Emma is Three!!

Emma turned three years old this past week.  She's lived in three different states in her short life - Illinois (where she was born), Utah and California.  She wanted to have a unicorn birthday party.

On Emma's actual birthday we had dentist appointments.

She did great at the dentist and even got a special birthday present from the dentist.

A few days later the kids had a day off school so we went to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Emma's birthday.   Emma was very excited.

Ma2 (Scott's mom) was in town to watch the kids while Scott and I ran a half marathon in Monterey.  She helped us out at Chuck E. Cheese.

Emma got a birthday lollipop

Later on we played a few party games at home.

Pin the horn on the unicorn

A unicorn hunt out in the yard

And a unicorn piñata

Everyone got a turn at the piñata

"...it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn."

 - Firenze from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Grant was the one who eventually got the unicorn open

Poor unicorn

Emma helped me make and decorate some cupcakes.

Happy Birthday Emma!  She did a good job blowing out her candles.

She went on a little treasure hunt to get her presents.  The big kids helped her open gifts.

 Happy 3rd Birthday Emma! We're so happy to have her in our family. 

Bonus photos!!

In between party activities Anna and Matthew got haircuts

Anna got hers cut to chin length

And Matthew just got his cleaned up a little

Halloween

We had a lot of Halloween fun this year.  Here are the kids at a school reading event.  Costumes were optional.  Grant didn't want to wear his so John also opted out.  Matthew dressed up this year as Link from The Legend of Zelda (a Nintendo game).  Anna dressed up as Dorothy and Emma was Rapunzel.

Emma playing on the playground while we wait for the costume parade to start.

Emma was eager to start the parade

She was one of the first ones up there.

Anna saw lots of her friends there and they all helped Emma walk around in the parade

Anna with some friends

Matthew found some of his friends too

Emma had some footwear problems during the parade

Anna with one of her church/school friends - twinsies

Grant with a church/school friend

After the costume parade the kids got to go into some of the classrooms where the teachers read a Halloween book and then gave out treats.  It was lots of fun.

Another night we carved pumpkins.  Emma decorated hers with stickers instead of carving.

Matthew outsourced some of his work to Anna. 

 He doesn't like scooping the guts out and Anna doesn't mind doing it.

Scott did a lot of work too on the kids pumpkins

Matthew's finished pumpkin

Emma's finished pumpkin

Left side, top to bottom: Scott's, Anna's, and Emily's

Right side, top to bottom:  Grant's, John's Emma's

Far right top is Matthew's pumpkin

All ready for Halloween night!

Halloween night we had the traditional pumpkin shaped pizza

Getting ready to trick or treat

Trying to assemble everyone

Scott as Gaston (Beauty and the Beast villain), Matthew as Link, Anna as Dorothy, Grant as a Fireman,  John as a Policeman, and Emma as Rapunzel.

Scott and I as Gaston and Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We got lots of compliments on our costumes.  Even children recognized who we were.  So that made me happy.

So excited to trick or treat!

Our neighborhood, with the houses pretty close together, is a great trick or treating neighborhood.  You get a lot of bang for your buck.  Or a lot of candy for not too much walking.  Plus there are lots of kids and friends in the neighborhood.  Here are Grant and John's candy pumpkins wearing their hats part way through the night.

All the kids got tons of candy.  Anna went around with her friends.

Emma and John started to poop out earlier than the other kids.  I started taking those two home early but John had a change of heart and took off running to catch up with dad.  So I ended up walking Emma home, who was tired but also didn't want to be done before the other kids.  She cried a lot on the way home.  Here we are passing out candy at home while waiting for the other guys to come back.  The kids had a great time and got SO MUCH CANDY!!  We need to pace ourselves.  Happy Halloween!!