Eleven!

Posted by Lauren

Today I joined my family at Grandma Nancy’s house to celebrate Katherine’s birthday (our step sis). It always surprises me how young she is (kids grow up fast!) because she knows all about video games and technology and pop culture. This eleven-year-old is WAY more hip than I ever was!

ONE: Katie’s birthday party doubled as a costume party – she dressed up as The Legend of Zelda’s Princess Zelda and looked awesome. She’s in the pink with white gloves in case you’re not a LoZ aficionado.

TWO: I baked two dozen funfetti cupcakes with purple frosting for the birthday girl and her guests. Two years ago she requested funfetti – the girl knows what she wants! I topped the cupcakes with skeleton gummies and chocolate eyeballs to fit the Halloween theme.

THREE: You can’t show up to a costume party without a costume on! I used one of Nicole’s pirate tops from some kind of dance team thing (like I said, our costume box is out of control). Paired with Nike capris and some necklace bling? Easy peasy swashbuckler.

FOUR: Lauretta’s decorations were perfect. She throws such great parties! I actually got most of my bachelorette party ideas from her!

FIVE: My favorite costume of the day goes to my step-brother Steve – he dressed up as the creepy Beetlejuice. The newlyweds (Amy and Steve <3) both worked on Steve’s costume and, trust me, it was even better in person!

SIX: The snacks were definitely Pinterest-worthy! Take, for example, the dirty Q-tips (pretzels covered in white chocolate with marshmallows and peanut butter) and worms (jello squeezed out of bendy straws, lying in cocoa powder graves).

SEVEN: Steve organized plenty of games to keep the kids entertained – a ghost version of Mafia, bean bag toss, a zombie version of Sharks & Minnows, and musical chairs with Halloween music….

EIGHT: The kids, below, acting out the signature wave of LoZ’s Princess Zelda before Katie blew out her 11 candles. I learned so much this afternoon! :)

NINE: Katie candidly posing with her birthday cupcake….. contemplating if the chocolate eyeball has a wrapper (answer: yes).

TEN: The cutest little boy eating a cupcake. He licked ALL of the frosting off first before taking small bites of the cake. Adorable.

ELEVEN: HAPPY ELEVENTH BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!!!

-Lauren