Happy 11th Birthday Anna!

Happy 11th Birthday Anna!
Anna celebrated her 11th birthday this year over Labor Day weekend.  It was a packed weekend filled with friends and lots of activities.  The holiday weekend began early on Friday with a half day of school.  Saturday was a slumber party.  Sunday was a neighborhood barbecue at our house.  Monday was a picnic and the last day at the pool.  Having your birthday over a holiday weekend has its advantages! 

The big celebration for Anna was a sleepover on Saturday night with five of her friends.  This was not just any sleepover.  The theme was The Great British Baking Show.  The evening started off with watching an episode of the show while Joe made homemade pizza for the girls for dinner (Joe's pizza making reputation has spread).  One thing we realized is that all of the girls have grown, which requires more pizza for the group.  Let's just say there were no leftovers.  Fortunately there were a couple of scraps left behind for Joe and Theresa.

The pizza chef in action
Following dinner, the bake-off was on.  Thanks to Grandma, everyone had their own apron.  The girls were divided into two teams and had two hours to make a yellow birthday cake.  They were given the recipe for the cake and frosting and ingredients and told to decorate it however they wished.  The kitchen was quite a scene with flour and powdered sugar everywhere.  One team's first cake turned out more like custard.  They tried to cover it with large quantities of frosting, but finally gave up and started over.  Meanwhile, the other team filled their cake with large quantities of chocolate chips.  The also filled their mouths with lots of chocolate chips.....and frosting.  It is probably safe to assume there was more frosting than cake.  They even had piping bags to decorate the cake.  Our neighbor, Mrs. Latimer, came over to serve as judge along with Joe.  The group that made a second cake ultimately ended up winning.  Ironically, none of the girls wanted to eat the cake when they were finished.  Instead, they preferred popsicles.

Sofia, Ellie, Petra, Sophie, Banaue, Anna & Storm
The big winner of the evening was actually Storm.  Last year he hid under the bed while Anna's friends were over.  This year he was in the middle of the group.  The girls dressed him up in an apron.  He ate A LOT of powdered sugar.  At one point, one of the girls accidentally dumped powdered sugar on his fur.  He did his part to ensure a clean floor!  Following the baking competition, the girls watched the original Parent Trap movie.  Once again, Storm was in the middle of the action moving from girl to girl to be petted.  He was quite disappointed when he was dispatched upstairs at 12:30 AM so the girls would go to sleep.

Aunt Gayle & Anna
Sunday morning, after a breakfast of pancakes and bacon (and dressing up Storm in more clothes), the girls left.  Aunt Gayle arrived to treat Anna to a birthday lunch while Joe and Theresa prepared to have the neighbors over for a barbecue (it seemed like a good idea at the time).  That evening, the neighbors joined in the festivities and Anna got to hang out with her neighborhood friends, which included playing in the ultimate tree house and a game of man hunt in the dark.  Festivities also included an ice cream cake to celebrate Anna's birthday.

Monday was a beautiful Labor Day.  The family headed to Fairfax City for a car show and picked up former neighbor Anna for a picnic.  The day concluded with a dip in the pool before it closed for a season.  There were some very excited lifeguards to blow the whistle at 5 PM .....along with groans from the kids.  It was a great weekend full of celebration.  A big thanks to everyone for sending birthday wishes to  Anna.  Happy Birthday!




The Gold team in action
Storm & his apron



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