October 31: Happy Birthday AND Happy Halloween!

I've never been a big fan of Audrey sharing her birthday with Halloween.  I like to make a big deal out of birthdays, and I like to make a big deal out of holidays.  So when you put those two on the same day, it is a bit exhausting.  Fun, but exhausting!

We started the day by letting Audrey open her present from us as soon as she stepped foot out of her bed!

The one thing she asked for was an Ursula doll.  (Seriously, the girl might be just a little obsessed with Ursula!).  You can't just go to the store and find an Ursula doll, but you can definitely find one on Amazon!  She also got a Disney Dance game for the Wii and a new pair of pajamas.

Daddy made Audrey's favorite breakfast:  chocolate chip pancakes!

Then we headed to Sprouts for a Halloween costume party.

Audrey loves McDonalds, so we invited some of her Sprouts friends (and their moms) to lunch to celebrate Audrey's birthday.

I convinced Audrey to lay down and take a nap this afternoon so she would have lots of energy for trick or treating.  She crashed with her new buddy Ursula.

Then it was time to get ready for trick or treating.  It was a very rainy day.  And it got colder and windier as the evening continued.  Not ideal trick or treating weather!  We managed to go to a
few houses on our block, then we drove around to visit some people we know, and then came back for a few more houses in our neighborhood.  As per tradition, Cael and his parents joined us!

Audrey has been planning to dress as Ursula for months now.  You can't just go to the store and buy an Ursula costume, so we had to get creative.  I'm planning to post a tutorial soon on how I made her dress, just in case any other little girls out there aspire to be Ursula as well.  It's not easy to find much advice on how to make this costume!

To go along with Audrey's Ursula, we decided Isla should be Ariel.  I bought some red hair extensions for her, but Isla wanted nothing to do with them.  I was happy enough just to get her to wear her costume!  When it came time to take pictures, she struck some classic Isla poses!

Phew, what a day!

Next up:  the big Little Mermaid birthday party!!