Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun




We had a marathon day last Saturday. First on the agenda was Sophie's ballet performance. Sophie, Becca and Rae were pink butterflies in a 5 minute performance with their ballet class. There was a private school expo at the local mall and the performing arts school they attend (HUG school), used it as an opportunity to showcase all the talent being developed by their teachers :-). The girls had to be at the mall at 11:00 am for a 1:00 pm performance. Our plan was to then rush home to Blaa's baby shower (yes the same Blaa who was married this time last year is about to have her first baby!!!), which was at my house starting at 2:00pm. But, because we live in Thailand and are pretty accustomed to the laid back "May Pen Rai" ("no problem") attitude, we knew it probably wouldn't work out quite that neatly. The girls ended up getting on the stage at 2:45, danced for 5 minutes, and we made it back home by 3:15.


By then, the shower was in full swing and we were able to pop right in and join the party. If that wasn't exciting and eventful enough, we planned Betsy's surprise 50th birthday party for the same night. At the end of the shower, we turned the "CONGRATULATIONS" banner around and it read "HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY", only it was backwards- you don't wanna to know. We then told Betsy to go home and pack a bag because all the "big girls" were going to have a slumber party in her honor. She went home, we decorated Terri's house for a retro birthday slumber party: streamers, balloons, penant banner that read "YADHTRIB TH05 YPPAH"- again, you don't wanna know- it had nothing to do with the fact that I spent hours hand painting a dual-sided penant banner only to realize that I didn't quite think it through well enough and one side was backwards. Terri quickly redeemed my blunder by assigning the theme "Back To The Future". We later picked Betsy up, went out to dinner, then all spent the night (16 adult women) at Terri's house. Now, I mean true blue slumber party, complete with birthday cake (amazingly decorated by Terri), games, sleeping bags on the floor, lots of laughing and non-stop talking. Of course we never got around to watching the movie, too much to talk about. We all got in the bed by 12:30 and were up again bright and early at 6:30, ready to eat and continue talking. I LOVE girl time. My tank was filled.

I may have been exhausted the next day but it was all worth it.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Friends, friends, friends.



These are Sophie's schoolmates at "Miss Sherry's School For the Exceptionally Adorable and Uncommonly Sweet Female Child" (I just came up with that).



They are quite the threesome. Becca, the tall blonde with beautiful blue eyes, is the eldest. She keeps things peaceful around here as she has one of the most amiable personalities of any 5 year old I've ever met. Whenever I hear a "Hmph! Then I'm not playing with you anymore!", it is not uncommon for Becca to step in as the peacemaker.



See this adorable thing with the big brown eyes and the radiant red ringlets? This is Lillie Belle. I like to call her lil' Lil'. She is our "free spirit". She absolutely cracks me up on a regular basis. This is something she can be heard saying, "Ms. Sherry, I don't like my picture, it's all jacked up!" It took me off guard the first time she said it, then it became our favorite way to describe something that just wasn't quite right. Whenever I need a hug, I know I can always look to Lillie, she's the affectionate fireball.



Then, of course, there's this one. The petite, dark haired, dark eyed beauty. I cannot describe how thankful I am that she has such sweet friends, what a blessing. I'm not sure if its because she's an only child (Lillie and Becca are both one of four in their families), but Sophie insists on giving me the play by play of everything they do, getting my approval. "Mom, Lillie wants to play restaurant while Becca wants to look at books so we will play restaurant first and then look at books, is this ok?" ... "Mom, I told Lillie that I didn't want to play with her, but then I said I was sorry and then we decided to play school. Ok?" Maybe some control issues. I'm sure they have nothing to do with her parents. :-) Sophie is definitely an extrovert, totally energized by people. As soon as her friends leave, she's sad and trying to plan the next social event.



Though Rae doesn't go to our school (she's in a private Christian school in town), she's another sweet friend. Sophie goes to her house on some afternoons to jump on the trampoline. Rae has a magnetic smile and a personality as charming as they come. Who knows, Sophie and Rae may be classmates at some point.



Finally, we have our new friends Rumi and Raine. They came to Sophie's birthday party. I wish I had been videoing when Sophie opened her gifts. Rumi was beside herself with excitement over every gift opened. It was the sweetest thing, she was genuinely excited, squealing, for Sophie. We are going to Rumi's pool party today and I can't wait to see her open her own gifts. We look forward to spending more time with them and making some fun memories.



God is faithful to give us what we need, when we need it. We are definitely a family who loves and needs friends, and our cup is overflowing with them!