Neighborhood Block Party

Our neighborhood block party was a blast.  We met a lot of new
neighbors and Emily met a lot more kids.  There were a lot of games for the kids, a couple of small bounce houses, a hula hoop contest, a cake walk, face paining, a pumpkin decorating contest and more.  Dinner was picnic style and included hot dogs, side dishes and plenty of desserts!  Emily and I brought the cupcakes we baked together earlier that morning.


For a large part of the party, Emily carried around a hot pink kind of spiney ball she found in one of our neighbor's yards.  She loved that ball.  She is carrying it in the pic on the left here.   Unfortunately, the ball met an untimely end.  It got bounced on in one of her many bounce house adventures and another kid landed on it and it popped.  This resulted in lots of big tears and sobs from Emily.  But, we finally convinced Emily that the ball dud make a pretty good hat.  Judge for yourself. 


Cake Walk


At the very end of the party, all the kids did a cake walk until everyone won a cupcake.  Ultimately, a lot of the cupcakes Emily and I made were used for this event. The kids loved the cake walk and Emily was thrilled to win a cupcake.  It was a great party and just another reason that I love The Ridges.

Cake Walk Prize!

Halloween Cupcakes

Our neighborhood has seen a lot of growth this year.  Lots of houses have gone up (including ours) since last winter which means lots of new neighbors.  So some folks on our end of the neighborhood decided to have a halloween block party.  The odd numbered houses (as opposed to odd houses) were assigned to bring desserts. 

There are a lot of kids in the neighborhood so Emily and I decided to bake fun halloween cupcakes to share.  Emily even helped make them.  We made some that looked like witches and some that looked like little spider webs with spider rings.  Of course Emily got to sample one before we took them to the party.  You can never be too careful, you know.  We had to make sure they were safe to eat.

Taste of Fall

In mid-September we took a family trip down to Capitol Market with Nathan, Ben and Lauren to look for pumpkins and other fun fall decorations for the house.  I really enjoyed the little pumpkin patch near our house in Raleigh, but it turns out that Capitol Market was just as fun!  On the weekend we went, they had lots of activities, games and crafts for the kids along with a bounce house (Emily's favorite). 

When we finished our pumpkin hunting adventure, we came home and put up all the decorations we bought.  Lots of pumpkins and some fall mums too.  I think the house looked pretty good and it was fun too.

We wrapped up a perfect fall day helping Daddy rake up some leaves.  Then Emily wanted to jump in them.  How could we say no?  So much fun!  Happy Fall! 

My Little Ballerina

Emily used to go to Tap & Tumble at Primrose when we lived in Raleigh.  The teacher came right to the school.  They mostly did tumbling and movement.  It would be a stretch to call it dance. 

Not long after we moved in, we met our new neighbors, Jeremy and Ashley and their kids, Reagan and Owen.  Turns out that Reagan is exactly Emily's age!  She will be 4 on December 10 just like Emily.  The girls played together a lot this summer and then this fall, Reagan started dance class.  Emily used to see her come home some nights dressed up in her tutu.  Emily loved Reagan's tutu.  But, the classes were at 4:30 on Tuesday evenings and I just could not get off work in time to take Emily.  But, a few weeks later, Ashley asked if she could pick Emily up from school and take her to dance with Reagan!  I was thrilled (so was Emily) so I rushed out the next day and bought Emily her first leotard, tutu, ballet slippers AND real tap shoes.  She absolutely loves it.  I am so very grateful to Ashley.  And just look how cute the girls are!!  How wonderful to have such good neighbors and friends.

Visit to Dayton

Well, as sometimes happens, I am behind on my blog posts.  This is my attempt to catch up.  Emily and I headed up to Dayton at the end of September so I could interview law students at the University of Dayton law school.  Emily enjoyed some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa.  Emily liked going to the playground at the mall and riding the train.  I just liked going to the mall. 
Obviously the matching sweatshirts bear mention.  Emily was going through a "just like mommy" phase where she wanted everything that mommy had.  So, I was out of town on business and found these matching sweatshirts.  A little cheesy, I guess, but cute too.