Halloween Fun - Part 1

We have been having a blast enjoying all the Halloween activities around Houston!  So much fun that I had to break this post up into two parts!

New Dress(es)

We started October off by wearing the cutest little pumpkin dress.  (Note: Olivia is kind and sweet and smart yada yada yada.  BUT, one quality I really love is that she is obsessed with clothes and fashion --- a trait that warms this mamma's heart!  Even though there are times when her insistence on wearing a "bee-uu-tiful dress" is hard, I still love this naturally girly quality.  And she is getting better about wearing occasion-appropriate clothes, thanks to Daniel Tiger and the little phrase that Matt and I now constantly sing to her "Think about what you're gonna do and pick the clothes that are right for you!")

This Halloween dress arrived during her sicks days but even feeling terrible, she gasped when she opened the bag, squealed at how "cute" it was and immediately put it on.)

We waited till she was feeling better to take some pictures.

  

Monster's Bash at the Children's Museum.  One funny story for the memory book - recently we tried to teach Olivia about compromise.  We explained that if you get in a fight with someone, you can figure out a way to compromise so both people get what they want.  In retrospect, it seems she didn't quite understand what we were saying.  We were at an exhibit at the Museum that was a partially enclosed area with vents blowing air and many scarves.  The kids can put the scarf by the vent and see it fly to the top and then come down.  Right now, Olivia's favorite color of the day is red.  So she immediately grabbed the red scarf and began tossing it up.  One time it came down and she and another boy reached for it at the same time.  They tugged on it for a while and both sets of parents just watched to see how they would resolve it.  All of a sudden, my darling child begins pushing the little boy and practically has him in a choke hold trying to wrestle the red scarf away.  I immediately try to shimmy my way into the small opening and pull the 2 of them apart.  Afterwards, Matt was talking to Olivia about it and asked her what happened.  She calmly told us that she wanted the red scarf.  He asked her if she purposefully tried to hurt the little boy in order to get the scarf.  She replied "Yes daddy.  Its called a compromise."  So....still gotta work on that one....   

This kid LOVES beading.  They have had this same activity  (stringing beads on pipe cleaners) at a few other parties we have been to and she refuses to leave.  I'm thinking this may have to be an activity at home!

It's all fun and games until Olivia decides to pick up one of the golf balls and hurl it at some kid...

In case you can't tell, not a fan of the pulley swing..

Making Monster Blood....

Monster Music

'Treating....

And even Monsters need to eat...

Bibbity Bobbity Boo Bash.  There is an adorable little boutique right by our house that has lots of cute girly clothes, tutus, accessories and toys.  Olivia and I are equally obsessed.  During one of our (weekly!) visits, the owner told us about an upcoming Halloween event there.  She had us at "tea party"...so we invited Aminah and Cate to join us.  These cute little girls had a blast.

There were several crafts....

A "fashion show" where the kids all went up to the mic and said their name, what they were going to be for Halloween and then went and made the scariest face they could!

And then it ended with jumping/dancing on bubble paper -- in Olivia's book, it doesn't get much better than that!

Except maybe a hug from one of your besties...

Zoo Boo.  

This one could bounce all day...

Silly faces with Cameron

Carousel & picnic lunch with Doug & Charlie....

And we went to Minah's Fairy Party....cuteness overload.  Aunt KK went all out with a giant trampoline, a face painter and an appearance by Elsa.  Talk about a good party!

Tinkerbell Squared!

As we buckled Livy in her carseat after the party, she sighed and said "I wish I could stay with Sofie and Minah and Aunt KK and Uncle E for all the days..."  

Race for the Cure

One of our closest family friends, Missy Cannon, lost her fight to breast cancer May 2007.  Ever since, my family has tried to do our part for the fight against breast cancer.  One of our favorite activities is the Race for the Cure.

We haven't done it since Olivia was born, so we were really looking forward to it this year. Unfortunately, all the other Mehtas were unavailable that weekend, so the 3 of us ventured out on our own.

