Aubrey's Science Spectacular

With Mina, she told me her sweet and simple little birthday party idea: Popsicles at the park with her friends. She loved looking up "party" stuff but was generally excited about any and everything when it came to her party. 

Aubrey, on the other hand, is and has always been one to have super detailed requests about how she'd like to celebrate her big day. This birthday was no different.

The day after Mina's birthday, she handed me a piece of paper with purple and blue colored lines and informed me that she'd like her party to be kept in this "color scheme". 

Um, yeah.

Every detail was her idea down to the gumballs in test tubes -- "I'd like gumballs, but not plain ones. I'd like ones with some shimmer to them. It will look more 'science-y' and kinda like space gumballs." 

Oooookay.

That's the thing with Miss A, you cannot put her in a box (or cube, for that matter... ;)). 

She is brains and beauty. 

Sassy and sporty. 

Girly and granola. 

I have yet to figure her out, and I pray I never do. She is such a fascinating enigma. 

So...enough blah blah blah...on to the party!

Oh, and this is "Skeley" -- she (he?) floated around in the pool during the party. 

For the first activity, Aubrey explained that all scientists need to be safe but not afraid to get messy. So the girls put on some lab coats and safety glasses. Then, we gave them all cans of silly string. :)

Next up, Break Your Own Geodes!

Then, after working up a thirst, we had a drink experiment!

Cotton candy + Sprite = Instant dissolving / color changing deliciousness

Cake time!

Aubrey told them there was a surprise with the cake, and the girls were all afraid it was going to explode! Ha!  They squealed with delight when the little chocolate candies poured out when the cake was cut...

After cake, it was time for the main event...

MR. SCIENCE from Hooked on Science came!

The girls had a BLAST with getting to participate in lots of different experiments.

We sent each of the girls home with a few goodies:

Grown your own crystals, rock candy sucker and chocolate rocks in a petri dish.

It was fun to see all of Aubrey's party "ideas" come to life.
Now if she could just come up with a machine to freeze time, it might help this lump in my throat go away...

Happy SEVENTH Birthday, Aubrey!
You shine bright like a rhombus!

Derby 2015

I'm back-dating this post so it's in the proper month / year when I convert this into our family blog book. I'm *hoping* to do a lot of these in the next few weeks: Beach trip, Vegas trip, 1st day of school for the girls, Vegas trip #2 (wha?!), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!

But, first up...the Kentucky Derby! 

Kinda glad I waited to post this because now we know the Derby winner (American Pharoah) went on to a Triple Crown victory! 

We had a fun little shindig at Grammy and Pop Pop's house.

The girls and I made our hats for the party. I took them to the DollarTree and let them pick out a hat, flowers, and accessories. :) 

I found a cheap sunhat and then perused the hair accessory aisle at Hobby Lobby. :)

PARTY TIME!

It's hard to read in this photo, but the backdrop has the lyrics to My Old Kentucky Home on it...

The menu consisted of hot brown sliders, mutton sandwiches, slaw, chicken tenders, fruit salad, derby pies and banana pudding.

Everyone "picked a horse" to cheer for during the derby. The prize for picking the winning horse was a commemorative derby glass and Woodford Reserve bourbon balls.

MINT JULEPS.

Most people don't care for these, but I love them.

This glass in the middle is my all time fav since it's from 1981 (my birth year!). 

My mom has all kinds of derby glasses throughout the years. SO FUN.

This dapper dude ended up picking the winning horse...he donated the bourbon balls to the adults. :)

This cutie-pie found the chocolate horse suckers. :)

 

And this one snagged a chocolate horseshoe...

This guy is just always happy to have something in his hands with wheels. :)

I wanted to get one "good" picture of the girls together in their derby hats.
"Hey girls, look at me! Girls! Look at me! Giiiiiirls!"

Awesome. Thanks.

Okay, let's try a cousin pic...

How about one with all the cousins?!

Nevermind. 

Now this is how you take a derby pic...

Boom.

(Extreme paleness runs in the family. Obvs.)

This is more of a derby "infield" shot... ;) 

I think this was my second mint julep and post cornhole victory glow.

Overall, it was such a fun time being all together and enjoying the fastest two minutes in sports!

Already looking forward to the next Derby!

Aubrey's Night Owl Party

Aubrey has been begging to have a sleepover with her friends.
This is coming from a girl who has had a strict bedtime since she was six months old.
If you keep her up past a certain hour, be prepared for a total meltdown.

So, while sleepovers sound soooooo fun, I know Miss A wouldn't handle it well.
And, truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of sleepovers.
Especially not in kindergarten.

But, when possible, I try to find a compromise...

Dilemma: Aubrey wants to have a sleepover / I don't want her to have a sleepover.
Compromise: Aubrey gets to have an "almost" sleepover.
Translation: She gets to invite a couple of friends over to do all the fun "slumber party" things, only when it's time for bed -- everyone goes home!

Aubrey was happy / I was happy, and the "Night Owl Party" was set!

As with most things, Aubrey gets in her mind how she wants everything to go down.
She started working on the decorations that day. She was drawing, coloring, and cutting out stars all afternoon.

We hung up one of her sheets for a backdrop and taped up the cut-out creation.

This was all set up in the basement. We were supposed to have new flooring the week before this shindig, but due to a random snow storm the flooring shipment was delayed. The basement had been cleared out, and old carpet had been pulled up revealing an old, gross brown tile floor underneath. We just had to make due with the circumstances! Good thing 6 year-olds couldn't care less!

The girls each received a plush owl to snuggle and a little bin to fill up with all their crafts (color-your-own pillowcase, grippy socks, and homemade lipgloss) and trinkets from the party (a compact brush/mirror, faux owl nails, clip-on book light, and owl mask.)

Aubrey had created a list of crafts she wanted to do, which was good because we had from 3:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (staying up a full hour past bedtime) to fill up!

The first thing on the agenda when the girls skipped off the bus after-school was make their own lipgloss! I picked up these cute little containers from the bead section at Hobby Lobby for 4/$1. All you do is mix some un-petroleum jelly and to-go singles of a drink mix. While they mixed their lipgloss, we talked about how only "sweet" words should leave our mouths. :)

Next, the girls wanted to make their own grippy socks.
Just DollarTree socks 3/$1 and some puffy paint! 

Around 5:00, the girls decided they wanted to change into their jammies (they just simply couldn't wait any longer!) and ran around the basement with their owl masks.

After all that, their bellies started growling. Aubrey wanted to have breakfast foods for dinner since the girls wouldn't be waking up to have breakfast at our house. Funfetti pancakes, mini cinnamon rolls, donuts, mini waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon along with chocolate milk! Whoooooo's hungry?!

Once tummies were full, the girls decorated their own owl pillowcases...

Before watching a movie, we played "Prancing Pedicures". I just set the nail polish around in a circle and sat in the middle playing music while they "pranced" around. When I stopped the music, I would paint one of their toenails the color they were standing by. 

Once all the little piggies were painted -- they all danced and ran around to "help" dry their polish. We turned on a movie and passed out pink popcorn to help wind down the evening. 

It was a fun and exhausting night with these little night owls!

They were certainly a HOOT! :)