Halloween 2011

We really adore Halloween in the Spencer family.  This year was a lot more low key (and a bit less stressful) since Nick and I did not have to come up with costumes for ourselves.  This year was all about our Allison!
During the week of Halloween, she HAD to wear this precious dress her friend, Lauren gave her for her birthday.  Houston stayed warm most of the week, but every girl knows that one has to suffer for fashion!

Later that week, Allison had the opportunity to wear her precious bumble bee costume to school for their costume parade and pumpkin party.  She was a doll and "bzzzzed" in most of her pictures!

 I know I am partial and she is my daughter, but this sassy hand on her hip picture is seriously just too cute!

I was fortunate enough to attend the Costume Parade. It was precious and the kids looked great!  There were three other bumble bees in her class, one of them was her teacher!

I also attended her pumpkin party later that afternoon.  A surprise guest showed up and I think completely made her year...DADDY!!!!

October 31st rolled around the following Monday. Allison was so very excited to go trick or treating and get LOTS of treats!  Here she is before we left for the evening!

She was so excited she could hardly stand it!  We went to our friends, The Blazek's, and trick or treated as a big group.  Of course, before we left for the Blazek's, Allison had to stop by Ms. Ginny's house!  Ms. Ginny is a sweet, sweet lady who feels like a member of our family.  She takes care of Allison while I work out.  Allison adores her and I do too!

We had to take a few pictures at The Blazek's before we went on our merry way...
Tiff and precious Baby Brayden as Winnie the Pooh!

 Little Lauren as a cute witch!

 Justin and Scarecrow Zach!

 Working on scaring those birds away!

Finally, we were off!  Allison LOVED every moment of it.  She ran up to the doors, said "Trick or Treat!" and "Thank you!"  After each house she told us, "I want to go to another house!"  She realized getting candy was not too tough!

 Our little friend London was a bumble bee too!  They had a great time together!

 This is too cute!

It was certainly a night to remember.  It ended with M&M's and hopefully sweet dreams.  Allison still has LOTS of treats left.  I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Happy Third Birthday, Allison!

Allison's celebrations continued on to Monday, October, 17...her REAL birthday!  She did wake up asking when her bouncy castle and her friends were arriving, but that's OK.  In time I am sure she will quit requesting her princess party, right?  On her special day, she woke up got dressed and played with her grandparents.  Nick even took the morning off so we could all spend it together.  We asked Allison where she wanted to go for lunch.  She requested, "That place with pizza and ice cream."  In Allison's language, "that place" is Jason's Deli.  Before we headed off to lunch, we took some big three year old pictures!

After lunch, we all said our sad goodbyes'.  Her grandpa caught a flight back to Oklahoma City and Cici and Poppy hit the road back to Fort Worth.  We cannot thank all of them enough for coming all this way to make Allison's weekend so incredibly special.  When Nick got home from work, we let Allison pick her favorite spot for dinner....she picked McDonald's. She had a great time and played for a good while.  It was such a great day.
I found an interesting thing on Pinterest.  It is 20 birthday questions that you can ask your child every year and see how they change.  Here are Allison's...

1.  What is your Favorite Color?
     "My favorite color is purple."
2.  What is your favorite toy?
      "Dog Box"  (she has a tent that comes in a box with a dog on it.  It was right in her eye line      when she answered this question.)
3.   What is your favorite fruit?
       "My favorite fruit is oranges."
4.  What is your favorite TV Show?
          "Dora Explorer Girls"
5.   What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?
            "Waffles."
6.   What is your favorite outfit?
          "A purple shirt"  (once again, a purple shirt was sitting right in front of her when she answered this question.)
7.  What is your favorite game?
           "Tag"
8.  What is your favorite snack?
           "Raisins"
9.   What is your favorite animal?
           "Margo."  (Our lovable Airedale Terrier!)
10.  What is your favorite song?
           "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
11.  What is y our favorite book?
        "My princess book."
12.  Who is your best friend?
        "Jon Jon"  (Jon Jon is a little boy at school that she has a HUGE crush on!)
13.  What is your favorite cereal?
        "Coffee cereal!"  (She means Kashi cereal, but she calls it "coffee cereal".)
14.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?
          "Take pictures."
15.   What is your favorite drink?
          "Juice"  (apple)
16.  What is your favorite holiday?
          "Halloween"
17.  What do you like to take to bed with  you at night?
         "My babies"
18.  What is  your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
         "Grapes"
19.  What do you want for dinner on your birthday?
         "Cake"
20.   What do you want to be when you grow up?
        "My hair to grow down long like Rapunzel."


