Happy Birthday Heidi!!!! She turned 12!!

Heidi turned 12 this year on her birthday. Her friend Jaden Biberston came to me at the beginning of March and asked if she could throw Heidi a surprise birthday party. I love throwing parties and didn't want to turn the whole thing over to Jaden so I said we could do it together. I had her make the invitations and deliver them Heidi's friends at school. We looked at the calendar and found that Heidi didn't have a volleyball tournament on March 13th and thought that would be the best day to surprise her since it is a few weeks before her birhtday on the 25th. We decided to do a scavenger hunt at the mall. I went a few days earlier in the week and came up with some questions and activities for them to do. Then I told Heidi and her sisters that we would be going to the mall on Saturday to look for Easter dresses. It was the perfect excuse to get Heidi to the mall. David came later with her friends and we met up in the food court. I started to walking towards her friends and some balloons and Heidi couldn't quite figure out why I wanted to go where someone was having a party. She eventually figured out that her friends were there and she was quite surprised. One friend did sort of spoil the surprise by telling her she couldn't go to her party and Heidi didn't know what she was talking about. The girls were all given some money to get a gumball, a massage in the massage chair, something from Bath and Body Works, a snack, and get their pictures taken with Heidi in a photobooth. I figured that would be the easiest way for her to have memories of her friends at her party since I didn't want to walk around the mall with her and take pictures. Then she came back to the food court to open presents and have strawberry shortcake. It was a very fun surprise for her. Unfortunately her real birthday fell on the last day of school before Spring Break and on a Thrusday which is the busiest day of the week for after school activities. She didn't get to open presents or do anything fun until 8:30 pm. I felt bad but I didn't know what else to do. Dad brought her home an ice cream cake and a few friends came over for a late night. So even though it started out not fun I think it ended happily. She got some new nail polish stuff and a new orange ipod. She is now 12 and in our family that means you get to shave your legs. She got a new razor and some shave gel. She was so excited to shave her legs the next day. Emma and Eric wanted to watch also but Heidi didn't want to let them. Emma wanted to know when she can shave and I told her when she turns 12. She asked what would happen if she used Heidi's stuff before she turned 12 and I told her she would add an extra year to when she would get to shave if she touched Heidi's stuff. I hope she doesn't get too anxious but I am sure she will try to shave before she is 12.