Evie's 2nd Birthday

Yep. You read that right. This post is dated one month ago on Evie's actual birthday. Ah, the glory of post/pre-dating blogs. Evie turned two years old! That little spit-fire is two going on ten. She is a great big handful. She hits the ground running in the morning and her birthday was no exception to this. She had a great birthday this year. We basically kept it low-key. I honestly haven't really done a birthday that was basically just us. With Alex having a birthday just a month before, it was tough to ask people to come to the house again for another party. Also, I didn't feel like I wanted to host anything major.

We had cupcakes for her official birthday in the middle of the week. But Josh wasn't around and I really wanted to make a special cake for her. I enjoy making fun cakes for the kids. Evie is really into the movie "Frozen" and she loves Olaf. If you don't know who that is, you've been living under a rock. It was probably one of the easier cakes that I've made, but it still turned out cute.

We celebrated her birthday on Sunday. I got a few balloons and some "Frozen" plates and napkins and invited my mom and my friend, Mandy (a.k.a. Aunt Mandy). It was so relaxed and simple that I am seriously considering going this way every year. If the kids didn't love playing with their cousins so much, I'd totally go for it. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy seeing the family. I just get really stressed having to "entertain". That being said, we had a great time and miss Evie was super pumped about all of her presents. It turns out that she is at that phase of toddler-dom that involves loving opening presents. Christmas this year will be fun.

She got a few fun new toys and some new bed sheets with Anna and Elsa on them and her favorite, an Anna doll that she can sleep with and carry around. Thanks Grandma! The past two years have been crazy and fun and I can't wait to see what she's going to do and accomplish next. She's a smart little thing and can already sing 90% of her ABC's and count to five. I can understand most of everything she says and she knows all of her colors and most of her shapes. She doesn't sleep well still, waking several times a night, and sleeps in our bed after I go to sleep. *sigh* Oh the joys of an accidental co-sleeper. I'm so blessed to have such a sweet, fun and spirited little girl. Happy Birthday Evie!

Mixing her own cupcake batter. She then proceeded to spill all over her shirt.

Birthday cupcake time!

Thank you, Nana! (Evie calls my mom Nana instead of Grandma for some reason.)

Anna!

Evie's Olaf cake.

Halloween 2014

 

I love Halloween. I'm sure I write that every single year. One of my favorite parts is getting to dress up in something fun. I tend to really get into the character of my costumes and enjoy it very much. I've wanted to go as Super Mario for some years now, but have yet to have time to find the things needed to make a good costume. This year, I stumbled upon a large fake mustache and instantly knew that I could pull it together this year. My mom had a pair of my dad's old overalls and that made it a guarantee. The funny part is that the overalls fit me perfectly. Like, the kind of perfect that made me feel so comfy that I'd be willing to wear them on a non-Halloween daily basis. But I won't. The kids at school all loved my costume and I got a lot of high-fives and "Hey! It's Mario!" yells.

Alex and Abby were set on their costumes from the moment we saw Guardians of the Galaxy in the theater...twice. Alex wanted to be Star Lord and Abby wanted to be Gamora. Just google it if you need to know who they are. Star Lord? Not a problem. We managed that fairly well because my brother Aaron gave Alex a mask for his birthday. Gamora? Well...that was slightly more problematic. She's green. Like...all green. She dresses in tight, black clothes with...well...slightly more skin showing than I wanted Abby showing. Luckily, I found a way around it. Abby was ready to paint her face green until the time came to actually do it. The best I could convince her of was painting her hair ends pink and doing eye makeup. She looked really good! Evie was a ladybug. She didn't care, as she's only almost two. So I found a $3.00 costume at Goodwill and that's what she got to be.

Halloween was a blast! The kids got to design and carve their own pumpkins this year and we had homemade pizza (milk-free). They both told me that it was the best Halloween ever. We really get into the holiday spirit around our house. We went trick-or-treating in a new neighborhood this year and the kids were so excited to see all the cool decor and fun things. We even got to meet Alex's favorite monster - Frankenstein's monster. I have no idea who the super-tall dude was, but he was into character and, in true dork fashion, I talked to him as if he was actually Frankenstein and we all got a picture with him. Franky even put his arm around me. *blush* Aw, shucks! The kids are at an age where they just run up to the houses without me and do their thing. They even use great manners. As for Evie? She was in her element. She spent the whole night carrying her candy as if it were a prize. She then got home and dumped her bucket several times so she could smell each piece of candy and sneak several packets of smarties. It was so fun. I'm glad that we're a crazy Halloween loving family. It's always been one of my favorite times of the year. Now...what shall I be next year? Hmm...

Alex's was Frankenstein on the left and Abby's was a fellow student named Jordan on the right. Not bad for their first real try.

I did Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Here we are with Frankenstein. :-)