Epic 12th bday weekend

In true epic birthday fashion, we started celebrating Dorothy BEFORE the big day with a Friday night dinner at our favorite birthday bar to celebrate both her birthday AND Ben's. I went into labor with Dorothy at that very bar in 2013.

She opened presents and had cake on her birthday morning (I wrapped up all the pillows for her new room, along with her unassembled IKEA nightstand, two new duvet covers and two sets of sheets, a fuzzy throw blanket, plus some super cute storage boxes for her new bookshelf (which I showed her a picture of because it is in a box in the entry way), and we assembled her super adorable new lamp. Minnie and Cooper got her some makeup, a new Touchland, and a new Sol (fml), and her big bros came through with a Lululemon gift card.

Right after breakfast, she threw on her team uniform (SO BOUGIE you guys! The team jacket is Lulu, and the kids can wear EITHER Lulu Align leggings OR Lulu studio pants with it) and put her makeup on because it was time THE FIRST DANCE COMP OF THE SZN.

I failed in taking costume pics AGAIN, but here's what I got:

Large group jazz

Large group hip hop

Small group tap (their song is "Groove Is in the Heart," and it is DARLING)

Super group hip hop

They ballon in the above pic is attached to the box of amazing cookies that I handed out all day.

We had FIVE DOZEN of these, and they flew.

Super group again

Small group lyrical. Dorothy got ot be the person to get the ward for this dance (they pick someone new for each dance each weekend), and she was DELIGHTED when the group took 2nd overall (losing by ONE TENTH OF A POINT to another small group from her studio)

Ben, Minnie, and Coop came to bring the bday girl her favorite pizza for dinner, and they got to watch lyrical, too.

Ian's pizza (and a Wisco salad for me)

After pizza, Dorothy got to get ready for her FAVORITE! DANCE! IN THE WORLD!, her hip hop trio

They took third overall, and her friends let her get the ward

Of her 6 dances, 5 placed in the overall awards for their category (large, small, or super group-- all different styles of the same size and level compete against each other), so she was super happy at the end of the day, and it was so fun to watch her friends win awards, too.

On Sunday, we kicked off our 4th annual bday shopping spree. (2022, 2023, 2024)

We could not decide between breakfast and lunch, so we got donuts for an app and ordered lunch food.

She hit Lulu where she bought shorts, and I bough the matching T.

Then I got her a Kendra Scott necklace, per tradition.

Next Sephora, where I bought her some stuff, and she spent ALL THE REST of her birthday money.

We rounded out the day at ANOTHER MALL to hit up Ulta, so she could get EVEN MORE STUFF with her gift card from her grandparents-- MORE SOL seriously fml. (I also got some Ordinary anti redness serum and a cheap lip stick)

Phew!

SO FUN!

Here's my makeup haul, BTW: a Nars highlighter, a new liquid blush, a cheapy eyeshadow palette, and another one of my fave drugstore lipsticks that goes on glass and dries stain. (Dorothy bought Benefit Benetint-- so nostalgic. She actually got a bunch of Benefit stuff which made me remember when I, too, was young and beautiful and only needed a teeny bit of sparkle and stain to look my best).

Ben and his helper painted her room (she picked...white) while she was at dance, and he and Harry are ripping up the carpet and putting in wide fake wood planks this weekend. If it goes well, they'll do the same thing to Minnie's who is inheriting a bed, dollhouse, and storage bench from Dorothy and has another IKEA metal nightstand waiting for her.

All we gotta do (besides the floor LOL LOL LOL) is assemble her Costco daybed, buy a mattress for it, set up her vanity, and build her bookshelf. Plus take everything out of her room and Minnie's room and hand all new art on the walls. NO PROBLEM.