The reason I'm the "nicest Mom ever!"

For the last two months Lilly has been planning, and then re-planning, her birthday party. She went from a slumber party at home to dinner out, movies, bowling, spa day, hair appointments, etc. You know, typical Big 1-0 birthday parties. Alas we finally settles on dinner at Red Robin, shopping at the mall, catching a movie and then a sleepover. Due to the nature of her party (and by that I mean expense and feasibility of car space) I made her restrict her invitees to 4. She really struggled with that because she is SO afraid to hurt anyone's feelings but she ultimately decided it was worth it to have "the best party ever!"

And so, my faithful friend Tonya and I braved an evening with five 10 year olds....

In an effort to make it even more fun, mother nature decided to add her own little spin on things: SNOW! It started snowing around 10am but at first was not sticking. Then, around 1pm, the flakes got better and started clinging to everything in sight. I was so worried one of the parents was going to call and cancel - Lilly would've been devastated - but they didn't (THANK YOU ladies!) and at 3, in the snow, we went around town collecting girls.

Here they are at Red Robin:

Apparently having your friends right there with you is still not stimulation enough. Everyone has to be constantly monitoring their "i" devices ;)

5 giggly girls full of sugar in the snow

Lilly was intent on making sure that I let them know it was her birthday. She was NOT missing out on that free sundae!

It was my intent to take them to the Alderwood Mall since the Everett Mall pretty much sucks. However, as we drove down I-5 and the traffic got slower, and the roads got whiter, I had Tonya google Aeropostale. If there was one at the Everett Mall that's where we were heading. Thankfully, for our safety and sanity, there was!

Here they are at the mall:

They find the weirdest things funny

playing in "Wishes"

Waiting for the movie to start.

We looked at clothes at Aeropostale, sprayed WAY too much smelly stuff at Bath & Body Works, looked at goodies at Claires, found "noise putty" (one of the biggest hits of the evening) at Old Navy and stopped at a few of the kiosks for random items. I think they had fun. They were giggling an awful lot.

After that we went to see "We Bought a Zoo" which turned out to be a really cute movie. When we left the movies - at midnight - I thought they might be tired. I'm coming to realize that packs of girls are similar to packs of dogs. Not that they get violent and tenacious when they are in a pack, but that they feed off of one another's energy which just sparks hours and hours and hours of more giggling, laughing, screaming, etc.

And so they were up all night. And I mean ALL night. Last time I told them to go to bed (because I was going insane listening to them) it was 4:30. But I hear they just quieted down and didn't actually go to sleep until between 5 and 6am. Man I wish I was young again!

This morning they woke up to even more snow. And of course decided after breakfast it would be a good idea to go out in it, despite not having the appropriate clothing. Oh well... at least they had fun.

Today I cut Lilly off of her electronics for a while and we went to the neighbors to have a snowball fight. When we got back I sent both the kids to their rooms for some reading time. Lilly, of course, fell asleep. That was at 4:30. She hasn't been awake since.

And now I am on my way to my bed as well. I'm POOPED!