Happy Twilight Birthday, Aimee!!!

Can she really be 12?! Crazy, crazy!!! Aimee's friends have scattered for the summer, so GNO (her Girl's Night Out from last month) was her get together with her best friends night. She had just one friend over for her official day, and they had plenty of fun. They even got to i.m. with another friend later in the evening.

The happy Birthday Girl!

Our simple, short-on-time birthday cake. She wanted it Twilight. We've seen some total wrecks where people try to put arms on the cake, like the Twilight book cover, but since shading is a little hard with frosting, we stuck with something we could do quickly and have it turn out the way we wanted. The front side of the cake plate is Twilight, with the hands offering the apple; to the right is the New Moon Flower, then the back is the Eclipse Ribbon, and the last side is the Cullens (since the cake itself is more the Breaking Dawn theme.)

Don't you know the end of "Happy Birthday?"
Happy Birthday, Dear Aimee, Happy Birthday to you.
Cha cha cha, Kumbaya, Huh!
(This picture is obviously the "huh!")

She stayed this calm while blowing out the candles...none of this silly tradition of blowing them all out in one breath. She took 3 or 4 breaths to get them all out!

Heading to the wading pool in the backyard (they wanted to play basketball, but decided 105 was too hot), Aimee's friend, Ariel chose to just swim in shorts and a T, rather than a borrowed suit. Aimee let her use some shorts that she wore canooing at girl's camp, which happened to be Alex's old shorts from P.E. in WA. He took great offense at Aimee letting her friend wear his 'beloved' clothing, so he figured he'd just wear hers.I warned him that he really shouldn't

'cut off his nose to spite his face,'

but he felt this was the best revenge.

*sigh*

(In his defense, Aimee did not like him wearing her stuff, so his devious plan worked...even if they still laughed at him!)

Black nails with rhinestones...perfect!
This was originally going to be a pic of their manicures (which I did last night) but everyone wanted their hands in the frame!

Of course, the pedi has to match!

He's a rockstar!

It's the age of poses!

When Alex first made his grand entrance, Aimee was already gasping from the cold, but she gave an extra gasp at the sight of him.

(Water painting a silhouette.)

This was Allie's posed spray outlines!

My Birthday Surprise

As far as birthdays go, I've always thought it was interesting how different a birthday could feel when one turned 5, than a birthday when one turned 25. As a child, my birthday was such a magical thing and I think I felt a magical tranformation on that day...as if I were suddenly bigger, smarter, cooler, and braver. I don't even remember what year it was that I stopped feeling that magic.
I know in high school I started to realize that grown-ups didn't just get the day off just because it was their birthday; they still had to go to work and be a mom and a dad and, well, a normal person, I guess. I have always been blessed to have sweet, loving people around me who want to remember me and help celebrate, but since I'm a "grown-up" now, I have experienced first hand that the world doesn't stop and revolve around the birthday girl.
This year, once again, everyone made me feel like the light of the day, with cards and phone calls and hugs and kisses. Thank you so much!
I chose not to make a cake or even a superbly great birthday dinner on Wednesday, because it was the middle of the week and I really wanted to celebrate on the weekend, so even though I didn't have definite plans, I thought an out-to-dinner-shopping-on-the-weekend thing would be good.
Friday morning, my plans took shape when I stepped out of the shower and was greeted by Dustin, who was clearly not at work, but had only left a couple of hours earlier to pick up Sibyl, who took the red eye flight down for my surprise birthday weekend! He told me to hurry and get ready, because I had to leave in an hour. He gave me directions to the spa, where he had appointments for Sibyl and me to relax with hair, facial, and pedicure.
Of course, in typical Polly fashion, I dragged my sister around with me (okay, well, I certainly didn't have twist her arm) to shop for "barstools and a shower curtain." We picked up a few extra things as well.
I didn't even make my own cake. Although the information is sketchy, I'm told that my friend volunteered to make the cake, and as Dustin felt her expertise would suit the task, he cheerily handed over the reins (thanks Blossom!)
In my defense, I did start to suspect something. Once children are involved in a secret, no matter how devious and evasive they think they are, they always manage to let something slip, and I wasn't even trying to get information out of them. I started to wonder if I really should do a more in depth cleaning (I'll thank my mom for that perfection obsession) rather than allowing the kids to just "keep thing picked up." (Aimee mentioned "only we know why we're supposed to clean up." Alex hesitated to commit to play softball with the young men's church group on Saturday morning, "ooh, THIS Saturday?" and of course little Allie who just lit up with an "I know a secret" kind of look. The only thing she actually said was, "Why'd you tell her?" Unfortunately, it was in response to a passing comment, which grouped a lot of things together...Sibyl being one of the words mentioned. I can just imagine her mind churning away, pointedly avoiding any and all references to any "give away" words.)

This birthday surprise was a total hit and completely caught me off guard....I loved every moment of it. Thanks to my loving husband, sweet sister, and devious children.