Happy Birthday, Melody!

My 10th (and last) child turned 10 today! That's a milestone!

Melody had a birthday party with her friends on Friday and one with our family today. She chose a Hawaiian theme. 

Chalk boards are so versatile for making impromptu colorful signs! My 14 year old daughter Naomi drew the chalkboard designs and the birthday banner.

 

We bought the other decorations at the dollar store.

We borrowed a slip-and-slide from a friend. I'm glad that after a while we thought to pair it with a Little Tikes slide that was on our porch. It's so much more fun to swoosh down on your bottom from the slide than take a belly dive onto the ground.

To go along with the water theme, we also had water balloons and squirt tubes. The balloons were sort of a waste of time, but the squirt tubes from the dollar store were in high demand! You fill them like a huge syringe from a bucket, and then they shoot out a stream of water. I'll remember that next time!

Meanwhile, three of her older siblings were having fun jamming straws together to make a super long one. Yes, he actually drank from it!

I made pineapple chicken, chicken nuggets, and a fruit platter. We also had macaroni salad, potato salad, and bags and bags of chips and Chex mix.

Today we had her family party - which for us means about 17 people in three generations.

The lunch menu was BBQ chicken, leftover pineapple chicken, homemade macaroni and cheese, tater tots, biscuits, fresh sauteed green beans, and two cakes.

Melody wanted a strawberry icebox cake, which her sister Julia has made twice for us. It's a really simple cake - with layers of whipped topping, graham crackers, and strawberries - but a bit time consuming hulling and slicing! Anyway, I didn't quite make it to church this morning what with all of the food prep and last minute tidying.

Yes, I carved this strawberry into the heart shape...

The second cake was a last minute inspiration. I had bought some cinnamon streusel snack cakes to give Melody a quick treat at breakfast before she went to church. I took the five cakes that were left over, sliced the top layers off, put the bottom layers in a glass pie plate, diced up fresh peaches, spooned on some whipped topping, and sprinkled the streusel layer on top. Yum!
 

Melody got some great presents at her parties! Her oldest sister Mary gave her two cute dresses.

 

Mary and Julia are both pregnant together again! Mary is expecting her fourth baby in February, and Julia is having her second next month! So far it's four adorable little grandsons for me, but the next up is a girl, and our sixth grand baby's gender hasn't been discovered yet.

Two of the sisters who couldn't come today posted their greetings on Facebook.

Joanna wrote: "Happy 10th birthday to this huge-hearted girl, my littlest sister whose personality precedes her presence, who asks a lot of questions, but always the right ones... Like "When are we going to Disney?" She won me over the day she was born, and still has me wrapped around her finger. Mel, you are always enough, and always loved. Have a blast in your first year of double-digits, and tell your stories like only you can. Xoxoxoxo"

Rachel wrote: "Happy double digits to the most energetic, adventurous, and brave young lady I know - Melody Lynn! You're one in 7 billion!"







That's all for now on the birthday parties! I'm writing a separate post that's more about Melody on one of my other blogs, This Mom Grows Up. You can find it here: Mothering My Melody.