Jordan's12th Birthday Party

I'm writing this the morning of the party, so I'll post pictures later.

One day you have a baby and everything they do it sweet and tended and special!  Her first word, her first step, her first pair of glasses. her first hair cut.  Every moment an achievement of growing up.  And then one day they see themselves as all grown up.  One day they are looking to you for approval in each step on their journey to adulthood and the next moment they are too mature for silly games, parents or siblings.

The changes at the tween stage in life are so fast!  And so confusing!  One moment Jordan is in a tickle fight, the next she is too cool and too mature for the color purple.

Some things that Jordan has decided are too mature for her are:
Purple, her new favorite color is blue- that's much more mature!
Siblings, they are oookkaayy, I guess, as long as my friends aren't around!
The Bus, all the cool kids get dropped off.
Playing outside, that's for babies! Like 11 year olds!
Cartoons, Anime is what big kids watch.

Jordan got a whole new makeover Friday.  She got a hair cut and when we got home from the salon we got a call from the eye doctor letting us know her new glasses came in.  She looks like a whole new girl!  Very grown up and mature.

Contrasting

Taylor turned 12 and decided that she didn't want to get any older.  So she agreed to be 11 again and has been getting younger every birthday since.
Jordan isn't 12 yet, but says anything an 11 year old would do it way to immature for her!

Everyone expects their children to have different personalities from the other.  You expect younger kids to mature faster than the oldest sibling because the older sibling exposes them to more.  What you don't expect is that influence to be minor, nonexistent or ignored!

On To The Party

For our party theme we chose a "Mystery" theme, or Clue theme like the game, but it's not exactly like clue, but similar.  Let me make sense of my rambling.

We are going to play a life size clue game.  The kids will run from room to room playing games and gathering clues.  They only have to figure out who done it and with what.  We took the names of a bunch of Jordan's least favorite teachers as suspects.  And Jordan's favorite teacher as the victim.  And some every school items as the murder weapon. (Glue bottle, pink eraser, pencil, dry erase board, etc.)

The kids will start in a "classroom" and play a game called pickle. Pickle is when the kids get a 3X5 card with a word on it.  They put it on their forehead and the other kids have to give them clues to figure out the word.  I have a large stack of words for them.  What the word is, is a mystery!

The next "classroom" they will play a getting to know you game.  Answer a bunch of questions on a bunch of cards, which they can look at if they choose to or just quickly answer. Learn your friends secrets!

In the "Gym" we are playing a game in which the kids trace their foot onto a piece of paper, then label it.  We mix up the feet and then it's a race to find your own foot!  Who's who in feet!

Mystery meat game! Of course, the "Cafeteria"!  I have three canned meats, turkey chunks, spam and tuna.  The kids can smell it, taste it, look at it and they have to figure it out.  I didn't make a meatloaf concoction to have them try to identify, I figured I didn't want to make anyone sick.

Then they are off to the Principals office!  There they will be out version of red light, green light.  The girls have to sit in a chair and try to get to the envelope underneath and pull out the clue.  If they make noise or are caught moving they get sent to the principal.  Which is the other room.  Jason will them "interrogate them" and try to convince the kids that one person or another is murderer and what the weapon was used.  Obviously, trying to keep the principal off the suspect list.

And to get their clues, you noticed that I didn't mention that yet, did ya?  Well, in each room after each game the girls get a bunch of balloons to choose from and pop.  And whether they  get a clue or not is a mystery!  Each balloon has a slip of paper, so even we don't know which one has the clue!

I'll post pictures as soon as the clean up crew, me, has finished.