Olivia will be 14 soon and I can’t believe how quickly the years have flown by. Yesterday we went shoe shopping for her first pair of high heels, she is going to the semi formal 8th grade dance next week and didn’t have the right shoes. Every pair she tried on seemed to be “hooker heels” as I like to call them. I was told in no uncertain terms that, “just because you can’t walk in high heels doesn’t mean I can’t”. Ouch, okay I guess I deserved that, I don’t have much call for high heels in my simple life of being a mom and student. As she teetered across the floor in the shoe store she told me she’d be wearing the shoes for the next week, and that she’d even vacuum and swiffer in them. Not only am I going to hold her to this, I’m also going to be there when she falls, with a camera!

Olivia is hosting her first boy/girl party this weekend and I’m getting prepped for it! I’ve decided the easiest thing to fix is hamburgers and hotdogs, no sides, just chips. I’ve done so many parties and had so much leftover food, that I have to keep reminding myself that kids have pretty basic needs. They want some kind of main food, something crunchy (chips) and something cold (soda/water) to wash everything down. I’m also making the cookie recipe I posted earlier this week and confetti squares.

Confetti Squares
1 large box fruity pebbles
1 large bag marshmallows
1 stick butter

Melt butter and marshmallows in pan, turn off heat and add fruity pebbles. Press into a greased 9×13 pan. Watch out, these get gobbled up quickly!

This time I’m going to double the recipe and add a box of fruit loops to the mix, something different to keep them on their toes.

The plan is to play cookout, pool volleyball and rockband. I haven’t met too many of Olivia’s school friends, other than her cheer teammates, so I’m looking forward to this. Tom and Simon both have other plans and so they won’t be here to “horribly embarrass” Olivia. (for some reason brothers have a way of doing this, and dads have the potential to embarrass.