Pre-teen Lilian

Lilian wanted a birthday party. She was turning 11-years old and the last time she'd had an actual traditional themed party with friends was when she turned 7. Elsa and Anna stopped by and sang songs, read stories, did face paint and in all other ways delighted a gaggle of girls who were big "Frozen" fans. But that was 4 years earlier. And though we'd certainly celebrated Lilian's birthday in grand style during those other birthdays (baptism, puppy and Cherry Hill respectively) she claimed it was time to party. And not just any girlie party...this was to be co-ed. Gasp! Did I mention this girl had become quite the social butterfly? Her invite list included 22 kids! But she insisted there was just no one she could cut from the list without hurt feelings, so what can you do?

Lilian requested a movie night. In our pinterest searches we discovered ideas to turn the movie night into more of a Hollywood premiere sort of evening with the kids walking the red carpet and finding their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as they stopped for some photo ops before heading down to the movie. Pizza first and then a snack pack for each as they watched "A Wrinkle in Time." Presents and cake afterwards and then the crew headed outside to play a few rounds of "Fugitive" while waiting for parents to come pick them up. In fact, a few kids texted their parents to see if they could stay longer, continuing the night games considering it was the first weekend of summer vacation. It was loud and chaotic but I think it was a success? (Bless Rebekah and Tanner who came down from Logan and helped out with the food and cleaning, and Brandon who was our DJ until the movie started.)

The next day we had a little family birthday dinner including Rebekah and Tanner and also Jordan. Lilian requested her favorite meal...salmon, potatoes and carrots. And then was delighted to be gifted with her first cell phone. This was something she had been requesting for awhile but was unsure as to whether or not she would get seeing as it would be a full year earlier than her siblings had received their first phones. Considering her friends had a texting chain and were using my number to chat with Lilian...meaning that it was not unusual for me to pick up my phone after maybe a half hour of being away from it and find 100+ new messages, nor was it unusual for Lilian to take my phone to reply to said messages, leaving me phone-less for however long the group decided to go back and forth via text...this may have contributed to my willingness to allow Lilian cell phone usage of her own earlier than previously decided. Her older siblings did give me a bit of good natured grief about it...but hey, it's totally worth it.

So Lilian got celebrated in grand Hollywood style. Pre-teen, here we come.