Birthday + Birchday

A recap of my 41st and Birch’s 5th birthday!

October is packed with birthdays!

Off the top of my head I can think of 16 people we know ages 4 to 69 who celebrated birthdays in October! There must be something about those long winter months… : )

I am disappointed to say that I did not do a great job photographing this week. But here’s what I got!

Rewinding back to early last week…

how appropriate Ellen let us borrow her 1980s puzzle during my birth week. 1982 was my year! Here’s a link to the puzzle – would make a great gift for anyone born in the 80s! 

This puzzle was both fun and frustrating! There were so many color changes that it was hard to find little projects to work on.

Trivia with Friends

On Wednesday I went to King Family Vineyards for their Wednesday night trivia for a little friend party. (We sadly didn’t get all who came later in a photo because the sun set fast!) I absolutely love trivia even though I would say I’m not particularly good at it. But we came much closer to winning a round this time than the first time we played. The first category was exercise and we crushed it with a 9/10! 

Meg and Erin brought a Cake Bloom sampler that we all shared. Plus cheese and salad and pizzas from the food truck. Lots of fun was had by all! Ellen and I came home to watch a late-night Survivor episode while we were together.

10/26

My bday was low key and relaxing. I had a personal day while the kids were in school and lounged around the house and went shopping. 

Breakfast by Thomas

(Homemade bread by Lynsie!) 

Chopt salad sent me a $5 birthday coupon, so I took myself to lunch! (Yes I travel with koozies!) 

Next I went to Great Outdoor Provisions and LOFT to try on some clothes. Bought these Girlfriend Jeans. 

Did not buy these acid washed jeans that looked straight out of my 1980s puzzle!! Hahaha. 

I bought this sparkly dress for upcoming holiday season. Imagine it with hair curled and heels!

And I got these wide leg cords that I wore that night!

I went to my favorite workout class at 4pm (hence why my hair was a mess all day haha) and then home for family dinner! 

Apparently my camera liked my glass of wine more than the salmon and farro dish we had. 

Albemarle Baking treats from Tdaddy!

And a late evening ACAC gathering!

Friday Fun

On Friday Mazen had a teacher workday but Birch was in school, so we went to Target to pick up some birthday gifts for him. First – lunch at Bellair Market (Mazen’s new favorite spot). 

After Target we wrapped B’s gifts. He got 3x Star Wars Legos, wireless headphones, books, a Mandalorian helmet, a Mandalorian Mr. Potato head, Star Wars shirts. YOU GET THE THEME!

Luke Bryan Re-Do

I drove the boys to Nona and Grandpa’s for a sleepover and we got ready for the Luke Bryan re-do concert! Ironically Thomas bought these tickets long before we were invited to Minnesota, and he bought FOUR tickets so we invited Meg and Brad to go with us! 

First stop, date night at Birch and Bloom! I had the chicken with pimento mac and cheese and green beans – delicious!! 

There he is Mr. Luke Bryan in person! This was my third time seeing him – so many great songs! 

We were home and in bed at 12:30 – so late for us early birds!

Saturday Sports + Dress Rehersal

On Saturday Birch had soccer and scored his first goal!!!! (A huge leap since he barely participated all the weeks before). 

Mazen’s baseball team won too. It was SO HOT – almost 90 degrees. I had to get a freezie pop to cool off at the game!

Downtown Halloween

We left baseball ASAP so we could beeline to the downtown mall for some Halloween festivities. Gotta love Sal’s decor every year!

Mazen went with his Star Wars costume to match Birch and will be his spooky clown on real Halloween. 

We spent Saturday night baking cupcakes in sweatpants and went to bed early! 

Birchday!

When Birch woke up on Sunday he was 5!!!

We had a soccer game and spent the rest of the day getting ready for his party. I decided to bake cupcakes this year and it actually went very well! We made about 4 dozen and thanks to borrowing some cupcake pans from the neighbors, went quickly. I used Betty Crocker mixes and frosting from a can – nothing fancy but got the job done! I got these cake toppers that worked perfectly for our theme. Thomas was in charge of the goodie bags and found Star Wars bags, tattoos, pop rocks, and some other kiddo toys to go inside. 

These were the only pics I took at the party! I feel so sad I didn’t get better ones. We were lucky to have a gorgeous warm day! 

We came home to play with cousin Nashie and open some gifts. 

The birthday boy got a spaghetti dinner. I had a Sipz to chill out, haha. 

The pace does not slow down:

Next up: Halloween, Dad’s birthday, and then a visit from the Charlotte cousins!