12 and 45

Guess who turned 12? 

Twelve!

My goodness - I can hardly stand it.  I am so sad and so happy at the same time.  Sad that my baby girl is growing up.  12 is a big age.  But happy that she is just on the brink of a very fun and exciting time of her life.  I can clearly remember that moment when I first saw her and how much I loved her.  Now I can't imagine loving this girl more.  It's impossible.  I am very blessed to be her Mother.  What a wonderful and beautiful little lady.

Just a week after Christmas Millie announced to me that she wanted to invite her entire class to her birthday party.  She wanted everyone to be included, but it was also a way to let me know she wanted boys to be there.  She seems to have noticed their existence in the past few months.  Oh, boy!

So, she decided to have her big party at "Airborne" which is a massive trampoline arena.  It has wall to wall tramps with a dodgeball court, foam pits, platforms, etc.  It had to be someplace big because she was inviting 45 people to her party {32 from her class, plus her friends in other classes}.  We figured half or so would show up.  But guess how many kids were at her party?  45! {42 + Sambo, Will, Quin}.  So only 3 didn't make it.  Wow.

She went with a monkey theme {ya know, monkeys jumping on the bed} and because she loves monkeys.  One of her favorite Christmas gifts was her sock monkey hat.  Her invite:

The party was a total hit!  Not only for the kids, but for BS and I too.  We really enjoyed watching the interaction between the girls and boys.  The boys were so cute walking in with their gifts, trying not to act embarrassed.  It was clear that this was the 1st girl-boy party for most of them. 

After jumping and playing around for an hour, we went upstairs to this big party room with big couches and plenty of space.   We ate Monkey cupcakes {which Millie helped me decorate} and Banana Creamies.  They were all so hot and sweaty from all of the jumping so they chilled on the couches and Millie opened her gifts frantically because time was running out.  Can you imagine opening 42 gifts in 15 minutes?  There were some really fun gifts as well as lots of gift cards and lots of cash.  She totally scored!

Party Favors

I couldn't hand out the Creamies fast enough!

 I feel really lucky that we live in such a fantastic neighborhood and that she goes to school with such a great group of kids.  This party really took me back to the good old days when I was her age.  So fun.

We also celebrated her birthday on her real birthday - BS and I took her on a date to Tepanyaki.  She sat between us and it was so awesome having her to ourselves.  We went back home and enjoyed more birthday cake - a Skor cake.  The day after her birthday was a Sunday.  During Primary I was giving her advancement award and the Young Women leaders came in to take her away to their class.  I totally crumbled in front of everyone.  I couldn't believe that she was now in Young Womens.

And of course we celebrated the January birthdays on Sundays at both Grandma's homes.  And that is always a treat! 

Gifts from Mom and Dad...a sewing machine, some music and books for Young Womens, and new Toms

 Amilia Anne, you are so loved!!!