11 really is the best

 Hannah turned 11 a week ago and she LOVES Harry Potter so that was the perfect storm for a pretty fun birthday--day. We actually celebrated her birthday two days early since Spencer was going to scout camp on her real birthday and he did not want to miss the fun. One of my favorite things about her birthday was how happy she was with this very simple cake that looks like the one from the movies.

 And thanks to pinterest, she got her hogwarts letter delivered by owl.

 We started the day with Hannah opening her presents and it was a little bittersweet this year since this is the last year she gets something handmade from Grandma Howe but she's also looking forward to some cold hard cash next year. This year she got a flourescent tshirt with the peace sign in glow in the dark paint and some cute earrings. And despite my previous post against flourescence--this shirt is nowhere near as blinding as that one in Target. She LOVES it!

 And here Hannah is with all her birthday fun. I was worried about being able to do a fun party and still do good presents with our very limited budget but I was able to make 3 of her gifts including the gryffindor scarf she is wearing below. I had to lock myself in my room for several days crocheting like mad, but it was worth it when she opened it.

 And Hannah found a snitch necklace and matching earrings on Etsy she wanted but I managed to use the things I had to create an even more awesome set.

 And she also wanted a tshirt and I managed to come up with the shirt you see below--but you can't really tell how awesome it is in the photo because it is super sparkly and I know she loves it because she wore it most of last week.

 Hannah returned a birthday favor to Rose by taking her to Sam's for pizza.

 And then there was more food in the evening--grilled burgers and some fries and some butterbeer which was disgusting but good at the same time.

 I had to add this picture because everyone says I won't let them light their own candles. Proof that that is not true.

 Nick was worn out from all the sugar, but we weren't done yet!

 I put together a little Harry Potter fun for the evening starting with these glowing balloons. My camera didn't do them justice but sticking glowsticks in white balloons actually did work.

 Here we had a little potions/spell class for the 3 younger kids (excluding Isaac who was in bed). The folders had lists of latin words so they could make up their own stuff. They had more fun with that than I expected.

 Here they got to go shopping for some magical creatures.

 And I had this length of fabric that I wanted to use to make a pair of pajamas one day for my sister Becky since it is halloween-y with the full moon and bats and it's really silky but I decided it would make the perfect invisibility cloak which it did--Hannah loved it! (and since I can't really sew, those pajamas were never going to happen)

 We had Sarah come over to join us for our house cup challenge and we got sorted into houses--just so we remember--Ravenclaw--Spencer and Hannah, Gryffindor--Jer and Rose, Hufflepuff--me and Nick, and Slytherin--Sarah and Junior. We were all toast once we realized no one knows Harry Potter better than Sarah and Junior.

 Oh yes, let's not forget our little Honeydukes shop full of more sugary goodness. I let the kids go "shopping" here too.

 Here's Hannah having the time of her life. :-)

 So fun was had by all...except maybe a certain Hufflepuff who, uh, couldn't quite handle the buttkicking by Slytherin...:-)....but then we had Spencer pretending to be Voldemort by putting dimes in his nose...all I could think was please don't breathe in suddenly and make us end up in the emergency room trying to explain this one.

 Hannah got money from her other Grandma which she put to good use by buying a sketch book and a ton of pipe cleaners which she has been wanting for quite a while. She just loves anything that lets her be creative--we love you Hannah--you are awesome!-- and thanks for loving Harry Potter so we could all join in on the fun!