The Arb

A few weeks ago our litttle family went out on a walk to go and see the Fall colors. It is so beautiful here. I just love this time of year so much. I'm so happy Vi is a Fall baby like me. There is something about all the activities and holidays that just make me so excited. We got a pretty decent walk in and Violet was in heaven with all the dogs on walks. I wanted to get all these pictures up before we head out tomorrow. We will be in Utah for 2 months. Crazy I know! I have had so many last minute things I am trying to get done. It's a little intense trying to make sure I have everything I need for 2 months. So there isn't a lot of detail to this post, other than it was a fun family outing with beautiful weather. I am sad all the leaves are gone now, but I am so excited for some snowy mountains in the next few weeks!

Happy Birthday to You

It is always a little crazy dealing with a birthday that falls around another big holiday. So trying to pick a time for Vi's party was a little harder this year. Her friends have such a range of ages. So not all of them are going trick or treating and not all of them even get the concept of a party yet. We decided to have a party the Saturday after Halloween this year. We did the same thing as last year and just invited the close little friends that she plays with. It was fun because over the last year Violet has made some new older friends. It was really cute to see the friendships she is forming. She really really loves her friends and gets so excited when they come over or she sees them at the park. I decided I wanted to do a brunch this year. That way we could leave the rest of the Saturday open for people to do family things. I made a waffle bar and breakfast sandwiches. I had decided last year that I wanted to do an Itsy Bitsy Spider party for her 2nd birthday. The first year I didn't want to do something Halloween related, since I figured most of her parties would be like that in the future. So this year we went with a slightly spooky theme. I was seriously having to pull my act together the night before. We had so many other things going on and I just hadn't gotten around to all the things I needed to do. It all came together in the end minus the balloons we forgot to get. It was very low key and fun to have friends around to celebrate her. 

For Vi's actual birthday we had her come downstairs to her birthday presents. We got her a baby doll and a stroller and a bunny blanket. I took her to the play place at the mall and the train table. Those are some of her favorite things to do. Then we went and had lunch with Mike on campus and she got some ice cream. Mike didn't schedule anyone for the afternoon so he came home and we took her to a place called My Urban Toddler that has tons of rooms with play food, books, puzzles, ride on toys and lots of other fun things. She had such a good time making food in the kitchen with Mike and going in the grocery store. Then we took her out to pick out a cupcake and we got some pizza. We went home ate our food, sang her happy birthday and blew out candles. Then we played with her toys and face timed Grandma and her cousins until bed time. I would say it was a pretty good day for a 2 year old.

Happy Halloween

So, I decided what we were going to be for Halloween in August. I was in the early stages of pregnancy and was feeling pretty crummy. I knew if any costumes were going to happen I needed to start on them right away. So while I was home in Utah I made Violet's Alice in Wonderland costume. My grandma came out for a sewing day and we busted it out in a day. I still had a few last minute things I had to do for it the day of( ended up taking way more time then I anticipated). Then I began the slow and long process of the mad hatter. I started collecting things and getting inspiration about a month before. We found a suit coat and pants at a thrift store.  I painted and tailored the coat. I hemmed the pants. I made the hat out of cardboard. That was my longest and most detailed project. Then there were a bunch of accessories that we had to make. Mike's costume was by far the most detailed. Since I spent so much time on it my costume seriously lacked but I still think we looked pretty good together. We only dressed up once, because we were not wanting to go through all the make up and time it took to get ready again. So our big debut was at the ward trunk or treat. Vi got her first taste of trick or treating. It was so fun.

On actual Halloween Violet was the only one in costume and she was totally bundled up in a coat and hate because of the 40 degree weather. A lot of people kept asking what she was because she was totally covered up. She killed me with her cute little voice saying,"trick or treat". She loved it. Holidays are just so much more fun with kids. I have not been excited about trick or treating in years, but I was honestly giddy to take Vi out for her first time. We met up with our friends the Blomquists to take the little munchkins to a few houses and then we went and got frozen yogurt and played Clue at our friends the Swapps. It was a great Halloween and I can't believe next year we will have 2 kids to dress up!