Julia's Birthday Sleep-Under

Today was the long-awaited day of Julia's birthday party, and MAN, was she excited!  She woke me up this morning by literally pouncing upon me in my bed, then jumping up and down repeatedly on the bed (and on me.)

Luckily, it was a school day, so she had something to occupy her mind for the majority of the day.  Meanwhile, Madeleine, whose preschool only runs in the morning, had hours at home with me to try and plan for Julia's birthday.  It started with her attempts to dress herself up with some extra fancy flair.

MADELEINE: Mama?  I'm just trying to make sure I look PERFECT for Julia's birthday party!:

The only problem with her ensemble is that Julia's party was a "sleep-under," which, for those unfamiliar with the term, means a pajama/dinner/movie party in which the kids go home to sleep instead of sleeping over.  Once Madeleine realized that Julia was wearing pajamas for the party, she had a sudden change of outfit:

Later in the day, Madeleine realized she might be cold in a sleeveless nightgown, so she once again changed outfits, and wound up in her Halloween pajamas, with cat mask still on.

Julia was out of her mind with excitement waiting for her friends:

In fact, she couldn't even wait for the party to begin.  I wound up texting the mom of one of her friends seeing if the friend could come early and ease Julia's impatience.  Once the whole group of girls were here, it was complete and utter INSANITY.  Julia may be a quiet kid at school, but MY GOD, at home with her friends her voice sounds like she is HOLLERING THROUGH A MEGAPHONE.  Her friends, of course, were no quieter, and I can't even imagine how anyone could hear anyone.  However, the girls appeared to have a grand old time, all bursting into raucous laughter over various things, throwing an impromptu dance party to the music at the end of the movie they watched, and sharing stories about the boys at school.  And Julia got a big old pile of presents, which had their own special home upon drop-off at the party:

What a lucky girl Julia is!  Not only did she get to have a sleep-under with seven of her closest gal pals, but she got to have a pizza party, her favorite kind of cake, two helpings of ice cream, and a big stack of presants!  What a birthday party!