Nine.

Yesterday was my big girl's birthday. This is the first time I have not planned a party in I don't know how long. We've opted to take a trip this year instead. To Denver. About 3 1/2 hours drive from here. Our original plans were to take the girls out of school Friday & head out that morning. But the Mr. & I decided to surprise them today: we're picking the girls up from school & heading out RIGHT then! We've never been to Denver & we anticipate such things as...Visiting the American Girl store--complete with a crafty session in the evening!...A stroll through my favoritest shop EVER: Anthropologie. And, though I'm not likely to buy anything, that shop is always such an inspiration, & full of oodles of goodness & happy...Dining out in a big city...Adventuring in a new place...Scouting out fun things to do....Staying up late & watching movies in the hotel...Taking the girls swimming in the hotel pool...Lounging, knitting, relaxing...

We've decided instead of BUYING prezzies for birthdays, we'd like to spend the money toward creating memories by doing trips, outings, activities, etc. This is not to say the girls will never have a party again. But maybe we'll swap every other year or something. Although it does feel kinda weird to not have all the hooplah associated with a party, I think I'm going to like this idea a lot.

I DID find a cute idea on pinterest to help with some birthday treats though! (Click HERE to see it.) I made cupcake cups & dropped them off at Zoey's school so she could celebrate with her class. Zoey said all the kids loved them! A few kids even made a point to thank me as I was waiting outside the school today to pick Zoey up. Zoey chose vanilla cupcakes with milk chocolate frosting & Oreo cookies crumbled on top.

The cups were 12 oz & a perfect size for two cupcakes.

I had some sticker paper that I punched with a 2" circle punch. I used a "happy birthday" stamp & then used individual letter stamps to spell out "Zoey!"

I tied cutesy cupcake ribbon on each spoon & attached them to the cup with Fiskars thin glue dots. As Zoey was handing out the cupcakes in class she told me that some of the spoons stayed on, some of them came off. The spoons would have stayed perfectly well if they were set out on a table at a party, but these cupcakes had been transferred in a box & jostled around, so I can see how some of the spoons got bumped off. I am certain there is a bigger sized glue dot or stronger dot that would have done the job much better.

And no birthday is complete without birthday candles. So, I stuck candles in our dinner pancakes. (Zoey's choice for dinner was pancakes, bacon & eggs.) And then commenced a rousing rendition of the birthday song.

I can't wait to share with you all the fun I'm SURE we'll have in Denver!!

And I can't believe she's nine.

♥