{PaRTy TimE}

In between soccer games and family celebrations, Scott and I spent a lot of time Saturday afternoon/night and Sunday morning getting ready for Millie's birthday party.  You know, because TWO birthday celebrations in one week just aren't enough ... .  This party was more about Millie and her friends, though she had lots of family join us for this celebration too (again, such a blessing to be surrounded by family members who take such an active roll in our children's lives).  I'll give you one guess as to the theme ...

white chocolate covered marshmallows

Yep. Legos!  The girls LOVE playing little legos and Millie will happily build away down in the basement for hours, so this was the perfect party choice for her. 

Scott's lego men -- that's batman there on the right :) 

I really try not to go overboard with the sweets at birthday parties -- generally sticking to just the cake, but this year I couldn't resist the lego head marshmallow pops.  They were just too cute.  The cupcakes generally come about because I have extra cake batter ...  

setting the scene for a 7th birthday party

see -- healthy lego people too!

It was really hard to resist all of the cute lego-themed decorations too -- like the lego shoebox food containers.  Lucky for me, Scott is very willing to help out with all of my crazy 'pinterest' ideas...

Coloring lego self-portraits (which I forgot to send home with the kids...)

lego heads every where!

Millie's friends from school -- they look sweet don't they?

looks can be deceiving ;)

playing lego toss (Teddy was 'helping')

Pin the head on the Lego (we like our 'pin the blank on the blank games around here...)

Lego relay race -- this picture cracks me up. Teddy listened as I gave the instructions to the big kids and when I said 'go!' he unexpectedly did exactly what I had told them to do!  

Poor Luke surrounded by all of those girls!  He got to explain to them that these were 'shades' NOT sunglasses and therefore appropriate to wear in the house.  As he put it, sunglasses are to protect your eyes from the light, Shades are to look cool :).  He definitely looks cool!

Waiting for cake

My sister LOVES when I put blue frosting on things ;)

Happy birthday, Millie Moo!  I hope you know how very much you are loved and how very special we all think you are!  (now, no more parties until next year!)

More Birthday Fun

Saturday we celebrated Millie's birthday with lots of family fun.  Scott's parents were able to stop by for the afternoon on their way to Arizona to join us in her celebration.  This, of course, meant more presents!  I tell ya, these kids have lots of people that love them very much.  Better than the presents though, was seeing all of the people who joined us at her soccer game and then for pizza afterwards.  In the end, it's the time spent with the people we love that the kids will remember long after the toys and clothes have been outgrown and put away.  We never outgrow the memories of being surrounded by people who love us though, do we.  Those are the memories that carry us through our lives and give us something solid and warm to hold on to.  

Millie's long awaited American Girl doll.  She has been talking about getting this doll for months now and she was very excited to get it.

What could be better than pizza at Dewey's with family?

Teddy kept everyone in line at the other end of the table :)

Thank you to everyone that took the time to spend with Millie on Saturday (and many other days)!

Halloween 2014

Our Halloween was a little colder and cloudier than the weekend before when we went to our party, but it was still filled with lots of fun.  The day was filled with a school Halloween parade and classroom parties for the girls (I accidentally deleted those pictures off of my camera this weekend before saving them to the computer... oops!) and the night was filled with lots of cousin fun complete with dinner at my sister's and then trick-or-treating around her neighborhood.  Trick-or-treating with my sister and her kids has become such a fun tradition.  This year we even ventured past her cul-de-sac and visited a few homes on the next street over.  Luckily the kids and the grown-ups decided they were ready to go back to the house at the same time.  Once it got dark and a little colder everyone was ready to go back and sort through their candy and enjoy some hot cider.

too much cuteness on one bench!

You will notice a lot of pictures of Charlie -- he just made the cutest Olaf ever!

All of the kids jumped right into trick-or-treating without any hesitation or shyness.  Once Teddy figured out he got to pick out a piece of candy at each house, he was all in :). 

As you can see, Millie's costume was a little worse for the wear from the party last weekend.  She managed to lose the necklace, her crown, and the brooches from the front.  It was also pretty stained and dirty.  Ah well.  She didn't seem to mind -- as you can tell from the smile on her face!

checking out all of the goodies!

everyone got to pick one treat to enjoy with their hot cider

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, even as a child, but I have to say, it's gotten more fun every year that I get to celebrate it with my children.  

Celebrating Seven

We did our best to make today a special day for Millie, despite it being a school day.  She's got lots of fun planned for this weekend, so she will definitely not be lacking for birthday attention :).  She was greeted with lots of birthday wishes this morning as well as balloons and one gift to open from Scott and me and one from Merrill.  She took caramel apples to school for her classmates to enjoy with her at snack time and then got to enjoy a pizza dinner (easy tortilla pizzas!) complete with a few more gifts and cupcakes for dessert.  She was all smiles when she woke up and sad to go to sleep and have her special day end tonight.  I gently reminded her that her birthday fun wasn't over yet!