Someone turned 11!

It's that time....going to try and catch up on the blog...lol. I got behind during pre-packout purging, packing out, departing post, home leave, receiving everything at new post, organizing the house (and then there's all that other life stuff....and I got further and further behind). When I was just in purge mode, somebody turned 11! Given the school went back to all virtual over spring break, that put a kink in our already small, social distancing sleep over. So we regrouped and Clarissa picked two friends to come over (on two different days) to celebrate. 

She's really into painting (it's a fun activity to do when stuck at home). So we opted for a painting party. We prepped the canvases with a base later and then each guest's first initial in a fancy font. Since Clarissa was doing this twice, her second canvas was her teacher's initial.

Quick drying in the sun and heat!

At the parties, the girls painted their canvases the colors they liked - outside of course (we picked purple for the base since it is Clarissa's favorite).

Between paint layers we did fun things like water balloon fights and cupcakes! (The water balloon fights did get crashed by some other kids in the neighborhood....).

 

Finally product:

On her actual birthday we did an Oreo cookie ice cream cake which provided some angst. On one hand....Clarissa loves to bake so she wanted to help make it, but on the other hand it was the cake for her and she didn't want to help....such dilemmas!

We opened gifts in the morning of her birthday (I forget why), but saved the grandparent gifts until it was the afternoon in Doha and morning back in the US.

And of course she was gifted the next porcelain doll (my grandmother got them for me and I am handing them down to her).

While it wasn't the ideal paint party, sleepover, birthday fun we had initial planned....we worked within local rules and she still had fun!