Graduation, Handmade Gifts, A Slumber Party....oh my!

Well Mallory is now officially a preschool graduate!

I wanted to make something for her teachers, and for Ms. Lynn, the principal. I wanted it to be kind of extra special, since Mallory is the last Howard girl to attend the school, and since we love it and the teachers so very very much. So I thought and thought about all the many things I could do and make....I thought and I thought until it was the day before and I still hadn't made anything. So finally I decided on this cause it's easy and fairly fast:


I had Mallory write down the words, and then I traced it onto the fabric, embroidered it, and sewed it all up:

And here's the proud graduate on her big night:

This is a picture of her in the slideshow that they presented during the ceremony:

Here's her & a cute little friend (she has so many friends!):

And the people who love her and came to watch:

Courtney:

Audie:

Grandma:

Mallory did a lot of this the whole night:

Then Saturday was the BIG day, birthday party #3 of 3. Arissa's slumber party. There were 5 girls including Arissa, which was definitely manageable. We had a super fun time. Jesse and I switched houses w/ Nana for the night. We were able to go to sleep at 11, and woke up at 9:30....thank goodness for that! Apparently the girls went to bed around 1am, not too bad either.

Here's my preparations:

We played games:

Opened gifts:

Had a bonfire & toasted marshmellows:

Jesse got his to catch on fire, which the girls thought was hilarious:

Then we had smores:

We made a craft:

Each girl decorated 5 pieces of cardstock, then we put one of each of the 5 together in a book so each girl took home a little "scrapbook" with pictures and messages from each of the guests. (We had an extra book, which the girls decided to give to Sherry, their dance teacher)

And of course, the cupcakes:

All in all, it was a lovely party. And it made me realize 1) Arissa has the sweetest friends ever, and 2) It's amazing how much stuff I can get done when there arent unfinished projects in every square foot of the house, begging to be worked on. :o)