Gust Gab: Happy 7th Birthday Hailey!

I can hardly believe it, but our sweet lil girl has just turned seven years old ~

As is tradition around here ~ We put together an at home birthday party...

Not for lack of trying... We offered her Pump it Up, the Movie theater, the bowling alley, The roller skating rink, Grand Slam and more... But this girl, she despises change, and while she was open to looking... She wanted to come right back to what she knows and loves... I bring you - her last home birthday party...in pictures.

(Last because the children are getting bigger, and our home is not...and last because frankly, she just has too many friends! A great problem to have!)

Knowing I wouldn't have time to make the cake this year, we shopped for one. She ended up custom designing her own, to accommodate a new toy we let her choose out for the topper - and it turned out MARVELOUSLY!
Thank you Billie at Target Bakery in Burnsville!
You did great, especially since you didn't have the cake topper to work with!

I make them do this pose every year - birthday kiddo holding the cake, the other right next to them in some fashion!

We've never really bother with organized activities at her parties in the past, but thought that now that they are getting older, maybe we should.

One of the birthday party ideas we looked into, was going to the local Michael's Store to do a craft.

They have a party room, etc - but, our local store was so very unorganized when we went in to inquire about hosting a party there, that to be honest, it completely turned us off the idea.

So, we decided to bring the crafts home to us!

Who wouldn't love to paint a birdhouse?

Ideally, I'd of gotten all the same kind, but of course that wasn't meant to be, even going to 6 different stores! GAH!

No one seemed to mind, and 17 kiddos quickly and easily picked out a house to paint.

Mother Nature wasn't on our team this day and it was 40 degrees outside, making it not too much fun to paint in our garage.

The kids painted much quicker than I had planned on...Grrrr...

But it all worked out just fine....

We had some snacks...

It was too cold to eat outside (like I had hoped) but everyone pulled up a spot and enjoyed some pizza.

A HUGE thank you to my hubs and his BFF -

Not only for letting us girls pull off this crazy party - but for helping it run seamlessly and going and picking up six piping hot pizzas!

A quick wish or two or seven by the birthday girl,
and all but a one tiny corner of the cake was gobbled up !

I told the kids I wanted to try and get a group picture -
and the boys immediately went into this fun pose...

I knew I'd never get them all in - so I had them turn around to face the street....

And then things quickly went downhill...ha ha ha ha ha...

(What was I thinking anyway?)

And if you are wondering why on earth we agreed to 17 kids - well, 3 couldn't make it (so it could have been 20!), and, schools these days? Well, they aren't like how we grew up. Kids are busy. They are busy learnin' - they are reading and writing and 'rithmeticing...
There's not much time to visit with or play with their buddies - and I think part of a great school experience is knowing and trusting and having fun with your friends.
I thought it was so so important, and good for these little friends, to spend some good old fashioned time with each other not stuffed in their desks listening & learning.

I wanted to give them some time to be kids, together!