These Young Women of mine

These girls make me laugh!

{Front Row L-R: Sarah, Hannah, Eliza
Second Row L-R: Denise, Kristen, Brenda, Brittney, Liz, Ashley, Makela, me}

Except when I'm trying to get them to all look at me and smile. It's like having an extra five of my own photo-phobia children.

Ok, so they still make me laugh.

The difference between girls camp and boys camp

The Priesthood brethren who volunteered to come to girls camp with us must think we females are completely nuts. I've decided to show you a few differences between girls camp and boys camp to prove my point.

Organization and a schedule of events.

Extra tents... just in case. Or to put the supplies in just in case it rains.

Hearts to decorate the cabins with for good deeds done.

Crafts.

Colored Sharpies... I'm pretty sure the boys wouldn't consider these as necessary equipment.

Decorations. Everywhere. Disclaimer: This was not our cabin...we aren't that into decorating. And they were only half done with the decor when I took this picture.

Bleach pen shirts.

Cute quotes. And sugar cookies in the shape of a heart and covered in red sprinkles. 

Bags under their eyes and their hair pulled up in a bun.

Laundry lines.

Dinner in a bucket.

Girls staring at said dinner in a bucket wondering how in the heck to make tin foil dinners.

One leader {aka, me} who actually knows how to build a fire, assemble tin foil dinners, and cook them to perfection. And while I'm thinking about it, one leader who also knows how to cook in a dutch oven, properly clean dutch ovens, and take down the easy-up tent thingy. Apparently our girls are more of the hotel camping type.

Eating said tin foil dinners with the meat cooked all the way through and not in the dark. True story... just ask the boys who all got sick because they didn't start their coals until it was dark and couldn't see that the meat was still raw.

Faith walks.

Tye-dye shirts. It's tradition.

A ward name, the "Ruby Reds" and glittery, red shoes of course.

 

No wrestling matches.

A photo booth. {And while I'm thinking about it, probably an actual group photo too.}

Get-to-know-you games. Like tossing cheese balls onto someone's head covered in shaving cream.

A camp theme. Any guesses?

Clean {emphasis on clean} dutch ovens. 

Photo bombs. Ok, that might happen at boys camp. The bomb part at least.

Table decorations. 

Red utensils wrapped in napkins and red ribbon. To go with our ward name, the "Ruby Reds," of course.

A skit.

Desserts. Again, ready to eat before dark.

Fine. So the boys do come in handy when it comes to building fires. 

A testimony meeting with a jar full of glowing stars. 

Wild Kratts Birthday Party

We had this deal with the kids that they could have a "friend" birthday party when they turned 5, 8, 12, 16, and 18. I stole the idea from a friend who didn't want the pressure of throwing a Pinterest-inspired-everything-coordinates-loose-my-mind-over party every single year.

But then Pearl turned 6. And figured out that this would be the last year she'd see her friends at daycare that she's known since she was three months old. It didn't help either that she'd already been invited to several of their birthday parties. 

I caved.

When I asked Pearl what kind of birthday party she wanted, without a second thought she said a Wild Kratts birthday party. If you never watch PBS kids, you're crazy in more ways than one... mommy in this house needs a cartoon break every once in awhile. It's a great show. The kids learn a ton about different animals, Pearl usually finds something hilarious during each episode, and for those of us oldies who remember the Kratt Brothers {can you say Zoboomafoo?} it brings back fond memories of their first T.V. shows.

I fully acknowledge I'm probably one of only three women on the face of the planet who don't do Pinterest {Why do I need one more thing to make me feel inadequate and guilty?}, but for a Wild Kratts birthday party it's the perfect place to find ideas for games, decorations, and goodie bags. I took Pearl to Zurcher's to pick out her invitations and paper goods {plates, cups, napkins, table cloth} and set to work scouring Pinterest for ideas.

Pearl invited all the kids in her class, plus a a few kids from church, and then some new friends in the neighborhood that we had just met. In total, 25 invitations... with siblings and parents welcome to stay. We're talking like 40 potential guests between the actual kids her age, their little siblings {when you invite a kid from daycare, you have to include their younger siblings too} and parents. Oh, and did I mention the only time we could have said Wild Kratts birthday extravaganza was the one day I was home between Baltimore and Girls Camp that wasn't filled with soccer or church? Meaning Jeff and I worked like madmen getting all the Wild Kratts creature power suits put together after church... only to make a run to Walmart the day of the party to pick up a few more supplies {plus bake a cake, make bread sticks, assemble goodie bags for the guests, and pick up the dog poop} just in case. Yep. I am that crazy.

But it was a blast!

Minus the crazy week I'd had being gone and packing for girls camp at midnight after the party was over, it was so much fun. We had the party in the backyard, ordered pizza, and played a bunch of Wild Kratts inspired games, like:

Beaver Lodge Building,

Cheetah Tail Tag,

Duck Billed Platypus Egg Carry,

Big Mouth Bass Puzzle Race, 

and my personal favorite, Butterfly Cocoons.

I had other games in mind, but with a trampoline, dog, playground, and all kinds of kid toys strewn about the yard the kids lost interest in organized play. 

Here's all the games and instructions that I had planned.

A Wild Kratts birthday party wouldn't be complete without creature power suits! I found the idea on Pinterest and adapted it given that I don't own a sewing machine and was too lazy to put much time into these. I found a bunch of $3 tank tops at Walmart and used felt and this sticky hem tape to assemble everything. Jeff cut everything out for me... he is the crafty one around here after all. The kids went wild over them! I'm still sad I didn't force all those pipsqueaks to get a picture together!

For their goodie bags, we put a little plastic lizard {which are now being found in random places in my bedroom}, snack-sized Goldfish crackers, creature power discs, and some fun facts about each of the creatures on the discs.

Here's the creature power discs {thanks again to way more talented than me moms on Pinterest} and our creature facts.

I knew everyone had a good time - and it was worth my life savings to put on - when one of the boys came up to me and said, "This is the best birthday party ever!"

Let's hope Pearl forgets all about it though when she turns 7.