Back To School Style

 It seems hard to believe but back to school is quickly approaching! Liam starts the third week in August (so only two weeks of summer left) and Lyla begins her second year of preschool right after Labor Day weekend. I remember loving back to school shopping as a kid ... new school supplies, backpacks, and clothes! It turns out it is just as fun for me as a mom. I always picture buying long sleeves for the school year but the end of August/September are both still too hot for that so I've gotten them a few new clothes to transition into fall but they'll mostly use their summer wardrobes at first. I thought I'd share a little back to school style and wardrobe inspiration for toddler girls and for boys ...

Sweatshirt Dress | Heart Pocket Tee | Rust Dress | Boots | Denim Skirt | Tennis Shoes | Frill Socks | Oak Bluff Dot Pinafore 

Camo Tee | Hooded Flannel | Ringer Tee | Black Denim | Moto Joggers | Skinny Jeans | Nikes | Grey Sneakers

I'm looking forward to a daily routine that being back to school provides and hope both of our kids love their news schools! 

Moments from October

 Oh how we all love the fall!! October was filled with so many fun moments like decorating our front porch "spooky" together for Halloween ...

Liam picked out those creepy looking dementor heads from Grandma Edie's garage sale over the summer and did not let me forget about them come Halloween season! haha 

Lyla's sweet church teachers dropped off a bag of Halloween treats for her and these glasses made us all giggle!

Lyla's love for Mrs. Melissa runs deep. She adores her preschool and gets this excited every time she gets to go!

Pajama day at preschool ...

On a mom-Liam date to the library, Target, and ice cream! All of our favorite places to go together ...

A new sweater that made me feel like a million bucks and spider webs covering every mirror in the house ...

The sweetest dreaming girl in her big girl bed ...

SO excited to wear her llama llama costume to her preschool Halloween party and show it to all of her friends! She took all the supplies to make oreo spider cookies too. ;)

A monumental occasion in the Williamson household ... the first time we watched Harry Potter with our kids. <3 Liam was enamored the whole time with his wand clutched in his hand! I have a 100 videos just of his reactions from watching it because they were too cute. 

Liam turns six

 On October 20th, Liam turned SIX! Just like that, he rounded the corner from the true "toddler" years and seems so grown up lately. He was beaming with pride at this new number attached to his name ad it made me happy to see how much joy each stage of life brings him. 

My final night tucking in my five year old ... <3

We kicked off his special day with "donuts just like Ya Ya's birthday" (nothing like a little healthy sibling jealousy haha) complete with a star sparkler candle! He was beyond thrilled!

Immediately following breakfast he was ready to open his presents! 

He got a football, some legos, and a real wand from Diagon Alley! 

We gave him the option to choose how he wanted to spend the afternoon. He narrowed it down between another trip to Farmstead to walk through that awful blow up lizard that I failed at my promise last time or Build a Bear. No, I didn't convince him to choose Build a Bear. ;) 

Build a Bear it was!

The whole experience was so fun to watch from start to finish because of how giddy they both were! Of course you start the process by selecting a stuffed animal. Liam chose to build Jolteon (a Pokemon character) and Lyla picked a big bunny. They were enamored watching them be filled with stuffing and loved the part where the employee had them jump up and down to be the ones to start the stuffing machine. Lyla never really did stop jumping because she was convinced she was the one working the machine the whole time. ;) It was adorable! They got to make a wish and add a heart inside their animals. It was a sweet experience and the best part, they both have slept with their stuffed animals ever since.  

He weekend before his birthday, we had a family party for Liam. His biggest request for his sixth birthday was a Gotham City party. It turned out to be my favorite party I've ever planned for one of our kids and the one that stretched my creativity the most. The inspiration started from a picture I saw of Batman that looked like a mug shot. I thought it would be so fun to do something similar with Liam in his Batman costume for both party decor and a piece of art in his new bedroom I was working on for him. It could not have turned out more perfect ...

