Happy Halloween!

Halloween has come--and blink--it's gone.  It's hard, I think, celebrating Halloween on a weeknight. It just looses a little something when I'm passing out candy while packing Simone's lunch for school the next day. But nevertheless, we had a good night.  Our community comes alive on Halloween night and you can hear and feel all the excitement in the air.  

Simone INSISTED on dressing up this year as a .... wait for it.... CELL PHONE.  sigh.  Yes, she is indeed growing up.  

This photo was actually taken last Friday night at the Spooky Bingo at her school.  

 For Halloween night she had me switch up the emojis on her face.

 As usual, Simone and daddy hit the streets while mom passed out candy to trick or treaters at home.

We had lots of kids again this year, but I do think a little less than usual.  All kinds of crazy, creative, creepy, cute costumes showed up at our door.  But this one takes the cake...

The first canine trick or treater I've ever encountered.

And now begins the march--or shall I say annual sprint -- to Thanksgiving. The weather is cooling way down, the leaves are nearly all fallen, and we can just about start snuggling in for the end of the year.  We'll keep everyone posted...

Belated Birthday Post

Our little girl is ... NINE. YEARS. OLD..... sigh.  The last year of single digit ages. Last week I got an email from babycenter.com -- a service I registered for before she was born-- to tell me that I would no longer be receiving update emails about what to expect from your child at this age -- she's reached the end of the line.  Society now deems her a tween (can you even believe it?!?!) and ready or not, we will be pushed into a whole new world.

For her birthday this year, we did not have a party.  Instead, we celebrated with a "birthday weekend".  She asked to do special things each day with different friends, so that's what we did. Simone thought it was awesome to get "four days of birthday" rather than just one party.

On her actual birthday, a Thursday, we celebrated with a simple ice cream cake at home after a long day of school/work and iceskating practice.

The first stop of the birthday weekend was a movie at our favorite theater on Friday night.  We saw Storks, which was really cute and kind of made us nostalgic for Simone's baby years.

On Saturday morning, Simone got a major surprise when grammy and her cousin Seleste arrived for a day of serious birthday fun.  After some ice skating, we picked up another friend and headed over to Muse Paintbar for snacks and painting.  The whole family got to sharpen their artistic talents.

We followed up painting with birthday burgers, shakes, and cupcakes at Habit, and then headed home for a VERY late night of playing.

And last but not least, we enjoyed a final Sunday birthday brunch at one of Simone's favorite restaurants where she dined on crab legs and shrimp cocktail.  Yep, she's a seafood lover!

And that wrapped up Simone's marathon of birthday fun.  We all had a great time, and Simone got to spend a bit of quality time with each of her closest friends and cousin.  Now it's time to brace for life with a nine year old.  ...

Happy Birthday, Simone!  You'll always be our little girl!!!