Turning Nine is Divine!

It's hard to believe that this little lady just turned 9 years old!  She's our "princess", our "diva", and our "angel" all rolled into one.  So we celebrated her day the best way we knew how!

After a special birthday breakfast "donut cake", we headed off to school where she was super excited to have her desk and chair decorated especially for the occasion.  "I've been waiting all year for this!", she beamed!  (Her teacher, Mrs. B, is amazing!)

Our school system adopted a new safe snack list this year, which means we are no longer able to bring in homemade treats.  Which as much as I love baking and creating fun snacks for the kids to take, this time of year is sooo crazy that it was kind of a blessing in disguise.  :) We had to think outside of the box a little, but came up with a way to follow the guidelines while still staying true to Miss B's request for something beach/ocean related.  (She is my daughter after all)

We purchased vanilla flavored Jello pudding cups and turned them upside down so that they resembled a "sandcastle".  Then we added a shell that we collected from one of our trips to the beach to the top of each cup using double sided sticky tabs.  Finally, I sprinkled finely crushed Corn Flake cereal around the cups to look like sand.  I think they turned out super cute & oh so easy to make!  

After school, she had already deemed it "the best day ever"!  After Honey got home from work, hip hop dance practice (her favorite) and a shortened Show Choir rehearsal for L (special thanks to his teacher Mrs. D for letting him out early) ~ we were able to make another one of her birthday requests come true....dinner at our favorite hibachi restaurant.  

HOT!  TOO HOT!  lol!!!

And after MANY times of trying, she was FINALLY able to catch the fried egg in her mouth!!

TA-DA!!!!!

Then it was home for gifts...

Can you tell she has a love of underwater sea creatures?  Like mother, like daughter.  :)

Then finally, it was time for cake!!  

Making a Wish is the best part ...

Happy Birthday my beautiful baby girl!  May all your wishes come true.  :)

XOXO

A "Ghosting" We Will Go

"When the crypt doors creak

And the tombstones quake

Spooks come out for a singing wake

Happy haunts materialize

And begin to vocalize

Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize."

     

Those famous lyrics from the graveyard room at the Haunted Mansion seemed more than appropriate to start off this "ghostly" post.  Not long ago there was a knock at the door only for us to open it and find no one standing on the other side.  Now, you may be thinking (like us) "You were Ding-Dong-Ditched".  But upon further inspection, we found the cutest little bag of Halloween treats and goodies had been left outside our door with a note stating "YOU'VE BEEN GHOSTED!"  

The note stated that now it's our turn to "ghost" 2 other people.  So we set out to create our goody bags filled with spectacularly spooky treats.  (insert evil laugh here...)

I had the bags in my Halloween stash just waiting for the perfect occasion.  We filled them with candy, glow sticks, candy, pencils, candy, light-up cups, candy, frightfully festive socks and maybe a little more candy.  (It is Halloween after all.)

 

Then we all loaded into our "Doom Buggy" (sorry I couldn't resist another Haunted Mansion reference...)  to deliver our Ghostly Goodies.  

I can honestly say I have not laughed that hard in a long time!  Honey, having had prior experience in his younger years at being stealthy and sneaky, helped Miss B deliver the bags. ** Side Note:  He would now like to publicly apologize to any of his childhood neighbors or friends that he MAY have TP-ed as a kid.  It was wrong and he is deeply sorry for any mess he may have caused.  :) **  The idea is to QUIETLY place the bag, ring the doorbell and run! Now the words quiet and 8 year-old girl are not normally spoken in the same sentence...and for good reason.  They were almost caught both times!!  L and I stayed in the van, watched and laughed til our sides hurt as they hide behind trees and cars trying to make their way back without being seen.  But all in all it was a successful "Ghosting" adventure!  Thank you to the wonderful family who "ghosted" us.  We decided to make it a new family Halloween tradition.   :)

"...Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize."

N