We've Got Another Major (Not a Minor) in the House!

Grace, my ever-surprising surprise, is now 18!  As surreal as it is to have TWO children who are technically adults, it's made easier knowing we still have several more months with Grace before she leaves the nest as well.  And as for next school year, when I'll only have 4 kids left at home, I am purposefully burying my head in the sand so I don't have to think about that until at least the end of next summer.  Hahahaha.

Shout out to my sister, Emily, who creates these hilarious, personalized "cards" whenever someone in our family has a birthday.

One thing I really appreciate is when the kids lay out their expectations for the big day, so I don't inadvertently ruin everything by not being able to read their minds.  Hahaha.  (I'm being serious, though.  LOL.)  For Ethan's milestone birthday last year, he didn't really have any input on what he wanted for his cake, or his presents, or decorations, etc.  And it showed.  Womp womp.  And while Ethan was perfectly content with the execution of his family birthday party, Grace knew she wanted a little something extra.  Since she's one of my resident party planners for the other kids' birthdays -- and typically goes all out with the decor -- she let me know that she wanted to have that favor returned for this year's party.  In addition to her decorations request, she created a helpful slide show for me with her Birthday/Christmas Wish List for the presents she would like to receive from the fam.  Hahaha.  You've got to admire that kind of go-getting.  Haha.  A third laid-out expectation was to recreate her "Puppy" cake from her 5th birthday.  (Grace used to carry Puppy and Doggie (two stuffed animals) with her EVERYWHERE.  For her 5th birthday I made the Puppy cake, and for her 6th, I recreated Doggy using the same format.)  And her final request was to eat at Shogun for her birthday dinner with her boyfriend joining in on the fun.  

Check. Check. Check. And CHECK!  Hahahaha.  I actually had a lot of fun ordering party stuff online and then setting it all up on her birthday day while she was at school.  The balloon arch was probably the most time-consuming and frustrating element of the decorations, but it turned out pretty awesome and I'm glad I did it.  Some streamers, a happy birthday sign, some crepe paper pom poms, and a "birthday girl" sash plus tiara rounded things out, and I finished up making her cake right when the girls (plus Christian) got home from school.

Yellow Cake plus Brown Sugar Frosting.  SO. GOOD.

(I used the recipe found HERE --

1 1/2 c. butter, softened

3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

1 T. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

3 1/2 c. powdered sugar)

I used cupcakes for Puppy's "ears," and was happy to have the leftovers to make use of the cupcake toppers I found on Amazon.

I made her pose for some pictures (solo and as a group) before we jetted off to the restaurant to make it in time for our reservation.  Once we were back home, we sang happy birthday, she opened her presents, and some of us ate cake.  (Which for the record had the most delicious frosting ever -- it was a hit even with Grace, and she typically likes the cake part only and never the frosting.)  All in all, I think her 18th birthday extravaganza lived up to her every expectation!  Hahaha.

It's a running joke that Grace can never blow out all the candles on her cake.

And that's a wrap on this recap! To close, I'll leave you with 18 years worth of Grace...

Newborn:  (ca. Christmas 2004 -- I loved that hat so much)

1 year old:  (documenting her thumb-sucking phase -- spoiler alert it lasted until she was almost 4 1/2)

2 years old:  (the beginning of her "Annie" phase -- also, that's Doggie she's clutching there)

3 years old:  (featuring the classic Grace bobbed haircut that was her "look" for AGES, because her hair seemed to grow thicker rather than longer for a very long time)

4 years old:  (getting her ears pierced was her reward for when she stopped sucking her thumb)

5 years old:  (this pinky pose became the joking go-to birthday picture pose for all the kids over the next year or so)

6 years old:  ("hats" were the theme for that years Christmas card pictures -- which I, unfortunately, never ended up sending)

7 years old:  (Capturing a little bit of Grace's personality in a single pose -- and as a side note, I absolutely loved that dress)

8 years old:  (this is my favorite from her baptism picture photo shoot)

9 years old:  (again with that personality -- lol)

10 years old:  (the under armour headband "look" lasted a LONG time)

11 years old:  (humoring me with a birthday picture photo shoot tacked on to the end of an already long family portrait session)

12 years old:  (LOL)

13 years old:  (I enjoyed the "bun" phase -- it really suited her)

14 years old:  (you know how I love taking pictures of someone taking a picture -- hahahahahahaha {this backdrop is the Grand Canyon, in case anyone is wondering})

15 years old:  (red-ish hair brought to you by "stuff we did during the early days of the pandemic" -- I'm pretty sure she regretted her actions as soon as the dye was cast)

16 years old:  (Isaac LOVES Grace like a 2nd mother)

17 years old:  (Looking all grown up -- *single tear emoji*)

18 years old:  (okay, okay, she's actually 1 day away from turning 18 in this Halloween pic -- technicalities, amiright?)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRACE!!!

