7th Dance Marathon and the kids excitement for it has only increased. 

This really is the party of all parties.

Some highlights from the weekend.

We were group 7. A large part of our group were 1st time dancers. One was a friend of Simeon's, high school sister.

Our Family Rep Nicole from last year flew from Florida to be here. Corrine LOVED having her around.

Simeon pillowcase was on the bottom row this year, so we could get a picture of him standing by it.

This year the neon green screen was such a hit for the kids. We danced behind it and took lots of videos and pictures of the fun.

This year there was a Dance Marathon wall with all the shirts and stats from the years.

The family room was of course a BIG hit. Rebecca liked dressing up, but the soft comfy corner was the most loved area.

Twister got the kids twisted pretty tight with each other! 

We spent lots of time with Jan & Denny. Their daughter Becky and Simeon became instant friends, as did the rest of us. Becky passed away just over 2 years ago.

We danced in the ball room with the students. Friday night Rebecca was the star of the show and got lots of attention.ing video games in the Best Buy room.

Simeon and Ammon spend ALOT of time play

Saturday Rebecca feel asleep during Power hour and slept through the loudest, biggest, craziest motion packed hour!

We cried when the pictures and names of those gone too soon were read. 15 new children were added to the Dancing in Our Heart Quilt this year.

Becky had a new picture of her . It was beautiful. 

We stayed until the very end. Corrine & Ammon collected hundreds of glow sticks as per our annual tradition, then we all got our DM 19 bracelets.

And over $1.5 million was raised For The Kids!!!

FTK