E is for...

EIGHT

Eeeeek...she's eight. Really. Three days later and I still find it hard to believe. I think that the kicker for me is that I really remember being eight. Going to summer camp, moving cities and schools, my grade 4 teacher, my grade 4 art project that I loathed (art was my very very least favourite subject in school), my friends and so many other things.

Never having fallen in love with Nancy Drew, I remember being really into Trixie Belden. Not Jordan - she's completely taken with Miss Drew and all of her fantastic adventures. Not having read the series at all, I wondered if it was appropriate for someone who was only seven. I was told that Nancy was old enough to drive, so she must be a teenager. She also has a boyfriend, Ned, that she goes to dances and stuff with. Innocuous enough, I suppose. Needless to say, the party theme this year was...any guesses? None other than Carolyn Keene's loveable heroine.

The invitations were done as a boot print on argyle paper, written in code.

The cake was just cupcakes decorated with and arranged in the shape of a question mark.

The guests numbered only 3, but they all received an argyle headband and a N.D. book.

Dinner was served on our good dishes, with tablecloth and candles...and argyle napkins (bien sur!)

The difficult task was customizing a "real mystery" for the little sleuths to solve. I decided that "The Case of the Missing Sister" would satisfy Jordan's request for a puzzle and her need ot have Maya out of the way for a bit. Our dear neighbours agreed to feed Maya dinner while Jordan and her friends tried to solve the mystery. I wrote clues out and had them around the house, with the final clue being "It just doesn't compute". They found their clue on the computer in the form of a video message from Maya.

Her hint had them looking on the back of the clues they had collected where the letters written in lemon juice spelled out "IT'S FRANK". I had to candle the clues for them to get the invisible ink to show up, as a house fire was not in my plans. After the missing sister had returned, we went to the basement to play Clue (possibly the longest game ever). One slept over and the other two headed home. Good times.

At any rate, the birthday festivities have drawn to a close with a homemade sushi dinner and "champagne" to celebrate Jordan's turning 8 on the 8th. Maya instisted that it was a "propane birthday", but we don't drink that in this house. Far too cute. Here comes Christmas!!