It was a wild night with nine high energy girls!
Thank goodness Peyton was there to help.
Attendees were:
Isabel, Ella, Greta, Mia, Lily, Angolina, Traci and two guests
Lexi and Sadie.
We started off by making personal pizzas. And by that I mean, watching the girls put minimal sauce on the dough before adding a mound of cheese. A few chose to add pepperoni but plain cheese won out. I thought we'd get some interesting crust shapes but only Isabel made hers into a heart.
While our pizzas were cooking we headed to the craft table to turn pinecones into various creatures, animals, Christmas trees and feathered ornaments. I had made an owl and a mouse as an example thinking the girls would copy them but they created something unique on their own.
I should have known better!
Having such a big group made the craft table a bit chaotic but it was neat so see everyone asking for things with a "please" and sharing and helping each other.
Time to eat our pizzas on blankets, picnic style, on the living room floor. Here we talked about how school was going for everyone. We went around the circle and the girls said what their favorite thing about school was. Some mentioned making new friends and then the topic of mean kids came up. We talked about ways to deal with the mean kids, like trying to walk away or saying things like "sorry you feel that way" if they say something that isn't nice. I also told them that if it's a real problem that is making them sad or distracting them from learning, that they need to tell their teacher or their parents.
After our pizza we ate some homemade brownies that Mia brought!
We were going to stay inside for a little while but the screaming and running made the bonfire outdoors look pretty enticing so we bundled up and laid out some blankets and brought down a bag of marshmallows.
It was just getting dark and it was very chilly so it was really perfect once we got the fire going. The girls were very good about sitting down or standing away from the fire and not running near it.
After we blew out 20 or so marshmallows that started on fire, we got out the flashlights and did some exploring down by the wooded shore of the pond. Then it was time to play hide and seek and a couple of games of kick the can.
After quit a bit of screaming and running, we sat down to tell scary stories by the fire. Peyton broke the scary tension with a story about a family of marshmallows and Lily added her story about a family of gummy bears living in the forest. Then we told a few jokes.
It was fun to see everyone again and see the girls be so carefree and bonded together as a group.
Our next gathering will be near Halloween.
I'll send the details soon!
