Anna's 12th Birthday

Yesterday was Anna's 12th birthday. We decided we needed to throw a bigger party than usual and will probably be one of the last (we hope?). Anna wanted to have some kind of mystery party, so we settled on a "Clue" party (based on the board game). The invitations included one of the "character" cards below, and they were asked to come dressed as that character.



We set up various rooms around the house as the "rooms", with some of the more "creative" rooms being these:





The game went off fairly well, although we always forget how difficult it is to control a group that large. Sometimes it felt like herding cats! Becky and Sara handled the "mystery meal" (they ordered off a menu, not knowing what they would get). The game got a little long with 12 "characters", so we eventually resorted to just sitting and taking turns making the accusations without going to the actual room. Becky and I both noticed how much they enjoyed it when their actual character (i.e. Miss Peacock) was the suspect and had to stand up with the weapon.



But the highlight of the evening was Anna's reaction to her birthday present: a new cell phone! Our other kids didn't get phones until they were quite a bit older, but we've found its more of a convenience for us, in being able to quickly make contact without going around the neighborhood to 4 different houses trying to locate her. Already, since she received it last night, she's sent over 150 texts.

Here's her reaction. (It's actually a reenactment of her reaction since I didn't have the camera out when she actually opened it.)