An American Girl Birthday

Saturday, Hannah and I met Grandma at the American Girl Doll store for a special birthday lunch and a little shopping to celebrate her 8th birthday. We were running a little late and parking was absolutely crazy. After circling for about 20 minutes (really!) we finally found a parking place and met up with Grandma.

When we walked in Hannah let out a squeal of excitement. She excitedly told Grandma that Mommy was going to buy her an American Girl Doll outfit. Imagine her reaction when Grandma told her that she was going to buy her a doll. She squelaed even more and hugged her Grandma for all she was worth. She was SO excited!

Hannah had been wanting a McKenna doll for months but the sheer volume of dolls, clothes and accessories made it so hard to choose. We looked around for a while and then had to take a little break from our shoppping to check in for lunch. At lunch, her doll Samantha, got to sit in a chair at the table and they had tablewear and a balloon for her too. Hannah and Samantha also each got a birthday crown. She was in heaven and we hadn't even ordered. Hannah had pretzel bites with honey mustard sauce and Tic Tac Doe pizza. Next, she was surprised with a birthday cake complete with candles and ice cream. She loved everything and we had so much fun just watching her excitement and joy.

After lunch we went on a hunt for just the right doll. She looked at McKenna, but she changed her mind because she didn't think Mckenna, the doll, looked like the "real" McKenna from the movie. We checked out several other dolls and  narrowed it down to two. Finally she picked a doll with brown skin and beautiful curly hair just like her! At this point she just about thought she had died and gone to heaven but oh wait, Grandma wasn't done. A doll has to have some clothes. So a few (at least 20) trips around the store later, her new doll had a cheerleading outfit, a pair of pajamas, a sweater, some shoes, earrings and of course pierced ears.

Hannah spent the rest of the weekend styling both of her dolls hair, dressing them and having a tea party too. Grandma and Grandpa, thank you SO much for such an incredibly special day and for bringing our little girl so much joy. This is one birthday she will never forget. We love you guys!

Samantha and Hannah all ready for the party!

Samantha with her balloon.

Tic, Tac, Doe - Pepperoni always wins.

A "Let's Celebrate" t-shirt for Samantha.

Cake!

Make a wish sweet girl.

Halloween Happenings

We began our halloween festivities with the traditional Halloween party and parade at Hannah's school. Normally I don't get an opportunity to be there, but this year, my terrific boss said "Go, and enjoy the day with Hannah!" Sandy, you are the best boss ever!

I got to help Hannah into her Hermoine costume and wig and then we went back to the classroom for the party and a guest appearance by the famous Professor Ludwig. Professor Ludwig made the kids some creepy Halloween floats complete with blood (grenadine), worms and a rat! A couple of kids were a little grossed out but they all enjoyed their creepy floats.

Next was the parade around the school, so many adorable costumes. When the kids returned to the to the classroom, they had plenty of treats and games too. The hands-down favorite was the mummy wrap contest where they got to wrap up a classmate in rolls and rolls of toilet paper. After the kids were thoroughly sugared up, the teacher let us take them home. Thanks Mrs. Quebedeaux! :)

When we got home, I got Hannah to eat a bit of something without sugar and finish her homework real quick. Normally, we would then head out into the neighborhood for trick or treating. But Hannah had a nasty cough and all week we there was a steady torrential downpour. So we headed to the mall where we met up with Dad and some of Hannah's friends from school.

Dad was great and had even dressed up as a hiker. We waded through the throngs of people for about an hour and got a fair amount of treats and then decided to head home. By the time we got home the weather had cleared briefly so I gave into the pleas for trick or treating at just a few houses in the neighborhood.

Soon the trick or treater flow petered out and we got Hermoine ready for bed. She was still bummed about not getting to do the whole neighborhood. Next year sweet girl, hopefully the weather and your health will cooperate and we can rock out the neighborhood! But all in all we still had a great evening.

Hermoine

Hermoine hard at work on a Halloween quiz.

Halloween Treats

Professor Ludwig

"Now for the blood..."

"One large rat"

Mummy wrap time!

Happy Halloween!

Trick or TREATS

Hannah got to enjoy some early Halloween treats last week. Each year she looks forward to Grandma's treat packages she sends for the holidays. Each day we came home last week, she would run to the door to see if her package had come yet.

Well, Thursday, it was there. First she let out one of her squeals that she does when she is really excited about something and then she tore into the package. :) Grandma sent a great card complete with sound effects, the cutest Halloween shirt (love Gymboree), adorable earrings, a little pumpkin, a tea light, a video, stickers and of course, candy!

Hannah loved it all Grandma, especially the little pumpkin bag full of candy and she looks adorable in the shirt. :) We also enjoyed watching Madagascar 3 together, twice! Thank you so much for all that you do and the great treats that make her holidays special.

Hannah with all her goodies.

Pumpkin Time!

We took advantage of a break in the weather last weekend to go to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins for Halloween. Things sure have changed since Matt and Kelly were little. It used to be you went to the pumpkin patch to pick a pumpkin and maybe they might sell some cider on the side.

