Araceli's Soirree

 Araceli planned a surprise party for her friend Elizabeth's birthday.  Since she invited the whole seventh grade, Elizabeth found out about it immediately, but that didn't diminish the fun we had planning.

 These cakes were 99 cents!  So of course I had to buy 8 of them, in addition to a bunch of other goodies, 7 pizzas and a ton of pop.  Kirtlan said, "Do you have anything that's not pop?  My family doesn't drink pop because my grandparents drank it and they got addicted and obese."  Oh, Kirtlan!  Love that kid.

 The birthday girl, best friend Araceli and Emma the photobomber!

 We ended up with 40 or 50 kids eventually.  The party was advertised as 4:00 to 5:30, because Scott and I had a date for Moonlight Serenade at 6:40, but some of the kids would. not. leave.  Next time, I'm going to drive them all home instead of falling for the old "my mom is coming" routine for an hour!  That was annoying, but the kids had a ton of fun, and for the most part, they were great.  Especially the kids who said thank you, and the parents who peeked in to make sure there was an adult here!

 The "thank you" girls, Ellison and Micah.  I love them.

 Emma and Corinne.  Are they adorable or what?  And so sweet!

 The texters

 So cute!  Elise picked up some violin music while she was here.  So responsible!

 A little worried about the snuggling...

Later that night, when I was at Moonlight, Araceli texted me to tell me that the kids were all in bed and everything was fine.  I hesitated.  The party had been exhausting, emotional and charged with all the junior high drama 50 kids could ignite.  I wanted to say, "Good, because some of those kids wouldn't go home!  And what was up with the jr. high PDA?  And some of them didn't even say thank you."  But I texted, "Thank you!  Fun party!"

Her response in all caps, "YOU'RE THE BEST MOM EVER!  THANKS FOR LETTING ME HOST!"   In my mind, I thought, "Never again."

I texted back, "Anytime!"  And I meant it.