More Birthday Pictures

Sophie asked for a Strawberry Shortcake party months ago and continued to hold to that theme, so that's what we went with... even though she is in love with My Little Ponies...and even though we do not own one single piece of SS paraphernalia, nor have we seen any. Her one and only request was to have SS plates, and we were thankfully able to make that happen.

I made heart-shaped red velvet cupcakes and decorated them like strawberries.

The girls decorated their own treat bags with foam flower stickers. The mullet wig was a bit hit at this party.

The girls also got to make wooden-bead bracelets. They were over those in about 30 seconds and packed their pieces up in baggies to take home. Lesson learned.

Most of the girls ended up in dress-up outfits, including dresses out of Sophie's regular closet to accommodate the number of girls requesting to dress up.

Waiting in line to wash hands before lunch. Everyone got along quite well. Most of these girls know each other from church.

For lunch, I served little pizzas (made from rolled up crescent rolls with sauce inside), ham & cheese tortilla rollups (these were not a big hit--another lesson learned), strawberries with strawberry yogurt to dip them in, pink marshmallows, strawberry applesauce cups, strawberry fruit-rollups, and pink lemonade. I think the marshmallows may have been the favorite food. And the (very expensive...it's winter here!) strawberries.
After opening each girl's present, Sophie posed with the gift-giver for a picture. I'll include each one here as many of their moms read this blog. We'll be sending these pictures as thank-yous...as soon as I can get some stamps.

Sophie calls her "Church Lily." We did not know she existed until this year, and now Sophie is obsessed with her.
Noelle, another new friend we only discovered this year.

Cora, a buddy since time began.

Meg, another "since time began" friend. Meg's birthday is coming up in a few weeks.

Lydia, our neighborhood, we-do-everything-together friend.

Selma, another "since time....I think you're getting the idea. Most of these church girls' births were all within days/weeks of each other. Selma's party is this weekend.

Ella, another....yep, you guessed it. Her party's in a few weeks too.

Maya. Her birthday comes a little later (but not much), and we've been friends with her forever too.

Emma, a new friend. Her family is just back from the mission field, where Emma has always been. She had never heard of Strawberry Shortcake before this party.

Watching the present-opening action from the safety of the couch. Selma's holding her little brother while her mom helps out. We were so thankful for Sarah who stayed and ended up helping a ton. Thanks, Sarah!And finally, enjoying the cupcakes at the end of the party...on the much requested Strawberry Shortcake plates.

Greg was videoing the whole "Happy Birthday to you..." stuff, and in my haste to keep the cupcakes and lemonade coming, I forgot to take a picture of the blowing out of the birthday candle. Oh well, if you're up for an 11-minute video, maybe I'll post that someday.