September was chock full which is why I am here on the last day catching up.  One of the highlights was the girls' neighbor friend's birthday party.   We mostly do family parties at home so it was a real treat for them to go to an "official" party with friends.  They began to plan as soon as they got the invitation in hand.  That invitation was carried around and read and reread daily. 

When we learned it was to be a mermaid party I knew exactly what we would bring. I have gone a little Pinterest crazy since returning the US.  We saw this DIY mermaid play dough gift set months ago but things like "one small battery operated mermaid" or "aquarium fern" would completely sideline the project living overseas.  Here, however, a stop into the Dollar Store netted most of what we needed. 

The girls made no-bake play dough together.  It worked. 

Then we assembled the kit. 

And….

Got their mermaid tails on.  : ) 

If you were wondering if September was warm enough for a pool party in Utah the answer is oh yes.  I am sure we will be done with winter long before it is actually over but summer has definitely hung on a loooong time. 

If you are wondering if my life is magically blessed with oodles of spare time to DIY the answer is definitely not.  It may have been smarter to purchase a gift and take one thing off our plates.  It is important to me to teach the children that – when possible – it is a beautiful thing to put a little of yourself into a gift, no matter how imperfect and humble they turn out. It is NOT actually always possible to do this.  Since we had a window of time one morning though, it was worth the effort.