Gretchen turned 9 in January, and we had a blast celebrating this girl!
Every other year, we have been trying to take a large family trip. On those years, we have a very small birthday celebration for the girls. This was one of those years. Since we are going on two Disney trips this year, we told Gretchen that she could have one friend sleepover, and that we wouldn't have a large friend party. And she was A-okay with that!
Gretchen is obsessed with Emoji's right now, and right before her sleepover, I decided that maybe we needed to decorate just a bit. But, y'all, there were no Emoji decorations to be found anywhere. So, I made them.
I had some time at work before seeing some speech kids, so I traced circles on to yellow construction paper, cut out construction paper hearts, and grabbed my sharpies. Making Emoji's wasn't as hard as I thought it would be!
The day before Gretchen turned 9, I tucked her in as an 8 year old.
We had driven through Sonic after her musical theater class, and she scored this super cute Viking headband, that she insisted on wearing.
Gah, I cannot believe she is turning 9!
And, just for giggles, let's look back on one of our first photos together.
This little bundle of pink, is now a girly girl at heart, who loves to read. She is strong willed and determined and loves to sing and act. She's a great big sister and is fiercely independent. She has her own ideas, and her own ways of doing things. She challenges me every singled day. She's becoming more mature, more helpful, and enjoys helping me in the kitchen. She has a strong love for American Girl and Barbies. She loves science, experimenting, and school. She's crazy smart, reading on a 6th grade reading level, and soaks up information from wherever she can get it. On the day she was born, I had no idea what 9 years later would look like, and boy it's better than I ever imagined.
Once I tucked her in bed, I went downstairs and started decorating.... she had no idea that we had decorations for her birthday.
I hung a few Emoji's from the chandelier, added a pink table cloth, her birthday plate and bowl, and party supplies.
Each year, I've made her a special shirt, or bought her a special shirt (before I had an embroidery machine) and I was feeling mom guilt when she asked me if I made her a shirt this year. You see, I haven't gotten out my embroidery machine in months because my heart just isn't in it like it used to be. Thankfully, I was able to find and surprise her with an Emoji t-shirt for her to wear to school on the day of her birthday.
I also found these little pizza-Emoji cups and picked one up for her and her friend, as a little party-favor.
And Gretchen has been asking to do a facial mask (thank you American Girl magazine), so instead of making a DIY one, I picked up this one.
We've been using this little plate and bowl every year on her birthday since she was one.
I found little Emoji stickers in Target's Dollar Section and stuck those on the table cloth.
And then I hung up an Emoji banner on the mantle.
We ordered Emoji cookies from Ok Cookie Momster for her classroom.
Gretchen has a little boy in her class, who has the same birthday, and since his mom hadn't planned on doing anything for the classroom, I told her that I would have a special cookie for him!
These cookies were so tasty! Seriously, the best sugar cookies I've had!
She woke up the next day as a 9 year old and opened her present..... an iPod. She was obviously thrilled with her gift! And DJ had taken time the night before to load it and had it ready to go!
I made her cinnamon rolls and she blew out her birthday candle.
And then she was dressed and ready for school.
Heading to school with my 9 year old!
Around noon, her teacher served cookies to her class and I ran down to help. Her class song her and her classmate a fabulous rendition of Happy Birthday complete with all of the cha-cha-chas you can imagine!
And after school, we headed to Los Cabos for dinner!
We typically head to Olive Garden, which had been a tradition since she was 2, but our Olive Garden has gone down hill quick. So, we told her that we could change traditions and head somewhere else, and DJ and I were both thrilled when she chose Los Cabos!
Friday after school, we headed home with her friend Paige. DJ was at a recruiting event, and per our weekly Friday night tradition- pizza was on the menu!
Followed by cupcakes!
We sang her Happy Birthday, and she wasn't shy about it at all.
And she blew out her candle.
After cupcakes, the girls settled in to their pj's and we had a little spa time.
Which only worked out well for Megan and Gretchen.... Adalyn decided she did not want that stuff on her face, and I accidentally bought a self-heating mask, which made Paige's face burn a little bit, so we quickly wiped hers off!
But Gretchen and Megan were game.
All of the girls piled in to the living room and we watched a movie before they headed to bed. And y'all, this was the easiest sleepover ever, because they actually went to bed when I told them to!
And they slept until a little after 7 the next morning!
For breakfast, I made the girls Emoji pancakes!
These were super easy to make..... I just picked up the frozen mini-pancakes, a food marker, icing, and sugar hearts. And the girls got a huge kick out of the Emoji pancakes!
They spent the rest of the morning performing magic tricks until it was time for Paige to go home, and my parents to arrive.
And with that, our oldest daughter is now 9, and I cannot believe that time has flown so fast.
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