Halloween Party

Ella definitely learned the meaning of the word "party" this weekend. We kept telling her that some of her friends were coming to our house for a Halloween party but she didn't know what that meant- until they started showing up and the fun really began!

Here Ella is, dressed as a Fairy, eating M&Ms, waiting for the first guest.

Angela, a Butterfly Princess, was the first to show up. At first she and Ella weren't sure what to do with each other. As soon as we brought them downstairs to the playroom, they got the hang of it, as this video shows!

By the time everyone arrived, Ella was in full party mode. Here's Ella, Daddy, and Isabella the Ladybug getting some lunch.

After lunch, it was straight to decorating pumpkins.

How could you not have a good time when Princess Butterfly (Angela), Indiana Jones (Ori), Ladybug (Isabella), Darth Vadar (Dylan), and Oatmeal Bear (Melissa) are all together decorating pumpkins with paint, pompoms and googly eyes?

Here's Lisa helping Melissa with her pumpkin.

Ori did the most thorough job with his pumpkin. The pompom crown around the stem was my favorite part.

Not to be outshined by her brother, Isabella adds more decoration to her tiny pumpkin.

Here's Melissa painting her pumpkin orange.

Angela requested pink paint for her pumpkin.

Here's Kitty Sara ready to join in the fun!

After lunch and arts & crafts, it was back to the playroom where every single toy was put to good use!

Here's Rhonda and Kara playing with the kids. The beauty of having friends who are teachers is that they're really good at getting everyone to cleanup.

When the party was over, the house was cleaner (with every single toy put away) than it was when we started!

Angela and Sara only met that afternoon but they both speak the universal little girl language of Princess Kitty.

Rob and I put our blood, sweat, and tears into making this playspace so it was a dream come true to see Ella and her friends enjoying it.

Here's Ella, at the party's end, wearing her civilian clothes, totally exhausted . . .

but not so tired that she couldn't dance around inside a toy basket.

Sara & John had a great costume!

Two highlights from the afternoon that I didn't catch on camera:

Dylan and Ori discovered a mutual love of Star Wars and quickly turned some Halloween glow sticks into lightsabers and had a duel in our dark mudroom. Discovering how much they had in common, and probably envisioning a future play date, Dylan said to Ori, "I live in America," to which Ori excitedly responded, "hey, I live in America too!"

3-year-old Angela, upon seeing Franklin's doggy bed, said, "I don't need a crib anymore. I sleep in a bed because I'm a beautiful woman."

Our whole family had so much fun! We're so grateful for our friends and Ella's friends for helping make this a day to remember.