Ok ,let's get this out of the way, first of all I do realize it's April, but you have to realize that I have had my blogging privileges basically revoked by a malfunctioning red laptop, a little restaurant called "Extreme Pita", my sad book keeping skills, and the ever present 5 kids and husband who dirty their clothes EVERYDAY. That being admitted; tis sad, tis true, Samantha Reine turned 16 on February 11, 2012---remember when she was little and loved Barbies? Remember when the first thing you heard from her every morning was "eggies, eggies, eggies, NOW"? Remember when she only called and referred to Jackson as "brother"? Remember when she had her own names for the colors. Red was hot, green was grass, white was wedding, black was Royal Knights, yellow was sun, blue was walo(water), and pink was Barbie. Remember when she called our Honda a Honka? I remember tearing up the day she said Honda right. And now she is 16 and calls all the colors by their proper names---sigh.
I wanted to surprise her with a birthday party so I enlisted the help of her friend Robin (she can keep a straight face) to make sure I invited a gaggle of kids. At the top of this post you see the darling invitation my sister Brenda created. Did you note the "IT'S A SURPRISE" in RED across the invitation?? That surprise lasted almost 24 hours. At school the day after the invites were sent, one of the boys brought up the party while Sammi was at his table! Another boy at the table said; "dude did you not see the Surprise part"? Dude had not noticed that surprise part and felt so bad! I hardly dared to hope that with so many kids involved we could make it a surprise, I did however, think we would last longer than 24 hours!!
There were six teams of kids, and six survival stations. In this station you are timed on how fast you can put up a tent, get your group in the tent for a picture, take down the tent and put it back in the bag. Fastest time, without cheating and putting 17 knots in the bag tie for the next team to unravel(!!!), wins.
Kylie loves using tent poles as weapons. Which reminds me, did I mention that Holly and her kids drove down to surprise Sammi for her birthday party? I was coming home from Seattle with Jackson and I guess Sammi burst into tears when Kylie & Co. walked in. Sweet that they love each other so much. Although, the weird accents they adopt when they are together, scare me a bit! What if they really are secret Russian spies?
Carson was practicing his lighter techniques. At this station the teams had to, one at a time, light the 40 votive candles on the floor (only lighting one per person per turn) then blow them out the same way. Turns out dollar store lighters burn your fingers, sorry kiddos.
This was the "Minute To Win It" station with 4 different minute to win it games. The teams had to complete all the games as fast as possible. Here Katie is demonstrating junk in the trunk by shaking ping pong balls out of a Kleenex container tied around her waist. There was a suck up candy with a straw and move it to another bowl game, pulling Kleenex out of a box with one hand timed game, and knocking objects over with a softball in a knee high stocking placed over your head.
Kleenex, its amazing how tired your one hand gets.
Blurry friends are the best I always say.
Fearless Father, and two very brave souls who offered the use of the "Pike Party Shed" for the party. Who wouldn't want 40 teenagers at their shed all night?? Thanks Erin and Greg, we still owe you for that one! You can see my attempt at decorating behind them, very "survive the jungle if you can", I thought.
Sammi looks a little disoriented after her spin around the bat.
Someone, (Teddy?) in the minute to win it station.
Anyways, back to this station. You had to take turns spinning around a bat with your forehead touching it, 10 or 20 times (can't remember this was months ago!) then make your way to the table and start putting together a puzzle while the next teammate was spinning and coming to replace you.
Here Jacob will demonstrate, spin and the world gets blurry.
Stop spinning and feel blurry yourself.
Watch that first step, its a doozie.
Let go of bat.
Stumble to table.
Try to remember your name and why your friends with Sammi.
This is a picture of a tragedy. We had just placed Sammi's cake on this table against the shop doors.
The kids were playing basketball while Michael and I were tallying up the winning teams from the survivor games.
Courtney noticed how hot some of the boys were so she decided to open the shop doors a bit to let some cool air in, and the doors caught the table and the table flipped, and chocolate cake kissed the floor. If only I had purchased yellow cake, then it wouldn't have been such a tragedy!
Blowing out the candles on the mangled mess! Soon after this picture a cake fight ensued, and I know I took pictures of it. There was not a clean piece of floor in that shop, I was a nervous wreck that it wouldn't come clean. But with some very kind teenage boys, and Erin's hose and brooms it was cleaned up in no time at all. I wonder if Sammi deleted them all to avoid me posting pictures of her with cake in her hair and face??? Hmmmmm Just asked her and she is denying any involvement in the missing cake fight pictures, the plot thickens.
More party shots, yes I still haven't learned how to move pictures around when they load out of order. Sydney is now attempting the behind the hoop shot.
Shake it Aaron!
They look like they are ready for a concert, you see kids in the olden days we raised lighters, not
cell phones.
Sydney and Becca during minute to win it.
Unidentified spinner!
