As always, we started off with a pizza dinner and then go into the church for a short prayer. The girls are so excited to get started with the festivities, but I remind them that we need to give thanks to God before everything else.
This year, we had a talent show to help the girls with their confidence which was this month's virtue. It was fantastic. We even had some moms get up and show off their talents. It was truly a hit. It was really neat to see the girls get up and show a part of themselves that perhaps we had never seen before. We had instruments played, a dancer, a jump roper, a poem reciter and book readers, an balloon animal maker, a singer and even a girl show off the earrings that she makes. We have decided that it was such a hit that we will continue to do this each year. You could just see the smiles from the girls when they finished their talent. What a wonderful confidence booster. During the evening, we also heard the girls complimenting each other. It was fantastic.
The weather was so nice that we spent the rest of the evening playing outdoors. Since usually our meetings are so structured, and the girls don't get a lot of time to just play, that's we let them do. We have a beautiful grassy area for them to just run around. I also bought bubbles and glow sticks. It doesn't take much to keep them happy for hours.
Once that was all cleaned up, we had the girls get ready for bed. I read them a story and then let them giggle and talk for quite a bit longer. Finally around 11:30 or so, we told them it was time to quiet down and go to sleep. I think by midnight they were actually all sleeping. We also told them that they could get up early but needed to stay quiet and in bed until 7:00 am. It worked!!
Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at 8 am. Everyone just brings something and we have a feast. Then we go over to the church and pray the Rosary together and end our sleepover with a craft.
This year, I thought the craft went well with the virtue, Confidence. I found it over at Brave Girls Club. I had the girls pick their faces ahead of time and then had the pictures printed out over at Staples. The girls got to pick all the different colors and trinkets that they wanted. I asked the moms to help them with this project and it was wonderful to see the mothers and daughters working together. This project took a couple of hours and that was speeding up the drying time with hair dryers. We would not have been able to do it during a regular meeting. I somehow missed one the portraits but I love how each one is unique just like our girls.
It was a great way to end our time together. Everyone helped put the hall together and then it was time to go home and probably get some rest.
