{Happy 8th Birthday William}

Halloween is always extra special in our house because of our Halloween birthday boy. I can't believe you are now an 8 year old. We couldn't be more happier with how wonderful you are growing. Smart, kind, fun and full of love.

Started off the morning before Halloween with a book character parade at school. Students were to pick a book character who demonstrate good behavior. The whole family read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this summer. Without a doubt, William picked Willy Wonka for his character. Thank goodness for a very petite GG. We found the perfect Purple velvet coat.

This is Samantha's first book character parade and she choose Paddington Bear. The friendliest bear from deepest darkest Peru.

The one thing that the birthday boy asked for his birthday is a sleepover party with his best buddies at school. 7 boys total was a challenge...but we have the best set of fun and well behaved boys.

A lil Halloween photo booth fun!

Football and trampoline.

Pizza and Ice Cream cake for some hungry kids.

Fun and celebration continued with a backyard movie and popcorn bar.

Exhausted kids and Dad in their sleeping bags at the basement. Samantha and Mom enjoyed the comfy king bed upstairs.

But not too exhausted to wake up bright and early to donuts and happy birthday cheers from friends and family.

Happy birthday William!!! We love you!

{Scenes From An Awesome Birthday Weekend}

My favorite white chocolate moose cake for the night before, yummy muffins from Sugar Shak, received the Athleta Sports bra on my wish list and lots of hugs and snuggles from these two.

Then a grown up treat for Mommy and Daddy to make for a birthday to remember --- a staycation at the Intercontinental Hotel with our favorite couple. Love having a joint birthday celebration with my dearest friend Ra. Lots of pool time (kid free, yeah), a dinner at the hottest sushi place in town, Umi. Capped off with a late night fun at the Bourbon and Ham Bar. What a fun fun night!

{A Chuck E Cheese Birthday Party}

Two things on the birthday boy's wish...a chance to get on the CEC ticket machine blaster and a boy's day out with his best buddies. This momma wasn't complaining and he had the greatest time (and we had the most chill day, ever).

It pays to have an engineer for a Dad, he had the strategy to help the birthday boy get the most tickets.

We love this guy!

Pizza and Pinata fun with friends.

Rocking it out with Chuckee

A super day with his favorite people.

He loved every single gift from his friend. They know our boy so well and picked the most personal gifts for his big day.

{Family Birthday Dinner}

So one of William's big wishes this year for his birthday is to have smaller celebrations so he can spend quality time with friend's and family. We decided to do a family birthday dinner celebration at his favorite Korean BBQ. He was so happy, and had a huge smile and very much enjoyed the company of family especially his cousins.

I love that my boy LOVES family. I love that he knows the importance of having one. I'm a big proponent of surrounding the kids with elders and cousins. It builds their confidence and nest. I love the noise in the house. I love holidays in our home. I love that our house is ALIVE! Extra snuggles and hugs for GG and Aunt Sonja, who came all the way from Tennessee.

This boy is so loved!

{Happy 7th Birthday William}

Dear William,

Whenever your name is mentioned, I can guarantee you that people will have a smile in their face. You are one of of  kind and your heart and charisma is just truly amazing. It is you. Kindness and goodness is your nature.  You are smart and enjoy life to the fullest. We are so proud of you!

Love,

Mom, Dad and Samantha


I love that your birthday is on halloween. The excitement and fun for that day is definitely a good match for a special kid like you. We started off with a special donut breakfast, then had fun watching you parade as Jack from Jack and Annie at your school's book character parade.

Mommy and Daddy brought in cupcakes for William's class and had lunch with him at school.

Tita Susan was near our house and joined us at Sprinklers to pick up the birthday boy's cupcake request for his birthday treat. They also had an ice cream booth so the kids were spoiled rotten by their aunt and had an impromptu ice cream.

Then at night it was time for trick or treating, GG and Soni made it in time for dinner. We enjoyed Ed's Big Green Egg Pizza (dinner request from the birthday boy).
William was Star Lord from Guardian and the Galaxy and Samantha was Tinkerbell.

 Mike (with mask) and William's classmate Chloe joined us for trick or treating. So fun!

Grown ups have fun too at Halloween.

Heavy showers came out of nowhere, and our trick or treating was cut short, but we still did good. We only covered 1/4 of the neighborhood, but the kids bag were almost full and one of our neighbors was offering grown up treats (jello shots) which were very much enjoyed by our group.

At home, we sing our happy birthday to William and ate cupcakes. He loved all his presents from family and enjoyed Dad's Jack o Lantern surprise for him.

{Birthday Weekend}

I absolutely had the best birthday weekend. As you get older, seems like celebrations change and you find more joy in the small things and quality time with family and friends.

Friday was my actual birthday, my sweet family showered me so much love and gifts. Kudos to my sweet husband for getting the kids all pumped up for my birthday. Dinner was really fun. We had dinner at Six Feet Under and enjoyed their awesome patio and great view of the city. Dessert was delish and exciting! We finally made it to Jeni's. It didn't disappoint and I loved the quirky flavor offerings. I had the vanilla and rosemary ice cream and it was  sooo good!

Saturday, we all got up bright and early to go the High Museum of Art. Our company is a primary sponsor, and employees were free to get in that weekend. They were having the Dream Cars Exhibit and it was so neat to see all these wonderful concept cars.

Oh you know, just car shopping on my birthday weekend. #dreamcarsatl (and wearing the kid's birthday gift to me --- Lilly Buttercup shorts)

 

Mommy's future car post mini van :)

The actual art exhibit was just ok for the kids, but we gotta teach them some, huh?

 

Varsity was around the corner and was our lunch choice. What'll ya have?

This momma was spoiled rotten. Found out the hubby booked me a full body massage that afternoon. It was divine and much needed. I can't believe that it's been so long since I had one.

Birthday dinner was fabulous. We went out with one of our favorite couple to the famous trendy restaurant Gunshow. It was a joint birthday celebration for me and my girl Ra. A very cool concept.   You actually do not order from a menu. One of the many chefs will bring out food starting with appetizers then entrees followed by desserts. They explain the  food to you and how it is prepared. Then you decide if you want it or you can pass. Too bad we didn't see Kevin Gillespie. I heard from time to time, he serves.

You know you absolutely love each other, when you show up in the same outfit for dinner and give each other just about the same birthday gift. #twinning.

Post dinner, we walked over to the Mexican restaurant next door to celebrate and drink some margarita. Wonderful, wonderful birthday weekend for me!

{Samantha's Frozen Party}

Our lil princess' Frozen party was a success! I'd have to say this is the one party where she was super excited and was involved in the planning. It was fun (and stressful) looking at all the pins in Pinterest :) In the end, Samantha had a great party surrounded with wonderful friends and family. A very happy birthday girl here!

Your family LOVES you greatly Samantha!

Bubbles and fun with friends.

Snow cones to keep the lil ones cool.

A bouncy castle for our lil princess.

Samantha you are loved by friends and family!

As she was opening gifts, she asked Lola to sit next to her. Sooooo sweet!

Our birthday girl definitely had fun!