The thing that made it my favorite party was the excitement that came from Liam, down to every single detail. He adored it all and told me several times, "This is the best day of my life!". How sweet is that?! Sometimes as a mom, moments of gratitude from them can feel few and far between but it truly was the best compliment he could have ever given me without even realizing it. I was so happy I made his day feel so special because that's all I ever want for him!

My idea for the party was to design a newspaper, The Gotham Gazette, and fill it with news stories about how each DC villain had captured a super hero and was holding them hostage. We invited his cousins to join in on the fun and together they worked to save each super hero from an evil villain. 

Rescuing Robin from the Joker's live wired bombs ... look at the pride in his face!! The best super hero I know!

Then they untangled Firestorm from Poison Ivy's vines ...

I had told them the rule was that they had to untangle all of the vines to get him out (thinking it would take them longer) ... does it look like they followed that rule?! haha

Next up, finding out what puzzle lay behind the Riddler's secret door. 

It turned out to be a Batman puzzle that they needed to solve together in order to find the missing Spiderman. 

Then they went on a missing gem hunt to locate 4 hidden gems that Cat Woman had left hidden with each of her cats around the room.

Liam's little gem collection from his room ...

We knew this would be a hit but he was ecstatic when he found a giant ruby, emerald, sapphire, and diamond that he got to keep!

Last but not least, they freed the Flash from Captain Freeze's frozen ice block. No pictures from this one. Then it was one to the food! It was a harder part to get creative on but the Batman symbol cheese slices did the trick. ;)

I forgot to mention how much was stacked against this day from the beginning. I had all the helium balloons filled the night before the party so it was one less thing to have to do that Saturday. I've chosen to do both regular helium and the high float one before, both have yielded balloons for me that have lasted LONG before the expiration date of the party. So I just opted for the regular and who knows, maybe the high float wouldn't have even been enough, but I walked down the stairs the next morning to find about 30 balloons laying on the floor (not the cheapest mistake). I didn't have it in me to spend the money a second time and go have a whole other set refilled so I cut off all of the strings and taped them up around the room. Crisis averted! 

But then the cake was delivered ... first of all, I went with a more expensive option of having a local cake lady make it for me. I asked for a black Batman mask cake, provided a picture and everything. This was what arrived to me ... 

Not the right color, I asked for black and it was a purplish grey. Only a fondant cut out of a mask, not the whole thing shaped as such like the picture shows. Then to top it off, the fondant mask on the front was broken in multiple spots, one of which you can see by the eye, didn't even line up. I was a little disappointed for the cost sake. The redeeming part, everyone thought it tasted good and Liam could have cared less. He loved it! 

The one other bummer was having one of his cousins sick and not able to come. 

Despite all of that, it was still my favorite party I've ever done and Liam's favorite day ever, remember. ;) Nothing can get us down on holidays around here!! How cute is this Batman loving birthday boy?!

He was the best big brother ever and let his little sister help him blow out his birthday candles ...

The kids ate cake and then it was present time! Liam got so many fun nerf guns, laser tag, gem excavating kits, and legos. 

Cousins. These two had a BLAST together during the party! Both super herring loving boys who totally loved saving the super heroes. 

Happy 6th Birthday to my favorite super hero in the whole world!!! We love you, Liam buddy!

Liam at S I X 

- Started Kindergarten and rides the bus!

- Has a need for speed one his bike without training wheels.

- Loves legos, super heroes, Pokemon, stuffed animals, and gem collecting.

- Thinks PE, computer, music, and recess are the best things about going to school.

- Hoards everything in sight because he truly believes he can find something to do with everything.

- An incredible helper with chores and his sister.

- A natural with computers, anything technology, and building.

- Struggles at times to stand up for himself but he's working so hard on it.

- Above grade level in reading. 

- Has lost 2 bottom teeth.

- Grows his food palette daily from what it used to be ... I'm talking meats, vegetables, stir fry, and spaghetti.

- Still looks forward to pizza night on Friday and a banana with peanut butter for breakfast every morning.

- Has almost graduated from speech therapy!

- Loves the colors blue and black with a new room to prove it.

- Is growing like a week and wears boy sizes now like an xs and size 13 shoes.

