Daisypath - Personal pictureDaisypath Happy Birthday tickers
Daisypath - Personal pictureDaisypath Happy Birthday tickers

Saturday, January 20, 2018

favorite fall festivities

Throughout October Cecilia was working to recover from her ankle injury. Having a six year old with a broken ankle definitely causes a shift in daily activities. She was instructed to avoid putting any weight on it for the first few weeks. That is not a rule a six year old wants to follow. After the cast came off she was given a walking boot and that made life much easier for our girl. It took a week or so for her to feel comfortable putting weight on her foot again, but she was cruising around in that boot in no time. Since she was able to move around on her own again we wanted to be sure to squeeze in some of our favorite Fall traditions. Last year we took the girls to a corn maze/pumpkin patch that they really enjoyed and Cecilia couldn't wait to go back. Olivia was busy that day but Cecilia was excited to be enjoying some freedom from the cast!




The corn maze was full of Halloween blow-ups that you had to try and find and check off your list. The walking got to be a bit much for Cece in the boot so we ended up carrying her through most of it. It was an extremely warm day for mid-October, but no complaints here. We were just happy to be running around without big coats on while enjoying some sunshine. Even more...we were thrilled that Cecilia was on the track to a full recovery!




Another activity we were glad Cecilia could enjoy while injured was the Zoo Halloween. The girls look forward to this event every year. This year the walking boot was the main accessory of Cecilia's Super Girl costume! No winter coats covering up their cute Halloween costumes, as the weather was still unseasonably warm. It's always more fun being able to show off your costume! My Pink Lady and mini-super girl had a great time collecting their treats and enjoying the zoo's decorations. Their pumpkin creations were pretty impressive!






By the time Halloween rolled around Cecilia's ankle had improved greatly. She was able to walk around most of the night in her boot, which made trick or treating so much easier! We celebrated the holiday with The Douglass Family once again. It has become a tradition for our kids to trick or treat together. This year we had quite the group of misfits. The Pink Lady, a Veterinarian, a Green Blob and T-Rex. As you can imagine our group turned quite a few heads!




It was chilly evening, but not freezing which was a relief. That meant we were able to walk around for quite awhile, which equals tons of candy for the kids! These guys are pros at collecting candy! You should have seen their bags at the end of the night. It was another fun Halloween with the Douglasses!




With Halloween over we immediately switched gears and prepared for Olivia's birthday! It was a fun weekend of celebrating our girl turning 11! We kicked things off with our annual dinner at Takaoka. The girls look forward to this birthday tradition and we look forward to sharing it with them.




Todd's Mom is kind enough to treat the girls to this fun tradition on their birthdays and it's one of the highlights of their birthday celebrations. They love getting dressed up, they love the restaurant and of course they love the show! The food is amazing and we leave feeling stuffed beyond belief. Cecilia leaves with a belly full of white rice. Her idea of good food is slightly different than the rest of us. The best part of this tradition is that we get to celebrate their birthdays with family and make lots of wonderful memories!




The next day Olivia had a joint birthday party with her friend Maggie. Maggie is one of her dance friends that has a birthday within days of Olivia. They decided to celebrate together and invite all of their dance friends. They settled on a Harry Potter theme for their party and they pretty much planned the entire thing on their own.




They planned games, crafts, a pop-up candy store and of course an impromptu dance party. Olivia has gained some pretty great friends during her years at the dance studio. Having the party at the dance studio surrounded by her dance buddies was a great way to celebration turning 11!



The day of Olivia's party was her actual birthday. So after a full day of celebrating we enjoyed a quiet evening with just the four of us, taking our girl out for dinner out and spoiling her with presents at home. The weekend may have been all about Olivia, but Cecilia managed to find a way to pull a little of the attention over her way when she lost her first tooth! She was pretty excited knowing the tooth fairy would be visiting her on her sister's birthday!



Olivia's birthday continued into the next weekend when we had a small little party at the house with her soccer buddies. The two most important things in Olivia's life are dance and soccer. The weekend before she celebrated with her dance friends and I promised her she would celebrate with her soccer pals as well. There were crafts, cookie decorating and of course, lots of silliness. 




We opted for soccer cupcakes instead of a big cake and they were perfect! After singing "Happy Birthday" at the top of their lungs, her friends spoiled her with some lovely presents! Olivia welcomed her 11th birthday surrounded by the people most important to her, in all areas of her life. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that she is 11, but if she must grow up at least she is doing it while making us very proud!




Although the first part of November was all about Olivia, Cecilia was forging ahead in her 1st grade year at Peace Montessori. She adjusted quickly to the lower elementary classroom and began to process in many areas. I have been nothing but impressed with her teacher too. She sends me regular updates on her progress and pictures of her hard at work. Nothing makes me smile more than seeing my girl trying her hardest at school.



At the end of the month, on Thanksgiving weekend the girls both performed at The Embassy Festival of Trees with the dance studio.This is something I did every year growing up and I love that I now get to watch my girls participate in this tradition. This year each girl performed 3 dances in the show. One of them they were even in together. 




After they perform we always take time to walk around and see all of the beautiful trees. The girls were extra excited because their pals Audrey and Avery tagged along with us. There is bravery in numbers which came in handy when it was time to visit Santa. Cecilia tends to be a little hesitant unless her sister is with her, so having her buddy Avery with her made it much easier. The Festival of Trees is usually the official kick off to the holiday season, and that meant lots of fun traditions and activities were to come in the month ahead. By far our favorite time of year!