Matilda

Xanthe turned eleven!  Her birthday is always accompanied by much anticipation and planning.  Xanthe definitely has a creative side, and loves to plan events.  This year, she chose to have a party based on the musical Matilda.  She has been working on a song from the musical for an audition.  That's the one she sang for everyone when Golda opened her mission call.  The theme sounded cute, so she spent a Sunday making invitations and gave them to all her school friends.  It was hard coming up with ideas for the party, but Xanthe had ideas.  We settled on a school setting, and Xanthe made a banner that said "SCHOOL." We borrowed desks from Coco for a fun backdrop and came up with some school-themed games.  Believe it or not, there are a few Matilda party ideas on Pinterest, and we used those.

This was my idea fail.  The scene from the movie where the boy is forced to eat a whole chocolate cake while the teacher screams, "You want cake, I'll give you cake!"  Yeah, that doesn't translate onto a cake.  Ha ha.  But we did have three chocolate cakes and the kids were encouraged to eat as much as they wanted.  Izzy won the unofficial prize of best cake eater.

Hello there, Snuggable!  We took this outfit with us to China.  Isn't she adorable!?

Xanthe is a crackup with the faces!

It took quite a few tries before we got a picture that was good.  I told them to look mad, or something, like the kids in the musical.  So they all looked like they were having a miserable time.

Anymore, I can't remember a single thing.  Just Saturday, we missed a wedding reception, at the same time as we were looking for something to do, because I clean forgot about it.  It's so frustrating.  So I wrote down all the party ideas and followed my outline while the girls were here.

Xanthe's faces!

This is Xanthe to a T.  I have about 10 of these on my camera.  She is so pensive and analytical, so slow and careful, whole birthday party can grind to a halt while she internally weighs the pros and cons of birthday wish options.

Our Matilda party was perfect.  Xanthe and Esmae came up with a game using white boards, and the party ended with the girls going all out on crafts with the glue guns and some old books they turned into works of art.  It was a great group of girls.  It makes me happy to see that Xanthe has so many friends, after repeating 4th grade.  She still has her tried-and-true friend, Aubrey, who is now in 5th grade, but many of her friends are new.  She has been able to make new friendships in her class and feel really successful in school.  Mr. Reeve has been the greatest teacher possible for her second year of 4th grade.  His class is positive, fun and laid-back, and he is just an excellent teacher, unlike the headmistress in Matilda!  I'm so grateful Xanthe got this extra year of growth and development, and so gratified to see it capped off with a joyous party, full of good friends and laughter.