Bowers Blog: Ellie's 12th Birthday

Ellie turned T W E L V E last Saturday, the 19th. For her 12th birthday she still wanted to have her annual sleepover. I made her keep the crowd small this year, so that our family would not be "the party that super spread COVID" everywhere. The girls that came are either in school or church with all of us on a regular basis. I felt that was safe, and it gave Ellie an opportunity to have a party. She planned the entire event and even shopped with me for all of the supplies and party favors. It was a very easy party for me.

Ellie had her party the Friday night prior to her actual birthday. There were 6 girls including her and her sister. They had a spa themed party complete with facial masks, a nail bar, and make up. I did very little and this year, I was not needed as in previous years. The girls swam, played board games, did their spa thing, watched a movie, played with Leonard, and from what they told me Saturday morning, stayed up until 3:30am. I was in bed by 10:30 and never heard a peep. They told on Ellie for not being able to stay awake. She left everyone around midnight to go crawl in the bed with Emma. They were so funny telling me how they set alarms to wake them up in case they fell asleep. I guess the last alarm at 3am got cut off and not turned back on.

After all of her friends left to go home Saturday morning, we let Ellie open her gifts from the family and she had a big surprise!

At 12, Ellie is so much fun! She is thriving at school. She absolutely loves middle school so far even though they have to wear masks and social distance (kind of.) She loves our cats, Leonard and Aspen, she loves to dance, and has found a new favorite this year - school chorus. She continues to grow so much every day. She is a joy most of the time, and is always the creative force in our house keeping us on our toes with new games, hobbies, and activities. She still loves tv and could marathon watch "High School Musical" or "Hamilton" every day if I let her. She's the queen of daydreaming, is very messy, and would lose her head if it wasn't attached to her body, but she keeps us all going with her smile, her energy, and her enthusiasm for life. We love her so much!

For some reason, Blogger will not let me put these pictures in the correct order so bear with me on the picture scroll, they are ALL out of order.

Grandma brought her portal for the girls to play on at the party. They had a blast creating characters on there.

Ellie giving a dramatic candle blowing out performance.

The pool has started to get a little cool, but it didn't seem to phase these girls.

The many faces of Ellie.

Ellie even decorated (mostly) by herself this year!

Each girl received a face mask, a mirror, a night mask to decorate with fabric markers, and a bag with eye shadow, lip shimmer, bath bomb, and a compact mirror/brush combo.

Laugh/spit/blow the candles out at the party.

Ellie's actual birthday celebration with us. This was much toned down compared to her previous candle performance at the party.

The fake nails on the nail bar were a hit for all of the girls, even Emma.

Grandma and Papa showed up shortly after all of the slumber party guests left and brought their gift for Ellie: a mini fridge for her newly decorated room (post about that at a later date)

Emma got tired of Ellie always using her Yeti, so she got Ellie her own for her birthday.

Mack made Ellie the sweetest card for her birthday all by himself. It even included 12 balloons that he drew on it for her.

The slumber party crew!

The phone was a HUGE surprise for Ellie. We had told her she would possibly get one next year, so she wanted it, but had no idea she would actually get it.