I hope that I can remember to keep this a tradition every year.  I think it will be so fun to look back at previous answers and see how much they change!
Allison had her three year check up at her sweet pediatrician last Wednesday.  She is doing great!  We are so thankful for our healthy girl!  She is 36.5 inches tall and in the 30% on height and 29 pounds and in the 36% on weight.  For a such a tiny baby who never even made it on the chart for such a long time, we are so happy for her!
I know everyone says this, but time flies.  We try to savor every day and every moment because I do remember when our little Allison was just like this...

And then somehow in three, short years, she turned into this beautiful girl....

     
Happy, happy birthday Precious Allison!  We love you more than words could ever say and hope your day was all you dreamed about!

Allison's Royal Birthday

As I mentioned previously, Allison has been planning her own princess birthday party for months now.  I think it all started with this horrendous cake.  She spotted the display of the infamous princess doll cake at Target and was sold on it.  From then on, "birthday mode Allison" was in full effect.  I think I see a future in event planning for our little girl.  Finally, as Fall began to take shape and the dog days of Summer started to melt away, I could think about our "Baby Boo's" birthday party.  We started with the invitations.  I found the perfect ones in Norman, OK at one of my favorite stores, Christmas Expressions.  Aren't they darling?  Of course this is the example from online, but you get the idea...

Finally, invitations were out and party prep was in full swing. We had the party on Saturday, October 15.  We were so blessed to have my parents (Cici and Poppy) and Nick's dad (Grandpa) come in for the the special day.  Allison was so excited her family was here!  Allison wanted to dress like a princess for her big day.  She picked a Rapunzel dress to wear.  She wanted "hair," but we talked her out of it.  She did need princess jewelry though!  Here she is getting her crown, earrings and necklace...

 She also slowed down for just a moment to take a few pictures with her sweet grandparents.  Here she is with Cici...

Cici and Poppy...

Grandpa...

We transformed the back yard into her royal court.  Here are a few pictures pre party...
Allison knew from day one she wanted a princess bounce house!  Well, she got it!

 We just did simple food:  caramel toffee apple dip with gingersnaps, honey crisp apples and small servings of chex mix.

 Of course she had balloons!

 The princess refreshments- strawberry lemonade, water, juice boxes...

My sweet friend, Erin, was kind enough to make special water bottle labels for  Allison's special day!  They were too cute and added so much to the celebration, thank you Erin! 

Right before the party we got a few snapshots of the princess.  They set up the bounce castle at 10:30am.  The party did not start until 2:00.  She played non stop!

 Oh and yes, we had a bubble machine too!

We grabbed the princess for a quick family photo shoot before the guests arrived.

Guests began to arrive and the fun began!

Then it was time for cake. Oh the cake!  The cake that caused such a panic!  Two weeks before the party, Allison changed her mind about her doll cake she requested for six months.  Suddenly, she did not want it anymore.  Fortunately, my heart was not broken, but I did not want her heart to be broken the day of the party.  She stood by her decision and changed it to this princess cake...

She was happy with it.  Not that she ate a bite of it, but it was HER cake for HER party and that is what mattered.  She knew the drill!  Here she is for her song and blowing out candles...

Then, let them eat cake!

After our sugar overload, it was time for presents.  Our friends and family were way too generous! Allison received some great gifts!

Finally, it was time for everyone to leave.  Allison did not want her party to end.  We passed out the party favors and said our thank you's and goodbye's to our sweet friends.

Then the only rough moment of the day occurred, the bounce house had to go back.  Allison was not too happy about this and still asks when her bounce castle is coming back!

After she calmed down, she did what any princess would do, she put on her new jewelry and ate macaroni and cheese...

Then she played with my parents' dog, Annabelle, and with her new toys until around 11:00 that night!

What a wonderful day that we will all remember forever!  The only problem is Allison keeps asking when her next princess party is!  Too funny!  I am so glad she had a great time!  We are truly blessed with wonderful family and friends!  Happy birthday, Princess Allison!