August 13 KenZ's Party

Sunday:  I was invited to Kenzie's 12th birthday party weeks ago; so Kaity and I went shopping for gifts to give to her. We basically stuck to on-line shopping and ordering. Kaity wanted her gift to be a "sisters" necklace--a 2-heart pendant for friendship between friends who are NOT sisters, but are as close as sisters. We ordered that, along with a marionette camel puppet for Kenzie (since she likes my marionette puppets so much--AND she is excellent at manipulating them to walk).

Here are a few pictures from Kenzie's party: Megan is one of the most involved moms I have ever met--she truly goes out of her way to participate in her daughters' lives and facilitate lasting memories. She had this cool indoor smores contraption with everything needed to roast smores. Plus, she had a Piñata for outdoor play, and a ton of good food to serve the guests.

Here is Kenzie, the birthday girl. Interestingly, Kenzie's birth date and Emma's birth date are identical--except 9 years apart! Emma once told me that almost every single birthday she had was spent at a party for Kenzie! THIS party, however, was three days BEFORE the actual date.

This is Harper, about four years younger than her big sister. They do lots of things together--and there is a lot of love between them, with the usual sisterly rivalry.

Emma came to the party--Kenzie adores her. See the little tea candles on the table? They were a near disaster later in the party ... but I'll tell you about that in a little bit.

Here is Kenzie giving the first set of whacks to the Piñata ...

I think it was the fourth guest who actually broke open the Piñata. Candy for all!

I had to leave the party early, so Megan arranged that Kenzie could open the gift Kaity and I brought for her ahead of all of the other gifts she received.

I made Kenzie's card from some of the fun stuff she has done with Kaity and I--like going to see the butterfly exhibit at Meijer Gardens, or playing games at my house, etc. Kenzie always enjoys my cards, which is very flattering.

As Kenzie was opening our gifts, one of the tissue papers from the wrapping caught FIRE from the tea candles on the table!!! Yikes. I could not believe how quickly the flames leaped up and would have spread ... I didn't know what to do! I grabbed the burning tissue paper and threw it to the ground and everyone stamped out the fire. Unfortunately, the floor was carpeted ... we are pretty sure there was no lasting damage to the carpet--I hope there wasn't. I was just thankful the fire did not spread and become a ... DISASTER.

Here she is opening of the friendship pendant from Kaity ...

Kaity and Kenzie have been friends since 2013 when Kaity's family returned from Texas.

When Kenzie unwrapped the present from me--a little camel marionette--the strings were SO twisted (very poor packaging) that we could NOT untangle them. Megan let me know this morning that Scott was able to figure out the confusion of strings and got them all straightened out--she said Kenzie was walking her camel all over the party venue yesterday--YAY! I'm not sure I would EVER have gotten them untangled. Kenzie is very good with puppets--she has a natural love for them and loves to pretend with them. Kaity is excellent at it too!

Sure enjoyed your party, Kenzie!