Madi's 13th Birthday Party

Our sweet Madi is turning 13!! How can that be?!

I wanted to go big this year, because, well...13 is a BIG deal, and also because Madi hasn't had a birthday party with friends the past 2 years, mostly because of covid issues. So we decided to do a sleepover at a hotel, a scavenger hunt and dinner downtown. Madi invited Bailey, Maleah, Albany, Olivia, Madelyn and Juni to the party, and they were all about to come! We celebrated a week or so early, because Madi's birthday was over Spring Break, and I figured that wouldn't work as well. I picked the girls up from school and took them straight to check into the hotel. I had already been there earlier in the day to decorate their room and set out some snacks. We had an adjoining room next to the girls. We had a bunch of hotel points to cover the cost of one of the rooms, so we just had to pay for one room. I talked GMa into coming, so she also came to the school to drive a few girls to the hotel. Brian stayed at home with Jack, Jonah and Mack. After getting settled at the hotel, we started the scavenger hunt. We spent most of our time at Scissortail Park and the girls seemed to have a fun time. When it was starting to get dark, we headed to dinner. I looked at several different options for dinner, and then I had the genius idea to reach out to my friend Gina, the owner of Caeli's in downtown OKC. Gina babysat me when I was just a a baby and she has always been special to our family. She said she would love for us to come have dinner for Madi's birthday. She even asked what Madi wanted to eat, and she made chicken alfredo especially for us! Complete with Madi's request of "lots of ranch" for the salad! She also made a beautiful cake that Madi absolutely loved. (It was delicious too!) Oh, AND, she told me to drop off whatever decorations I wanted to use and they would put them up for us. So, so nice!! We had all of Caeli's basically to ourselves, and it was such a fun, relaxing atmosphere. Madi knew we were going there, but she didn't know that I had taken decorations or ordered a cake from Gina. The look on her face when we walked in was priceless! I got the biggest hug and smile from her when she saw the table and the cake! It made all the effort worth it, for sure!

After dinner we went back to the hotel and walked around Bricktown for about an hour to finish the scavenger hunt. There were pretty horse drawn carriages everywhere in Bricktown. Madi was so sweet...we could tell she really wanted to ride in a carriage, but she didn't want to ask because it was kind of expensive. GMa to the rescue! She paid for the girls to ride in a carriage, and they all loved it. We eventually made our way back to the hotel and let the girls go swimming for an hour or so, before going back to the room for the night. They had to have been exhausted at this point...I know I was! (*Side note--I stopped drinking Diet Coke 3 days before this, so I had the worst headache in the history of EVER.) The next morning the hotel had a big continental breakfast, before the girls were picked up around 11:00. 

It was fun to watch Madi laugh and have a good time with her friends! Oh, to be 13 again! Madi says this was her "best birthday party ever" so I'd say it was a success!

After everyone was picked up, I headed home to get ready for party #2 the next day with our family. Whew! We partied literally all weekend!

Happy Birthday, Madi Joy!! 

I may have gone a little overboard on the snacks!

Not sure if you can tell, but that's supposed to spell MADI! =0)

It was so good to see Gina and her boys, Kyle and Kenny!

This cake just screams "Madi!"

Ended the night with a little Church Clap by the canal!

Everyone knows she's sweet, but this pic shows that she can be sassy too!

Gotta love a good before/after! Lol!