my girl's first annual halloween party

my girl avery came to me last week and said, "mommy i have a great idea,

let's throw a halloween party!" my thought was, "oh my gosh not another party."

i was just putting the finishing touches on her birthday party. but, not wanting to

squash her creativity and her ideas i decided that i would let her throw her

first halloween party. and i mean - let her. i agreed with her that it was a great

idea, but because i was busy with her birthday party, she would have to do all of it

on her own. well this opened a whole new door for her - now she was excited.

she could plan everything and mama wouldn't say a word. much to my surprise she

did all of it. she was allowed to pick 6 things to serve at her party, she made all

of the decorations, picked a sound track for the party, and made up all of the

games. of course, when the party day arrived i helped her get things together,

but that was it she did the rest. she was a great hostess and all of her guest had

a great time. take a look...

the decor

werewolfs, ghosts and witches oh my!

the game - pin the horns on the monster

the food - mac + cheese (with pumpkin shaped noodles),

gummy worms, ghost marshmellows, zingers,

red vines and capri suns.

pirate power

our little monster

game time

the guests

best friends

discussing party plans

the hostess - good job my girl!

you know how to throw a fantastic party!

it's my party

this is party number 6 for my girl avery. it's seems like just yesterday i was throwing her her first birthday party and again i am reminded of how fast time goes by. now as we celebrate 6, my girl has an input of who, what and how she wants her party. this year she decided to have a gnome party. i thought it was an excellent idea and with both of our creative juices flowing, we came up with a pretty fun, cute bash. i took care of the decorations and she planned the activities. inspired by one of our favorite movies the gnome mobile little miss avery thought that bubbles and a gnome hunt should be involved, as well as inviting our favorite balloon artist. so, that's exactly what we did. i got out the bubble machine, found some bug catching nets at the "aloha" dollar store and the kiddo's had a blast catching bubbles with their nets. the gnome hunt involved a little more planning than that. i decided that it would be best if i made up some clues (6 to be exact, after all that is how old the birthday girl is) and sent the kiddo's on a scavenger hunt. the clues led them to the slide, the drinking fountain, the park bench and so on until they ended up finding the gnome hiding in a tree. this was a big hit. all of the kiddo's were super excited for the next clue and where it would take them. at the end of the hunt we headed back to celebrate their victory and my girl by singing happy birthday and eating cake. throughout the party our balloon artist was busy taking and filling orders for some very patient kiddo's. we ended our party with my girl opening her gifts, a practice i think that has been looked at as a time consuming task, but one i believe is important. i don't want my girl to take these items for granted. i want her to know that somebody spent time picking this gift for her and i think she should acknowledge that with a face to face thank you. plus, the kiddo's get really excited for their gift to be opened. it was time consuming, but well worth it. thanks to all of our friends and family who helped my girl avery celebrate her 6th birthday...

six

balloons

bubbles

friends

running + gnome hunting

victory

lets eat cake

don't forget the presents

tuesdays pumpkin patch

it's pumpkin time, so we took a visit to one of the local pumpkin patches with our

home school friends. it was a nice, warm day filled with lots of pumpkins for

picking. this pumpkin patch was not your average carnival pumpkin patch

but, the real deal. one of the high schools in our area has a full running farm,

with this patch included offered to students as a class. the pumpkins were

inexpensive and the experience was priceless. i think all the kiddo's enjoyed

their day at the farm in suburbia, i know my girl and the little fella did...

now we are six

that's right six! it has been a huge event over here in our neck of the woods. the mister has called it a "birthday chanukah" because we just keep on celebrating. it started out friday the day before her birthday with a trip to disneyland. then on her actual birthday we visited the american girl doll store where she got to pick out a new american girl. she chose lanie and she is super cute. then we headed over to the claim jumper with her nona and best friend natalie in tow for dinner and this super yummy cupcake. now it's party planning week because next week is the celebration with all of her family and friends and we can't wait. who ever knew being six would keep us so busy?

tuesdays

here's what we've been doing the last few tuesdays...

venturing through tunnels

touching the sand

exploring at the tidepools

playing with sea anemone's

chasing the waves

running away from the waves

dancing with seawead

examining jellyfish

sifting through rocks and shells

jumping off rocks

fighting off pirates and hunting sharks

climbing

enjoying sweet treats

finding furry caterpillars

hiking

building forts

picnicing

finding "gold"

swinging from trees

listening to our echo

drawing in nature

capturing lizards

we love our tuesdays.

it's a time for us to play, invent,

imagine, explore, socialize,

learn and have fun.

really, who could ask for more?