Paigey turns 8!

On January 7th, 2005 Paige was welcomed into this world.  She has been our entertainer and bubbly girl ever since.  Her grandpa Jim nicknamed her Bubbles, because she is just all over the place with energy and excitement in everything she does.  

This was taken in the morning before school and Garrett was nice enough to make her pancakes for breakfast.  And he made sure that we sang to her before sending her off to school.  

These are some of the decorations that we put up the night before her birthday.  We started a tradition 12 years ago of decorating for their big day on the night before their actual birthday.  They have come to expect to wake up to balloons and streamers and banners (especially in front of their door when they come out in the morning.)  Garrett and I don't really want to keep it up, but the kids love it for some reason.  This year, for something different, Garrett snuck into Paige's room while she was sleeping and hung up a banner and balloons and streamers right next to her bed.  She really loved that.  

While I was printing off the letters for the sign I put on the window (above), Garrett made this picture of Merida, (the main character from the movie, Brave; which was her party theme for this year) that I was quite impressed with.  He's such a fun dad.   

After taking her out for her birthday dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, we came home to open presents.  

But, Garrett had to give birthday spanks first.  She was actually asking for them all day long.  

This girl was so funny opening her presents that night.  She had some great faces.  

Garrett picked out this coat for Paige.  It is so her.  

We shoved gum and candy in the pockets of the coat before we wrapped it up. 

 Smelling her starbursts.  What a goofball! 

And since she turned 8 and will be baptized in February, she got her own set of scriptures and a scripture bag.  

We had her friend party on January 19th, and it was all centered around the movie Brave.  We invited 7 kids and they were all able to come.  

We started off by coloring some pictures of the Brave characters.  

This is Lily and Paige

Then we were going to make these cool Bear Claw Necklaces with regular beads and plastic bear claws, but unfortuneatly, the bear claws did not arrive in time, so I found some shrinky dink Brave images and shrunk those to use for the bracelets/necklaces.  

Bella, Ella, Hayden, Charlee and Zachary

Lily, Paige, Brooke and Bella

Then we divided up into 2 teams for a scavenger hunt (or a Wisp Hunt)  

These were the clues.  There were about 11 clues each.  

In the movie, Merida followed the wisps to find her destiny/fortune.  So, these were the wisps.  Just a tootsie pop covered in blue tissue paper.  Attached to each one was a silly "fortune".  Like "You will enter a pie eating contest and win."  or "You will find a dollar bill, but then lose it."  or "You will have a superhero named after you".  Silly, but fun.  

Team 1 reading clues

It was a pretty day out, but cold.  

The end of the Wisp Hunt

Next, we were going to participate in the Highland Games, so we divided into teams by spinning a wheel with all 4 of the clans.  MacGuffin, Macintosh, Dingwall and DunBroch.  

Each clan has their own "tartan" or design and color of plaid material.  So, I made them each a sash to wear of whatever clan they were assigned (really super easy) and they each had a pin with their character on it to hold the sash together.  

Spinning the wheel

Pagie "DunBroch" which is Merida's clan

Brooke was also DunBroch

Zachary of the Macintosh Clan

Hayden of the Dingwall clan

Not everyone wanted to get their picture taken there, so I tried to get them as teams.  

The DunBroch Clan

The Macintosh Clan

And the Dingwall and MacGuffin Clan's.

The first rotation in the Highland Games was the archery competition

I had Garrett make bows and arrows for each of the kids to take home with them.  They were a little hard for the kids to shoot with, but they worked for our purposes.  

Paige and Bella colored our target and Garrett printed off bears to shoot at.  

Garrett giving a demonstration to the first group

The second rotation was a javelin throw.  Garrett set up these hula hoops for the kids to throw a "javelin" through.  

Zachary was excited to get one through

Charlee taking a shot

and Paige

The next one was the Caber Toss

In case you didn't know a caber is basically a telephone pole. It's a long (18-19 feet), heavy (100-120 lbs), wooden pole that very strong men toss through the air.  The goal is to get the caber to flip end over end, with the narrow end pointing towards the contestant, with the caber stopping in-line with the contestant. Distance is not a factor in this event, which I did not know.  So, I had been trying to figure out how to make a caber that the kids could throw, that would be light enough for them.  I was thinking a rolled up piece of foam, but that was way too expensive.  So, Garrett came to my rescue and went out to our backyard, cut down a branch and sawed it into smaller pieces and voila, we had our caber.  He is so helpful!!

I thought it was so funny that the kids loved throwing these "logs" over and over.  

And the last rotation was the Haggis Toss (using beanbags).  This was in honor of Merida's 3 brothers who while at the dinner table, would play with their haggis.  

Noah following me around as I took pictures

By this point, everyone was freezing, so we went inside for some cake and ice cream.

For the cake, I wanted to take the easy way out and make cupcakes with an arrow sticking out of the top, but Paige saw this picture of a cake that I found online and wanted me to make that one.  So, being the pushover that I am, went with this one.  It wasn't too bad to make, thank heavens, since I was still decorating it an hour before the party.  

Singing Happy Birthday

One of the kids suggested that they all "ding" their cups.  So cute!

Present time

I think it's hilarious that with each present she opens, the kids get closer to her and louder and more excited. They were practically on top of her.  

Group shot

Goody bags

Inside the goody bags, I gave each of the kids a Brave activity booklet that I printed off from some website. They also got a baggy of chocolate teddy grahams and pretzels (bears and arrows)  

They also each got an Empire Biscuit, which are the cookies that the triplets are always trying to steal in the movie.  By the way, they are SO good.  

Paigey got this wig at her party from one of her friends and she loves to wear it.  This was taken that night and the next picture was the next day.  

She is so funny!  She loves to wear the wig, the sash and carry her bow and arrow around and say, (in her best Scottish accent, "I am Merida, first born descendant of Clan DunBroch, and I'll be shooting for my own hand!"  She is definitely our little actress.  I love her to death.
Paige's 8th Birthday Questionnaire:
1.  What is your favorite color?  pink
2.  What is your favorite toy?  bow and arrow
3.  what is your favorite fruit?  mandarin oranges
4.  what is your favorite TV show?  Jessie (On Disney Channel)
5.  What is your favorite movie?  Madagascar 3
6.  What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  noodles
7.  What is your favorite outfit?  my new one (purple pants/and black sparkly shirt)
8.  What is your favorite game?  Headbands
9.  What is your favorite animal?  dog and horse--all of them
10.  what is your favorite snack?  pretzels dipped in cheese
11.  What is your favorite song?  'Party in the USA' by Miley Cyrus
12.  Who is your best friend?  Ashley, Brooke, Lilly
13.  What is your favorite book? Magic Tree House
14.  what is your favorite cereal?  all of them
15.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?  play soccer
16.  What is your favorite drink?  soda
17.  what is your favorite holiday?  every one
18.  What do you like to sleep with at night?  Shelley the Bear
19.  What's your favorite thing for dinner?  spegety (spaghetti)
20.  what do you want to be when you grow up?  a mom