And a little bit of Irish...

The Caboose turned eleven last week n' because we are all about 

celebrating the good things in life,

there had to be a party!

She invited 11 girls to come to her 11th birthday party

and she decided to make it a "St. Patrick's Day" theme.

Green was the color of the hour

and "Loud" was the word!

 She chose green cupcakes with shamrocks,

gold fish

gold coins

and little black pots full of skittles (ya know, to "taste the rainbow")

for snacks.

 Dinner was delivered by Dominos Pizza.

 Breakfast was obvious...

I mean, really, how much simpler could it have been?

 And of course, there was dancing in the kitchen!

That's how you know you're having a great time--

when music fills the house and there's swing dancing in the kitchen.

 Twelve 11 year old girls are 

very 

very

very 

loud.

 Just Dance!

We also had a craft--

painting wooden shamrocks.

It took longer to set up the table and supplies

than it did to paint.

The girls seemed to like it though,

so it was worth the effort.

I forgot to keep taking pictures thru the night--

around 8pm we put on "Tangled" and listened as the girls

sang with every song

quoted the entire movie

and shhh'd each other at their favorite parts.

After the movie,

the girls arranged themselves into groups--

the more mature girls gathered in the front livingroom--

sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals, iPads and iPhones lit up,

and talked softly...

while

the less-mature girls stayed in the familyroom

where they could barely contain themselves and their squirrel-i-ness.

And that group of girls didn't go to sleep until 4am.

Crazy.

After all the guests left at 9am the next morning,
I was craving sleep so badly I wanted to go back to bed.
But Dean was down visiting,
so we kept busy all day--
went to the mall (to spend bday money),
to the park and played some tennis and bball
and out to eat.
It felt like the longest day ever!
Bed time couldn't come soon enough--

Arianna hugged her dad and I 

thanking us for a fun birthday.

She is a sweet, nutty little girl

and we love her so.