Shaking it 8 Year Old Style, Baby.

Last weekend was a whirlwind of activity at Chez' Penner.   It was finally the weekend to have Ellie's 8th birthday party.  Her actual birthday was on March 4th, but one of her dear friends was in Mexico for most of the month of March, so we needed to wait until she returned to celebrate.  

Ellie loves life.  She loves to have fun and celebrate.  If there is one thing that has captured Ellie this year more than anything else, it's dance.  She lives for her Jazz class on Thursday nights and the hi-lite of the school year for her so far was probably being part of the "DC 2-3" which was the grade 2 and 3 dance club.  We decided to incorporate dance into her party.  Since we're renting a massive house, there was no need to rent a space to dance the night away - we just cleared the furniture out the living room and we had an instant dance studio.  We even made arrangements to have a "special" dance instructor join us near the end of the party to teach the girls a routine.

Ellie also loves to watch t.v.   To be honest, we're not quite sure how this became such a big thing for Ellie.  Mike and I don't watch a lot of it, it's always been stuck down in our basement, and we've always  regulated the time and type of t.v.  the girls watch.  Regardless, the girl loves her down-time with the tube.  One of her favorite shows is TLC's Cake Boss.  She does a perfect New Jersey accent and loves to say, "That's how we do it Hoboken style" or "That cake was AWESOME".  SO, Ellie also wanted to incorporate Cake Boss into the theme and have each guest decorate their own cake.  That's right - cake.  Not cupcake.   More on that later.

We spent Saturday afternoon preparing for our guests and getting everything ready for the big night.

Before we knew it, the guests had arrived, the music started, the bass was booming, and moves were busting.  These girls know how to dance!

Shakira's "Waka Waka" was played more times than I care to remember!

After some dancing, it was time to open presents.

Ellie has been the beneficiary of wonderful friendships this year.  She has surrounded herself with fun, vibrant girls who know how to have fun!  I love the fact that the nations of Egypt, Japan, China, India and the good old US of A (one of her friends recently moved here from New Jersey) were represented at her table.

Beautiful Girls

When you blow out your candles with your friends in the room, it means you are officially 8!

While Mike went to go and get the dance instructor, it was time for the girls to get their "Cake Boss" on and pipe their hearts out.  I "dirty iced" each cake before hand.  When I say, "dirty iced" I mean it.  I took the word "dirty" to a whole new level.  They weren't pretty before hand, but they sure started looking pretty as the girls added their flair to the cakes.

Ellie even let her sisters get in on the action.

The finished products!  

I'm sure Buddy would be proud.

This is Ellie's special friend Natalia.  Her dad is Egyptian.  We think she and Ellie look more like sisters than our girls do!   On a completely unrelated note to Ellie's birthday, Natalia told us that her Grandfather had just left Montreal for Cairo so that he could dance in the street to celebrate the liberation of his country.  I love hearing stories like this.

 Shortly after the cakes were finished, our "special" dance instructor arrived.  He came in with a flurry of excitement and the girls were speechless at the sight of him.  His name was Dietrich van Mussen Oppenheimer.  He had a really interesting German accent and the most luscious long black hair.  He was also adorned in bright green leggings, silly bands, and an animal print headband.  He took the girls through their paces.  Though they might have been wary of "Diet with the Beat" when he first came in, it didn't take them long to warm right up to him!

It was a great party.  I'm glad we did it.  Ellie loved her night.

But -

I'm more thankful that the LAST of the annual birthday parties is over and that the container of icing sugar has its lid safely fastened tightly until next year.

Whew.