Before the Race, we got to talk to Olivia about helping people and being charitable.  It also brought up an interesting discussion about how fortunate we are and how some people don't have such luxuries as a home, food, clothes, etc.  I'm not sure Olivia quite understood because part of our conversation went like this:
Olivia:  So some people don't have cars?
Me:  Yes.  Isn't that sad?
Olivia:  Well how do they get to school?  How do they listen to music?
Me:  I guess they either walk or take the bus.
Olivia:  Oh!  Well the bus probably has music mommy.  (as she goes back to playing with her 15 million baby dolls)....

So...we will keep working on the concept.

Nevertheless, she really did love it and has talked about it constantly since we did it.  The RFC has a really great kids area with bounce house, face painting, and different vendor booths.  She loved it!

A little pre-race fun....

It's time to RACE!!

Success!

And more post-race bouncing!

Three Year Check Up/Sick Days

Olivia recently had her 3 Year Check-Up.  It went great.  Here are her stats:

Height: 36.5" (36%)

Weight: 31 lbs, 8 oz (59%)

BMI: 16.63 kg/m2 (75%)

She really enjoys going to the doctor (especially when no shots are involved!) and talked up the entire staff with stories of princesses and how her aunt is a doctor.

Matt was out of town that week, so I took that day as a vacation day and we spent day doing some fun Mommy-Daughter activities.  Unfortunately, poor little Olivia must have picked up a stomach bug while we were at the doctor's office because she woke up the next morning sick.  Luckily, my kind boss was nice enough to let me work from home, so the babydolls and I did lots of cuddling with my sick little love bug.

Thankfully, Mimi & Grandpa were in town and came over that night to spend the night and help me out with Olivia.  Olivia was so excited to see Mimi & Grandpa that she turned on The Olivia Show.  This episode included "Look at this.  Watch me run Grandpa.  Look how fast I am!"  (proceed to run around the house as fast as she can).  "Mimi.  Watch this.  Look how strong I am!" (try to pick up mommy).  You get the idea....this lasted about 10 minutes and must have used up all her energy because she spent the rest of the afternoon resting quietly.

Luckily, the bug only lasted about 24 hours.  She woke up the next morning feeling much better!

I still kept her home with Mimi to rest.  They had a fun day of cuddling, reading, and craft-time.  Check out this awesome Halloween countdown they made!

And many more...

September is the month of birthdays at Casa Dean.  Right on the heels of Olivia's birthday, Matt turned 35 and we had several fun celebrations for him.

He got an early birthday party in Galveston with the Mehtas, complete with presents and a cake!

 

On his actual birthday, he probably got the best present he could have hoped for --- a morning to sleep in!  Little Olivia is usually our 6am alarm clock, but for some reason, she decided to sleep in till about 7:30!  Feeling well-rested, we enjoyed a birthday breakfast together.

That evening we drove to College Station to spend the weekend with the McGuire's.  A birthday weekend is best spent with best friends!

We were able to score a babysitter on Friday night after the kids went to bed and enjoyed a delicious sushi dinner.

The next morning, Olivia was anxious to get her hands on sweet Baby Win.  After being well-trained by Bethany and baby Grace, Olivia knew the rules...Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Jennie were constantly asked during the weekend "Can I touch Win?  Can I hold Win?"  (Much to this mamma's relief!)

A little story time before heading out to the ranch.

There we enjoyed golf cart rides, good food, some more reading time, and exploring the ranch.

 

I'd say it was a good weekend because this was my view on the way home!

And finally, we had another birthday celebration with Pop-O & Tutu.

We have noticed recently that when Olivia gets around family, she becomes extremely extroverted and relishes in being the center of attention.  We have taken to calling it "The Olivia Show" because she really does put on a 1-Woman show for everyone.  She does tricks (wanna see how fast I can run/jump/ride my bike?), she dances, she sings, she tells stories -- it's really quite the show.  And, Matt's birthday celebration was no exception.  We got a special showing of The Olivia Show - Princess Edition.

First Fairy Abby Caddaby entertained us

And then Princess Elsa joined us for some biking, dinner and presents!

Hopefully Matt had a great birthday celebration and felt special by all the people who love him most -- especially me!!

And, now, it is October and I am slightly exhausted, but excited for some cooler weather and Fall activities!