GIRL SCOUT SKATE PARTY 2018

I had to wake this sleepy girl up for her end of the year Girl Scouts Skate Party (the last month of school truly is exhausting for the kids...)

JACOB AND CARTER'S SKATE PARTY

SKATE PARTY

James' Cub Scout and school friend Ethan had his birthday party today and the kids were so excited to go try out their new skates!

Isaac, James, and Ethan at the end of the party 

CHRISTMAS EVE 2017

Christmas Eve celebrations started with early gifts from Uncle Jamie (so we could play with them):

Lots of relaxing, talking, playing, and just hanging around the house. Cora tried to teach the kittens to walk on leashes. It didn't go over very well...

Catan is really fun, but a bit lengthy...

Costume change for Cora (not the first of the day) before decorating gingerbread houses and a gingerbread man with Gramma:

Eventually the kids needed to get some energy out...

It was cold outside and Buster is a big ol' baby...

...a baby who loves Uncle Jamie!

As usual, Cora started sneaking gingerbread house candies before dinner...

...which was the traditional make-your-own pizza:

Followed by sugar cookies decorating for Santa:

(The cookies they picked to leave out for Santa)

Next up: reindeer food and driveway sprinkling...

...and eating a few of Rudolph's carrots!

Last but not least of the Christmas Eve traditions is opening a new pair of pajamas. This year's PJs came all the way from NY! James loved his yetis, but Cora was immediately confused that hers didn't match his (don't worry, she loves them and wears them often - she's just used to matching Christmas jammies).

Posing with Santa's cookies and milk before going to bed (though not to sleep):

Grambot sent us a picture of PawPaw in his Christmas Yeti sweater:

And then it was time to put together Cora's new bookshelf-dollhouse and fill up the tree!

CORA'S KITTEN CUDDLE PARTY

 Last year when Cora attended a friend's birthday party where they requested donations for our local foster-only animal rescue (Paws) instead of presents, she came home saying that she wanted to do the same thing at her next birthday party. A year later, she hadn't forgotten, and as we started to plan her party (last minute), she immediately reminded us that she wanted donations for kittens instead of presents. In that light, it was an easy jump for her to decide on a kitten-themed party. She picked the skate rink because she's really liked the last few events she's attended there (skate parties for the Girl Scouts, Southpark, and her brother's party back in March) and we told her she could invite as many kids as she wanted to (so she honestly invited everyone she knows that mama is also friends with on Facebook - too late to print invitations and send to school, so she was bummed to miss a few of her school friends whose parents I don't know). 

Cora loves puns almost as much as James, so this shirt was a big hit!

We kept her party simple (again, last minute) with cupcakes, Girl Scout cookies (we're down to just 3 boxes left in the house now!), candy, pizza, and ice cream (I think the adults ate more ice cream than the kids, but then, who can resist Drumsticks and Magnum bars?!) For "goody bags", we provided cat ear headbands, LED bracelets/rings and glow sticks (the skating rink is kept pretty dark once the party starts, so glow items are extra fun), and kitten stickers.

When you have multiple favorite colors, you get multi-colored cupcakes. It made the boys happy :-)

Kitty cat birthday banner over Michelle and Lucas:

Singing to our birthday girl, held high like the queen she is by her daddy:

Miraculously, I think I got everyone in the group shot:

We didn't count the items, but she ended up with an impressive number of bags of cat food and litter, and a few monetary donations from friends that couldn't attend the party to bring to the Vicksburg-Warren Humane Society. While the skating was a lot of fun, it seemed that the visit to the shelter was the favorite for all the kids that came down with us to deliver the goods after the party. They had 3 times as many cats and kittens as when we were there 3 weeks ago to adopt Starfire and Claw'dia, including some black kittens, so we were lucky to make it out of there without any new furry family members (and we weren't the only ones!)

Starting with Cora and going counter-clockwise, our shelter adventurers were James, Coltin, Will, Adler, Lauren, Abrahm, Autumn, Sammy, Cara Beth, Asher, Hazel, Julia, and Emma

 We even found Claw'dia's mama out back (remember I mentioned that she was set free to be a barn cat?) and the kids loved petting her and telling her that her baby is happy and growing.

(See her half tail? Just like Claw'dia, who also walks around with her tail held high in the air)

 We've definitely had some fun parties over the years! Not sure we'll be able to top kittens though...