A Farewell to Spooky Season

Having Grace's birthday the day after Halloween really helps to bring October (ie "spooky season") to a complete and definitive end around these parts.  And since November is chock full of birthdays and Thanksgiving and lots of other stuff to cover, I figured I better recap October before I'm drowning in "holiday season" happenings as well.  Haha.  

In addition to last minute costumes, cookie decorating, and care package sending to our favorite missionary, we also had the excitement of watching Jane (and the rest of her junior high band) perform with the high school the weekend before Halloween for the last football game of the season.  They played along during the 1st and 2nd quarters from the stands and then finished things off with a rousing half time performance of "Crunch Time," after which Jane was finally able to split.  Of course, we like to go big or go home in this household, so in a completely predictable turn of events, we ended up going straight from the football field to the ER thanks to Jane's asthma flaring up with panache over the course of that afternoon and evening.  It had already been a problem for the last few weeks and since Jane had lost her last inhaler earlier that day at school -- and it was too late for a pharmacy OR an Urgent Care to be open -- the emergency room came to the rescue with an albuterol breathing treatment and a prescription for prednisone.

As for the rest of the solely Halloween-y activities -- the cookie decorating, the costume making, the care package sending, and the trick-or-treating -- I'm going to basically be leaving you with a photo essay.  Hahahaha.  But seriously. I'll add some commentary here and there, but the rest of this post is mostly a photo dump.  #sorrynotsorry.  Hahahahahaha.  

COOKIES

A CARE PACKAGE

I had a lot of fun putting together this little spooky season package to send to Ethan.  Along with some Halloween candy and a few decorations, I sent him stuff to make a 3-ingredient pumpkin chocolate chip cookie hack (1 can of pumpkin, 1 box of spice cake mix, and chocolate chips -- boom) and a bevy of letters written by the youth in our ward (MONTHS ago) that I finally remembered to send him.

COSTUMES

Alex was the one of the last minute costume choosers and lucky for him I found a super easy DIY Greg Heffley costume idea after doing a quick Google image search last weekend.  I copied the whole entire idea and spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon sketching out Greg Heffley's face on a poster board and then cutting it out and glueing it to some heavier cardboard I snagged from the recycling.

After cutting the mask from the cardboard, I slapped on a coat of Mod Podge to "protect" it as best as possible and then hot glued some velcro straps onto the back to create a way for Alex to actually wear it as a mask.  Elastic probably would have been a better choice, but I didn't have any and -- since I was throwing everything together on Halloween afternoon itself -- I figured something was better than nothing and we made it work in the end.  Hahaha.  (Side note -- the costume was such a hit and so easy {relatively speaking} to make, that I'm contemplating creating a whole cast of Diary of a Wimpy Kid characters for our whole family to don next year for our costumes.)

To complete Greg's "look," I used black electrical tape to make an outline on the front that -- combined with a pair of plain black shorts -- completed the illusion of a 2-D black-and-white drawing.

Sophie's costume was also semi-homemade, as in she curated all the separate pieces she needed to dress like a serial killer from American Psycho.  And yes -- I found the concept slightly disturbing.  Hahaha.

I know Grace was super excited with how her homemade Wanda costume came together and really went all out getting into character.

(She also had to get this cow costume for Maxwell to wear.)

Jane's was the other last minute costume decision and it came down to the wire as she finally chose to borrow Grace's Winnie the Pooh costume (from a couple of years ago) to go trick-or-treating with a friend once the boys were done and back home.

Greg Heffley  from "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."

Isaac went with a classic superhero theme for this year and suited up as Iron Man for the evening.

TRICK-or-TREAT

The girls stayed outside to pass out candy while Scott took the boys around the neighborhood and I stayed inside with Maxwell to keep him from spazzing out with all the strangers coming up to our house all night long.  (I was also able to get a jump start on a core element of Grace's birthday decorations for the next day, but I'll save those details for my next post.)

(Grace spearheaded an effort to chalk the sidewalk as part of our Halloween decorations.)

and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Grace REALLY enjoyed busting out this iconic Wanda pose at every chance she got.  Hahaha.  It was kind of hilarious -- not gonna lie.

And of course, she dressed her skeleton in Alex's old Ninjago costume just for kicks.

Happy Halloween!

THE END