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Sunday, April 25, 2010

A birthday party and prom ...

So we had an eventful week, which will probably be just the beginning since it seems somehow May is always jam-packed full! I know this week we have the pinewood derby and two Palmer family "gigs" this weekend, so there will be lots more pictures coming.

On Friday we had Zachary's birthday party. Of course it had to have a Star Wars theme. :) Good news is that we did it VERY cheap. I love being economical and put together the party for probably $10 -- including the cake. :) I bought clearance Easter candy for the kids' party bags (who will know Shrek suckers were from Easter anyway?). And we made light sabers for the guests for about 50 cents each:



I made the birthday cake to be two light sabers -- green and blue, which are the boys' favorite colors. (Besides, I don't have food coloring that will make red instead of pink, and red is the "evil" light saber anyway. :) I think it turned out pretty well:


Of course, Zachary insisted it wasn't complete without a Jedi. Fortunately we had figurines we had forgotten to give them for Christmas (which were actually left-overs from the Jedi pack I bought for Tyler's cake in August :). So, I pulled out Mace Windu and had him fight Chancellor Palpatine. Phew!


Then Saturday was prom day. Becca and I (and Shayla) spent the morning finding her some jewelry and doing a little shopping for me. I've found a new favorite store: Kohl's. I got several shirts and two pairs of shorts all for $53! I added up the tags, and the "original" prices were supposed to be more than $200. WOW! Anyway, that made me happy. But back to prom ...

My niece graciously agreed to do Becca's hair. Can't you see how much fun that was:


Actually, Becca loved every second. She looked beautiful in spite of her nerves. I guess I was surprised at how nervous she was since she is so outgoing and seems to have no boy phobias. Anyway, she got put together and looked great:


Then her date came to pick her up, and I snapped only one pic of her pinning on the boutineer:


Not bad, eh? And here she is getting her corsage:


And then here is a pic of her with her date, Tyler. (BTW, her bff Georgina's date was also named Tyler. So funny.)


After she left I ran an errand and had a limo pass me on the freeway. I saw it and thought, "I'm glad Becca's date didn't rent a limo!" Then I started to think of a few reasons it's good to NOT have your daughter's date show up in a limo:
  • He's not trying TOO hard to impress her when he shows up in the family minivan -- even if it is a Honda.
  • He's not throwing away money. Let's face it -- Becca was thrilled to go to prom no matter what her date drove.
  • He has to keep his attention on the road and not fully on my daughter.
  • He has to keep his hands on the steering wheel. Enough said! ;)
Becca had a blast and loved every minute. I still can't believe we're at this stage. Sigh ...

5 comments:

Melissa said...

Becca looks beautiful! I am so glad she had a good time.
What a fun party and I love your thriftiness. You are awesome! The cake looks great too.

Bruce & Sylvia said...

Becca looked beautiful. The birthday party looks like it was fun. What am I missing this weekend besides the shower?

the Rowleys said...

Love all the pictures. I can't believe how much your kids are growing up! Also, I didn't get to mention, but I LOVED all the pictures of Austin! Loved the knitted hat and glad to see the one I knitted actually fit (I always worry about that. :)

Jennifer said...

Becca looked great. I love her hair and her dress. I also love the cute skirts that she made for her and Shayla. She is so talented. I also really enjoyed the family home evening that Tyler put together. I was really impressed, it was better then most that I put together. Thanks for taking the time to post so many great pictures.

Carol said...

Becca, you look absolutely beautiful with your hair all done up and your pretty prom dress--I hope it was a fun and memorable event for you.
Loved the pics of Zach's party--you are so creative, Denise!