Birthday Party

We threw Anya a birthday party on Saturday with about 10 friends, breaking the cycle of going to Great Wolf Lodge. She wanted an animal theme, so we hired a mobile petting zoo to come. Not surprisingly, Anya chose the "Cute and Scaly Package", which has bunnies, chinchillas, and fluffy animals, along with snakes and lizards. Perfect for her.

The girls started in the basement with a (loud, high energy) dance party until the animal handler arrived. They went through the  animal program, then we did the fishing game (beanie boos for everyone), ate, opened presents, had dougnuts, and then ran around again being crazy. It seemed to be a good time for them all.

Patiently and calmly waiting for her turn with a chinchilla. 

 snake!

shiatsu massage on a bearded dragon

birthday doughnut

Halloween

This year, Anya dressed up as an archer. Sort of like Katniss, although she hasn't seen (and won't for awhile) The Hunger Games. She might also be an elf -- she's gone back and forth on that, so I'm not sure where it ended up.

She got a fair amount of use out of the costume. Saturday, she wore it to her piano recital/Halloween party. Monday, she wore it to school and for trick-or-treating, and last night, we had our annual PEPS Halloween gathering.

Speaking of trick-or-treating, we had a little gathering at our house with some classmates. Anya's new friend's family just moved here from Mexico and this was their first time experiencing Halloween. We all did the neighborhood rounds, kids with baskets and adults with libations in hand. As usual, it rained, but the kids didn't seem to mind too much -- although I think it kept them from a marathon of trick-or-treating. Anya got a decent haul, but not quite as much as last year.

A minion, archer, Rapunzel, two witches, a vampire princess, and an ear of corn