october ten again

Well, it's that time of year again.  I'll be honest, my birthday kind of stank this year.  My grandpa passed away the day before my birthday and my whole family was just a little out of sorts, including me.  That's ok though.  That's life.  My friends tried to make the best of it on the day of my birthday, which was a nice distraction.  The day was definitely full and eventful.

Houston usually goes into work pretty early but, I asked him if I could go to Pure Barre that morning as part of my birthday present to myself.  I got my butt up at 5 a.m. to go to class. Pure Barre is definitely amazing.  Not many things can make me wake myself up that early!  Since he didn't leave the house until later in the morning and we both had church activities that night, he insisted that I open my presents before he left for work.  I love that he always buys me clothes.  And, honestly, he is usually really successful!  This year he bought me quite a few things but my favorite was this tweed jacket!  Adorable!  Now I just need it to finally cool off here so I can actually wear it!

opening presents with my little bit

That morning Elaina and I headed out to a Halloween party.  A little girl in her class at school invited her over for a Halloween party.  It was so cute to open up her backpack one day and see the little invitation!  I was excited to go and meet the other moms and see how all the kiddos interact with each other.  The mom who put the party together did an amazing job! It was so much fun and she had tons of cute activities for the kids to do!

Elaina's pumpkin painting masterpiece

First, they painted pumpkins.  Elaina LOVED this!  After a few minutes all the other kids were done painting and wanted to do something else, but not this one.  She stayed in her seat for five more minutes painting while all the other kids were off running around.  Then she told me she was all done, so I got her down, cleaned her hands, etc.  She went off to play and a minute later came back up to me and said, "paint?"  She decided she hadn't had enough!

"paint? mo paint? please?"

The biggest hit of the party was the play table with beans! Who knew?!  The kids loved it!!  This mom had taken black and white beans for Halloween, put them in the play table with Halloween toys from the dollar store and the kids were obsessed!  Everyone wanted a cup and they would pour the beans in and out of the cups forever!

For lunch she made the most adorable jackolantern quesadillas for the kids, with fruit kabobs!

cutest little lunch ever

eating lunch with her buddies

They also played on the swings, the play set, did bubbles, decorated cookies, got halloween tattoos, and played in orange jello to find their party favor.

showing mommy her pumpkin tattoo

digging in the jello
she was hesitant at first, then totally got over it and made a HUGE mess!

After the party, Elaina went to play with her cousins and Nana while I went to lunch at Chipotle with the girls.  Julie, Chelsea, Tamra, and Jess met me for lunch.  Janet offered to watch Elaina for me, I never would have thought to ask her on my own, taking Elaina to lunch is no big deal.  But, it was so nice to just sit and eat.  I don't really think about it since it's just my "normal" as a mom, but eating in a restaurant is always so busy! get food, sit down, cut food, help feed, clean up mess, pick up something off the floor, wipe face, clean hands, etc.  It's just always a whirlwind of activity.  It was nice to just sit.

amazing birthday lunch with good friends, salad, chips, pumpkin cookies, and a cupcake to boot!

While the mommies were out Nana took the cousins for a picnic and to go play tennis.  Loved seeing the pictures of all the fun they had while we were gone!

the most amazing cupcakes you'll ever eat from The Sweet Boutique

My birthday was on Wednesday, so Houston and I both had church activities.  The young women surprised me with a little birthday party!  I walked in and they had decorated the kitchen with balloons and sang happy birthday!  It was really sweet.

snuggling sweet ellie

my surprise party was even complete with birthday ice cream cake!

love these girls!