DeLappenings: Chica’s 12th Birthday!

Hellooooo, peeps, from the flip side of a very zany day celebrating…

CHICA’S 12th BIRTHDAY!!!

How in the world I have a TWELVE YEAR OLD, I’ll never know, but I suppose I’m a bit grateful she’s not already thirteen, since she looks it to me!

TIME. FLIES.

And speaking of time…there’s so little of it these days, as we’re just wrapping up an incredibly packed June.

We were so happy to reach the school (and Chicklet cast!) finish line, but then things kept on going.

We dove straight into Chica’s orchestra camp, then our Telluride trip, then VBS, then straight to Oklahoma, then back here for a brief 24 hours before I needed to pull my act together enough to throw a HAPPY, HAPPY birthday for my beloved eldest!

I always knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge to turn things around so quickly, and…I was absolutely right about that.

I may or may not have been inflating and tying off balloons until my fingers bled (literally; but just one finger, ha) until 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night.

But it was allllllll worth it, to pull together what seemed to be a really successful birthday for my girl!

Truth be told, we’re in a bit of a birthday transition as a family.

In the past, we’ve always done really BIG and purposefully obnoxious home themes/decorations, in lieu of an official party.

But my kiddos are definitely at that age where they have more established friendships and enjoy having their buddies join in their celebrations.

Which is so fantastic…except for the one caveat that it’s just too much to try to do an outlandish home decoration THEME, their mini Yes Days (that they always enjoy for their bday), PLUS an official friend-involved party.

TOO. MUCH.

As we so quickly learned for Chicklet’s bday in March. We were celebrating for two full weeks and it was exhausting and quite expensive!

So…we’ve basically made an executive decision that the days of the giant theme party/decorations shebangs at home might be done?

I put a question mark, there, because I have no idea if that will stick. But we’re trying to shift toward smaller decorations, and an event that can include friends.

I’m not gonna lie, it was REALLY hard for me to not feel like I was phoning it in Wednesday night, after years and years—across three kiddos—of these elaborate birthday setups.

Truly, it’s always been a bit like Christmas morning for my kiddos on their bday—and I’m really not exaggerating that!

So, Wednesday night, I was in a bit of a spiral, imagining my Chica waking up to disappointment.

But…it feels like the time and age-appropriate era to make this transition, so…heeeere we go!

I had a Swiftie shirt at the ready for her when she woke…

And party hats…

And we snuck this door covering in her room while she slept…

And I made this gorgeous balloon arch (blood, sweat, tears and all, ha)…

I don’t know why we’ve never done an arch across the kitchen island, but it’s my new favorite thing, and perhaps, the beginning of a new tradition…

Now.

At this point in the morning, there was a bit of a chaotic hour (understatement alert) when I’d messed up our breakfast situation, the A/C was having an issue and the technician arrived (with bad, frustrating news) several hours before our appointment time.

I was sweating up in the attic with him, still in pajamas, I was running behind with our plans, I was angry that my attention was being diverted from my birthday girl, but…LIFE.

I’m sooooooooo happy to report that we turned the vibe of our day upside down when Chica’s dearest friend arrived for our journey to…

Our very first escape room experience!!! Harry Potter themed, no less!!

With no prior escape room experience, I expected it to be entertaining, but it was actually ENTERTAINING! And suspenseful, and a brain challenge, and just so very fun!

The only sadness with the whole experience is that you can’t take photos inside the escape room experience, ha.

Totally understandable, but you know me and my photo happiness! ;)

So just trust me when I say that it was REALLY fun, we very nearly made it out within our one-hour time limit (we were told we only needed about three more minutes, arghhhhhh), and everybody was giddy and hyped up by the end.

Victory!

After the escape room, we went home for pizza, swim and cake fun—with Chica’s friend staying on for all of that, plus her younger sister and her mother (who’s my own dear friend).

It was a JOY to sweat outside and visit and enjoy the happy squeals and delight of the kiddos for a solid two hours. I caught very few pics while I was there enjoying.

The final part of the day involved showering quickly and heading to a dine-in showing of Inside Out 2, which was just fantastic.

Everybody—parents, included!—gave the movie rave reviews.

It was particularly amazing to see a complex subject matter like emotional health and well-being and sense of self broken down in such a palatable way. It was like a life lesson and therapy tool, all in one.

After an ice cream stop (bday girl’s choice), we came home to finally open presents for the finale of the day. :)