a birthday sleepover!!

 since my girls' birthdays are all in the spring we decided to have a big sleepover birthday party with their friends deedee, emily, julie, and kit. everybody was in their jammies, and the decorations and treats were all out and ready!

we made these "no-sew" blankets and pinwheels for party favors. and there was one little gift on the table for my girls from me.

 when the guests arrived we all screamed and jumped up to give hugs and introduce all the new friends to each other.

  of course the bffs (molly, emily, and deedee) were very excited to see each other!

and kit and julie were thrilled to see my girls... it had been a few months since we saw each other! 

molly, emily, and deedee are our newest friends so some introductions were needed.

 in case you aren't aware, deedee and emily live with my mom, and julie and kit live with my nieces. my nieces and my mom  were there celebrating too. it was a girly girl night for sure!!

while the girls were getting acquainted and helping themselves to treats and drinks my mom sneaked a whole bunch of presents into the house!! we weren't even expecting presents we just wanted to have a fun party, but she is too nice and generous to come to a party empty handed... love you mommy!!

once the girls realized the living room floor was covered with gift bags they screamed and came running in!!

we sorted them all out and took turns unwrapping. it was very curious though-- one of the bags kept seeming to jiggle and whine, but emily insisted it was just deedee's or her puppies, yank and coconut, who had joined the party.

mom got each girl (including julie and kit) a vera bradley duffel bag!! mom puts lots of though into all the gifts she gives so of course each bag had a pattern fitting for each girl's time period and personality. she knew felicity already had a vera duffel so she got felicity vera stationary and note pads (mom knows felicity loves making scrapbooks).

 there was one more gift bag left unopened; it was the curious bag that seemed alive. molly leaned down to read the tag, "happy birthday molly! you are my dearest and best friend forever! with love, emily," it read. just then a bouncy little puppy leaped out of the bag and straight into molly's arms!!

"it's bennett!!" she yelled.

 emily rushed over! yank was already at molly's feet jumping up trying to get to his little furry friend bennett! emily whispered to molly, "now our foursome is complete!"   :)

what a special gift!

[thank you mommy-- you are my bff]

everyone was wound up even the dogs were barking and going wild! my girls were especially happy and begging and pleading, "can we keep him? can we keep him?" i sternly told them NO at first and they all stuck out their lips. but then i couldn't keep a straight face and said, "just teasing! yes sillies, bennett is a very special gift from emily to molly. he is a part of our family now. but having a pet is a lot of responsibility. we will have to work hard together to keep bennett healthy and happy."

next we let our guests pick out their party favors. they loved the soft blankets and colorful pinwheels we made!

oops we almost forgot my little package for the girls!

"yay! it is apples to apples!" that's the game they asked for! "lets play!" they all shouted! but i insisted they get their sleeping arrangements all set up first and get settled for the night.

once the girls were cozy under their blankets with their games and magazines and treats there was a nice sweet buzz of chitter-chatter.

after a while they said their prayers and snuggled up together. one by one they dozed off into dreamland.

shhhhhhhhhh ;)

the next morning birds were softly chirping, the sun was gently breaking through the curtains, the girls were peacefully sleeping until they were abruptly awoken to:

"zippity doo dah, zippity aye,
my oh my what a wonderful day
plenty of sunshine coming my way,
zippity doo dah, zippity aye."

the girls jumped up out of their deep sleep to find rebecca dramatically singing and dancing with a box of donuts balancing in her hands!

you might have thought they would have been annoyed with rebecca but the thing about rebecca is that she can make even the grumpiest scrooge laugh and fill a whole room with joy and energy!

the girls munched on their donuts and talked about all the fun they had. then all too soon kit and julie had to leave because kit had cheerleading. deedee and emily stayed and played for the whole day
[i'll post a "bff adventures" about all the fun day they had later-- stay tuned]

we had the best time; it was a fabulous way to celebrate their birthdays!

but wait that's not all!...

can you keep a secret?

 ...i'm going to surprise my girls with another more formal birthday party for just my girls, i'm so excited!!...more presents!!