Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was pretty low key for us this year.
Though, it's Vic's very favorite holiday,
so we made it a special day, just the four of us.

The girls were off from school all week,
so we filled our time with art camp,
bike rides, a hike through Bear Creek
and movie night with the neighbors
before getting busy baking up a storm.

I had two trusty helpers all day Wednesday,
and I'm proud to say that we did Nanny's
pumpkin pie (from scratch) justice along with
Lu's sausage roll and corn bread recipes.
Lexi, especially, enjoyed watching the
Macy's Parade, and both girls were excited
to get the dining room table all set for our feast.

We were grateful for neighbors who
had us and another family over
for some dessert and cocktails later in the night,
and also for Facetime, which let us see/talk to the
extended family since we couldn't be with them.
Gobble Gobble, indeed!

SEVEN

From our earliest days together,
Vic caught on quickly that birthdays are a really big deal to me.
The girls have also happily jumped on the bandwagon.
And so, this weekend we continued to celebrate "7"!

Alexis and Ava paid a visit to a cute little salon
called Sweet and Sassy for a "candy lovers makeover".
They were treated to manicures,
a little eyeshadow and glitter lip gloss,
temporary tattoos and a girly girl updo.
We rounded out the visit by creating their own bath gel and body scrub
(all topped with glitter, of course).
It was seven year old heaven.

The next day, thanks to Aunt Wendy,
Alexis and our neighbor got their arts and crafts on
at Sunshine Glaze.
They enjoyed making holiday mosaics and also painting
some pottery pieces for their bedrooms and Christmas trees.
It was also an adorable little shop.

Monday the 16th was her actual birthday,
and Ryleigh and I were invited into school to help the class
sing "Happy Birthday" and to join all the kiddos for some
cookie cake.
Mrs. Sickler has a tradition where the birthday girl/boy
stands up on the birthday chair while the whole class sings,
Lexi ate it up.

That night, we capped off the celebrating with an ice cream
cake topped with a sparkler.
Needless to say, it was a wonderful day for our newly minted 7 year old.
Happy Birthday, Alexis Rose!

A Halloween Birthday Party

Alexis is nothing, if not a girl with a plan (about everything),
and so pretty much the day her birthday ended last year,
she got to work requesting a Halloween-themed party for her 7th bday.
She never once wavered from that request.

Luckily, Halloween fell on a Saturday this year,
so we were able to celebrate the holiday in a big way.
The rain held off so we could host all the girls outside
for the most part.
Grandpa Tom happened to be in town visiting,
and he was such a big help all afternoon long.

The party goers enjoyed some lunch, glitter tatoos,
musical chairs and limbo,
along with a pinata and of course singing and cupcakes.
We're very grateful that this group of girls
helped Lexi's vision become a reality.
All that energy and spunk made this Halloween
and turning 7 a celebration to remember! 

Happy Halloween

Can Halloween fall on a Saturday every year?!
The holiday just feels extra fun
when there's a whole day's worth of festivities.

We celebrated Lexi's 7th birthday a few weeks early,
with a Halloween Costume party earlier in the afternoon.
Then, our sweet neighbors turned their driveway into a big preparty.
The kiddos all enjoyed a bounce house, pinata and pizza
before officially kicking off the trick or treating.

It was the first year we've ever dressed up as a family,
and Grandpa Tom's visit ensured we had our Tin Man covered!

We made our rounds through the neighborhood with a bunch of our buddies,
watched a little bit of an outdoor movie,
and then settled in back at home to welcome the last few trick or treaters
and watch the World Series.

All in all, a super full and super fun day.
Happy Halloween!