Birthday games!

On Saturday I threw a slumber party for Reid's 14th Birthday.

I haven't thrown Reid a "kid" party since she was 11 so I wasn't sure exactly what to do with a bunch of 14 year old girls!

Did they just want to hang out and listen to music? Should we play games?

We decided to do a little of both and I thought I would share what was popular with our set of teens.

We are big fans of the show Survivor, so taking inspiration from the show we had ourselves an auction.

I let Reid pick out 15 small gifts and we put each one in a brown paper bag (more gifts than guest).

I gave each of the guest $400 worth of play money.

Then we let the bidding begin. The gifts ranged from really cool, to kind of silly. It was an absolute hoot to listen to the girls try to outbid each other. Watching their reactions to what they won was even more of a hoot.

It produced loads of giggles!

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Since Reid is so crazy about music we played "name that tune." Considering it was Reid's play list and there was no way anyone could beat her, she acted as the DJ.

For prizes, I bought a pack of 100 rubber bracelets to toss to the girls as they correctly guessed the name of the song. I gave each girl 4 bracelets at the start of the game and then I would randomly toss bracelets to the girls who weren't guessing as much.

The girls loved having "prizes" tossed their way.

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We also played musical nail polish. We had enough crazy colors so that each guest had one bottle to start with. Then we played music as they passed the polish. Each time the music stopped they girls painted one nail with the polish that they ended up with.

Again, another game that they enjoyed......just make sure to play this one in a well ventilated room.

So there you have it, a few Teen tested and mother approved party games for your next Teen birthday party.

WW - One Down.....Three to Go!

Dress Rehearsal..........Check!

First of Four performance done.............Check!

Two more days and I will have my life back!

Prehistoric cuties from Scene 3!  

My cavegirl is the one on the left.

One of the four 5th grade dance groups!  

For our first show everything went surprisingly smooth.

:::::::Knocking cyber on wood:::::::

PSF - Best friends

Best friends!

Enough said!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

PSF - Future Fashion Designers!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Great ready Heidi Klum, because here come future contestants for the 1000th episode of Project Runway.  Aren't they lovely?  Can't you imagine these fashions parading down the runway during fashion week?  They seriously look like some of the crazy clothes that designers call fashion!

Ok, these girls might not be ready for fashion week, but give them a few years! I see some serious potential in these wack-a-do outfits!

Photo Story Friday - New Friends!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This past summer we had the good fortune to make friends with a new family while we vacationed at the Ranch.  The mom and I hit it off right away and our oldest girls soon became quick friends.  

Both girls are only a few weeks apart in age and had a lot in common, which means Vicki and I also had a lot in common!  

By the end of the week the two teens were attached at the hip and sharing each other's clothes!  It was sad when we had to say goodbye, but we all promised to stay in touch.  
So that is just what we have done! During Thanksgiving we had the opportunity to meet up again!  They drove down near us to go hiking and then traveled about an hour and half away to have Thanksgiving with family.
We jumped at the chance to spend an afternoon together!  My friends sister generously opened her beautiful home to our family.  We spent a few hours chatting and catching up and getting to know Vicki's husband (he didn't come to the Ranch) and her sister.
After munching on some yummy Thanksgiving leftovers we took to girls Ice skating down at the beach!  Yes, that is the way we roll here in Southern California!  We Ice skate under the shade of palm trees.

After ice skating we headed down to the beach.  Since it was late and we were going out to dinner we asked all four girls not to get wet.  Of course the big girls thought they could keep from getting wet if they just rolled up their skinny jeans.  

Which really means, we will shake our heads, agree not to get wet, but ultimately we are going to do what we want.  "I mean like what's the big deal MOM it's only water!"

So we gave up and just let them be kids!  Because really, it isn't just water......it's fun and when you are a kid what is more important than having some fun?  

Safety Patrol invades the Water Park

Yesterday after an exciting soccer match I took Kate and a couple of her safety patrol buddies down to the Water Park to celebrate the last official weekend of summer.

It was Safety Patrol day at the park and boy was it crowded.  Despite the long lines for most of the water slides we managed to squeeze in a few runs during our 5 hour visit.  As thrilling as the water slides are, I think the girls had the most fun in the lazy river and the wave pool.  And they were oh so good about letting me stalk them with my camera!

 

I have to say that I really adore my daughters friends.  They are such sweet girls.  At an age when girls can start to become cliquey and exclusive they are anything but that.  Whenever the three ran into someone from school who wasn't there with a buddy they would invite them to tag along.  It just warms my heart to see that nice girls still exist!

OB Street Fair!

My love of  the  OB Street Fair and Chili Cook off  dates back to the late 80's when Jim and I started dating.  Back in the days when Jim and I lived in OB we would make a day out of hanging out at the fair.......eating greasy food and listening to the various bands play through out the day.  These days we just make an afternoon out of it, but that tends to be enough to satisfy all of us!  I was just happy to be able to get a couple of homemade tamales from my favorite Mexican joint.  That made my day.....oh, that and the company of the friends we went down there with and the friends we ran into!!

Heading to the Fair!

Ask anyone and they will tell you that I LOVE going to the Fair.  I have been going since I was a child, and I have now carried on the tradition with my girls.  We have many traditions we follow when we go to the fair.  First, we have to cram into a photo booth and have our picture taken.  I have years of these photo's and some day I want to frame them all.  I love looking back at them,  seeing how much the girls have grown (and I have aged).  Each year we are a little more crowded in the booth, but I wouldn't dare skip it!

The next tradition is buying a dozen of the cinnamon sugar mini donuts that are sold in the exhibit hall.  We love to watch the tiny donuts float along in their river of oil, being flipped for equal frying and then being scooped into a shower of cinnamon and sugar.  Mmmmmm....so warm and so yummy!

Of course you can't go to the fair without eating a weeks worth of calories in deep fried delicacies that sit in the bottom of your stomach like a lead weight.  We usually go to the fair with friends and our rule is that if you eat healthy at the fair then you can't hang out with us!!  It's no fun unless your friends are also smeared in grease and miserable by the end of the day.  Our friend Spencer won the prize yesterday by downing a deep fried white castle burger!! I usually splurge on friend zucchini and a cinnamon roll.  For the girls it is corn dogs and some kind of fun ice cream treat.

The other things we love to do at the fair is to look at the photography exhibit, the collections, artwork and check out the animals.  The girls love riding the rickety rides and playing games.  The last couple of years we have had the added excitement of watching Kate dance with her dance studio on the infield stage.  This year Reid beamed with pride at the second place ribbon her yearbook class won for the yearbook she had a hand in creating! 

So summer had officially started for us.........I hope all of you have had an equally fun start to your summer!!!