Turning 8

My little girl isn't so little anymore.  In fact, she's now officially 8 years old.  I make the kids special signs for their birthdays and other special days.  The night before her birthday, Sophia asked if I was making her one.  Of course I was, but it's nice to know that they appreciate them. Her day started off with a french toast breakfast.  Then her Auntie Amanda surprised her and took her out for a long-awaited manicure.  While they were out, Andrew and I grabbed Caribou and went in search of decorations for the party.  Family came over for pizza and presents.  Among her many gifts were many American Girl Doll themed ones-choose your own adventure books, quiz books to do with her mom and dad, and a travel book.  Grandpa also gave her a pen handmade by him.  We gave her a necklace made by her great-grandma, some books, a wallet and a date to the Waterpark of America (where she's been asking to go for the past year).  

A few weeks later it was time for another celebration, this time with her friends.  This year's theme?  Harry Potter.  After LOTS of research on the Internet, I think I put together a pretty fun party.  Guests received Hogwarts class schedules when they arrived.  Signs were posted for the various classrooms and students traveled to 4 different classes after first decorating wands at Ollivanders (thanks to my dad for making really cool wands for the all the kids).  After wands, it was time for fortunes (thanks to Amanda for helping with this one).  Next it was off to Potions with Erik Professor Snape.  The room was dim, candles were lit and ingredients were labeled with words like unicorn milk.  After that the kids transformed clay into something and were then entertained with a magic show.  After wizard cupcakes and presents, they took a trip to Honeydukes Sweet Shop, where they got edible wands(pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate-very tasty), mini broomsticks (pretzels), lemon drops, chocolate-covered cockroaches and Bertie Botts every flavored jelly beans.  Not bad, right?