Now, there are pony rides, hay rides, pay-for-play paygrounds, petting zoos, pumpkin canons, pumpkin catupults, corn mazes, hay mazes and of course fees for all of it. We were able to sample most of the activities before the rain returned. As the girls and I huddled in a dry area and they enjoyed their corn on the cob, Dad was wonderful and waited in line during a downpour complete with hail, to pay for our pumpkins. We had a great time and loved being able to enjoy the return of fall and the holidays.

 

Hannah trying out the tractor.

Hannah and Edith on top of the hay bails.

Pony rides.

Hannah enjoying her pony ride.

A few wayward pumpkins.

Edith and her pumpkin.

Hmm, not exactly what I was looking for.

This is the one!

Hannah and her "prized pumpkin."

Two happy little girls.

Hannah and Edith checking out the goats.

Loving their corn on the cob.

Dad braving the hail and rain to weigh the pumpkins.

2012 Fall Encamporee

Last weekend our Girl Scout troop attended its first encamporee. Eleven little girls, nine parents and a whole lot of gear! We got off to a pretty good start, gathering all the girls from school and packing up in only a half hour.

We stopped for dinner in Fall City at a Mexican restaurant. The girls were a little riled up but were doing pretty well, until one threw up all over the table. Yuch! Fortunately her mom was there and took care of getting her cleaned up.

After dinner, we headed for camp. It was dark, so finding where we needed to check in was a little challenging. After a couple of wrong stops, we finally found the check in spot only to find no staff to check us in. We located Amber a little while later and then our troop house.

The girls having got to the troop house before the leaders had already started staking out their bunks. Amid the chaos, I had a few parents looking to me with hopeful eyes that I could restore some order in the excited bunch of first-time campers. I confirmed some bunk choices and reassigned others but not before having to deal with some tears due to the re-assignments. Ah...  the fun of being the leader.

Pretty soon we had eleven little girls ready for bed, however they were still too wound up to sleep. Finally about midnight, I threatened suggested that the hold outs needed to sleep if they wanted a coveted top bunk the next night. That worked.

Saturday we hiked all over camp to go row boating, build edible fires, learn to tie knots, make duct tape hairbows, beaded cupcakes and tie-died bandanas. We ended the fun-filled day with a campfire with songs and skits. We learned some great songs. Just ask my girls about "Give Bessie give, the baby has got to live" and a palm tree killing awkward turtles and their weird babies. Guess you had to be there :)

The girls were tired Saturday night so we thought we'd be able to get more sleep, that was until another one of the girls got sick and threw up all over her bunk and through-out the next four hours. Can't thank Yvonne, Shelly and Sarah enough for cleaning up and disinfecting everything and taking care of Carina.

Sunday morning, we got the girls up and sent them with the parents to breakfast while Sarah and I stayed behind to start cleaning the troop house for check out. We just made it too, I was still mopping when the ranger came by to do the inspection. Normally, if you aren't ready they will do your cabin last but I think she took pitty on us for being up all night with a sick kid. Thanks Ms. Ranger! We really needed to get home for some rest.

All in all, we had a great time and the parents were a great help too. Thanks everyone for making our girl's first campout a memorable one.

 

Excited little girls "ready" for bed

The row boat crews

Anabella and Mary shoving off

Our boat with Siobhan at the helm

Boat # 2 with a couple of cuties at the bow

Making edible fires

Ready for the trek back up to the troop house

Annie learning some trail signs

Anabella with another trail sign

Edith, Hannah and Anabella making spiders

Troop 40127 and parents

Potato Harvest

Last spring our girl scout troop participated in a community service project to plant potatoes. When harvested, the ton (you read that right -1 ton) of potatoes were donated to our local area food bank.

We had fun planting them, not so much fun weeding them and a blast digging them up. I love that the girls can connect their actions to how they help their community. Good job girls!

Marianna and Annie

Annabella

Leader Mother-Daughter Camp 2012

The weekend after Labor Day, Hannah and I attended Leader Mother-Daughter Girl Scout Camp. The camp is an opoortunity for Moms who are Girl Scout leaders to attend camp and spend time with just their daughters rather than having to worry about their troop all the time. It was a great weekend. We had wonderful weather and great cabin mates.

The theme for camp was "Little House on the Prairie". We did crafts that were popular in the 1800s like paper quilling and making sachets and we canoed and swam. Of course there was campfire time too with songs and snacks.

We had a great time together, especially canoeing. Hannie tried her best to paddle but she was too small for her paddle to reach the water, so Mom ended up doing the paddling. Hannah, however, was all too keen to challenge anyone near us to a race. Pretty easy little one when you aren't paddling. Must have been her enthusiasum though because we won every race. :)

So glad to have the time to spend with her without having to give my attention to all the other girls. Priceless memories. Love you baby girl!

Hannah staking out a bunk

Hannah

Hannah and her new bunk mate, Madison

Demonstrating how to get into the top bunk

Posing for the camera

Sack races!

Making sachets

Playing San Marico