Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Most Special Party of the Year

Once a year Isabelle's dance team has a fantastic slumber party for the whole company - the little girls and big girls together  for a special bonding night.  This is only Isabelle's second year on the team but she's been looking forward to this party since the morning after last years.  It's that wonderful!  This year the theme was "Holiday" and the girls were supposed to come dressed in their holiday best.

Isabelle couldn't wait to get out the door!

 The girls were sequestered in the studio lobby while the grown-ups brought in all their slumber party supplies.  Volunteers had worked all day transforming each room of the studio into a different holiday theme.  

The first stop was the Christmas room.

There were lots of crafts to do, like decorating Christmas sweaters and making scarves.

Fabulous treats - even the frosting cups were color coordinated and made to look cute!



Santa was there too! On a side note, this is the first time Isabelle has come within a two foot radius of Santa without crying ever.  Like, EVER!  Thank you peer pressure!

Go Minis!

Can we get back to the treats for a minute?  Hot chocolate station with marshmallows and whipped cream?  Check!

More crafts...

...and then it was on to dinner in the Cinco de Mayo room.  

Taco bar and non-alcoholic margaritas. :)

After dinner there was dessert in the Halloween room.

Could anything look more magical?

The highlight of the evening was when the girls were paired up with their big/little sister.  After going on a scavenger hunt to find a present with their name on it they went back to the Christmas room to open their gift.  They then had to find the girl with the matching item.   

This year Isabelle was delighted to be paired with lovely Emily.

Then it was time to get to know each other better with a "favorites" questionnaire.  It will be fun putting together little surprises and treats for Emily this season.



Bigs and littles mingling.





The party really got going in the Chinese New Year room.







Then the girls split back into their teams for a tree decorating/present wrapping relay race.

Let's just say this wasn't a race the minis were meant to win, but they sure did try hard!



Then, close to midnight, the girls cuddled up with their new big/little sister and they watched all the different teams perform their competition dances for the year.  It was AMAZING!  
Best. Dance. Studio. Ever.

But, even though the dancers are amazing and have been taught so well, the thing I love most about our studio is how much the teachers care for these girls.  And, it doesn't just show on an evening like this when they've gone way above and beyond what is necessary or expected.  Every day I see them encouraging each girl to be great at dancing, but also to be great people.

I'm so thankful, I don't even have my feelings hurt when I overhear a conversation between my girls that goes something like this:

Isabelle (discussing Miss Amy and Miss Tricia):  "You know Maddy, Mommy is a teacher too."

Maddy:  "Yes, but she's just a plain teacher, not a dance teacher."

Isabelle:  "Huh, you're right.  She is just a plain teacher.  I really like dance teachers."

Someone Had a Birthday!


And she celebrated Fancy Nancy style with a tea party for all her friends!
She was a little excited. :)

Luckily for me, she didn't remember she had been to a Fancy Nancy party when her sister turned four so my recycled ideas and games were still a hit with her.  She might have been a little plumper then:

There was a "Get Fancy" room where the girls (and one adorable boy) embellished purses,



and got decked out in tiaras, boas, and sparkly bracelets. (I don't even feel too guilty that some items were left over from Isabelle's party a few years ago.)

The tea party room...



...and the treat table.  Magic fairy wands, tea sandwiches, strawberry ladybugs, cupcakes, and sparkling princess punch.  We were all ready for the guests to arrive!



Time to get crafty!

They played Pin the Tiara on Fancy Nancy - Maddy may have cheated, but I guess the birthday girl is allowed.

Everyone else played by the rules - with less success.

It got very quiet at tea time as each little princess stuffed themselves with a LOT of sugar.  I even sprinkled decorative sugar on top of the raspberry tea sandwiches.  I'm so sorry for what I did to their poor parents.  In my defense, my girls have inhaled plenty of sugar at other birthday parties so, what goes around comes around?





Madeleine had a fantastic time with her friends - what a great day!

And what a tolerant cat!

Do birthdays seem to go on for a week at your house, or is it just ours?  Maddy's real birthday was a couple days later so she took pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to school.  How much do I looove cute holiday decorations?!

That night the birthday girl chose dinner out at our favorite Mexican restaurant near our house.  

She happily told everyone she saw that it was her special day as she wanted a guarantee that this magical moment would happen just like it did last year:  Sombrero Time!

Happy birthday to our sweet and sassy, bold and in charge, loving little girl.  You're the spunkiest little four-year-old we know!