- Adores his family and says the cutest prayers.

- Achieved all of the goals he set for himself while he was 5 like learning to ride a bike with no training wheels, learning to say prayers, and making new friends at his new school.

- He beat Mulluscum Contagium, a wart spreading skin issue that he had for almost a year.

- Tried flag football.

- Takes showers now.

- Says he prefers "cold weather". haha

- Watched Harry Potter for the first time and loved it!!

- Wants to marry his sister. (can't wait to tell him this someday when he is freaked out by it, ha!) 

Date Night

Farmstead round TWO for date night! This has become one of my favorite date nights of the whole year!! We have made it an annual thing with our friends and we always have the best time together away from our kids and getting to joke about adult things without little ears listening in. haha We can stay as late as we want and watch the sun go down. This particular night happened to have the most incredible pastel rainbow sunset. We started with a food truck style dinner and followed it with a walk through the corn maze. After being in there for quite a while and finding a bridge to see the beautiful view, we took turns being the leaders (guys vs. girls) and attempting to read the map to find the exit. Despite our efforts, we ended up at a tractor exit near the back of the field. haha Even though it wasn't legitimate, we decided to just take it and walked all the way back around the corn maze to get to the other activities. 

We took the tractor ride through the sunflower field (most were beginning to die at this point in the season but it was still beautiful  and the hay ride through the pumpkin patch. They are truly the best company and so fun to be around. I also love a good opportunity to be able to hold Nic's hand.

Farmstead

My mom took a Friday afternoon off work in early October and came with the kids and I to Farmstead! I was so grateful that they were open again this year because we look forward to the corn maze and pumpkin patch every fall. One of the biggest hits of the day was the pony ride ... Lyla's face and Liam ease say it all! They were both so happy and so much fun to watch. 

That wink, cowgirl!!! ;)

She kept yelling, "Yah, horsey!" haha

The corn maze without Nic with us may have not been our best idea. haha We all started off very optimistic but soon got lost in the abyss and took a while to find our way out. Meanwhile, there was a certain little person who's legs got tired and a mom who truly felt like her arms were going to fall off and her back was going to give out by the time we were ready to go home. haha She was worth it though. ;) 

Doesn't surprise me one bit that Liam found a stray stalk of corn on the ground to carry around like a sword the whole time. haha

The cutest tour guide but maybe not the most effective since we got lost for a bit. ;)

You can totally see her getting worn out in this picture. haha I was so proud of her though. Those legs walked a long time that day.

The new thing this year that we'd never tried before was the potato sack slide. My mom and I took turns taking them on it several times. They LOVED it! Eventually a group of teenagers showed up and took it over so we moved on to the next thing. 

These giant trampolines always terrify me but they both managed to leave with all of their bones in tact. 

I went momma bear on some older kid who kept trying to double stomp Lyla and make her fall!! All she wanted to do was prance across the top.

They both got to ride the cow barrel train and had so much fun being towed in a figure eight! Lyla kept yelling and waving from every direction, "HI, MOMMA!" 

Another addition this year was the wild flower field! It was SO beautiful being surrounded by millions of sunflowers and zinnias! 

We saved the pumpkin patch for the very end so we wouldn't have to haul them around. Here was Lyla pretending to juggle two white baby pumpkins at one time. haha

There were even pumpkins bigger than Liam in all shapes and colors! That was the one he wanted of course. ;) I told him he was on his own carrying that sucker if he really wanted it. Imagine how that went ... haha!

We filled up our wagons with a few carving ones, a few baby ones picked by Lyla, and two quirky ones picked by Liam. ;)

We stayed for three hours but even then, there were many tears when we left. It was quite the exit actually. Me carrying crying Lyla in one arm, my bag with my big camera in it slung over my back, dragging along a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins that I had to locate my wallet and pay for while my hands were very full, and Liam mid-tantrum making me feel like the worst mom who broke her promise to do the giant lizard maze one last time. It was unforgettable! So much so that we'll be back next year!! ;) We love you, Farmstead!