Tag: birthdays

Someone is SIX!

14902847_10154662283029282_510529638418060289_oSo sad that we don’t keep up with this blog much anymore, but if there’s ever a reason to update, Ruby’s sixth birthday is a good one!

14947870_10155006273908676_8469247392275690557_nWe kept tradition alive and combined trick-or-treating with birthday cupcakes this year. It’s funny, when I found out my due date was 10/30, I was always so worried that her birthday would be overshadowed by Halloween. Ironically, Halloween is Ruby’s favorite – and she loves that it falls so close to her birthday on 11/2. She went as the Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story this year – her favorite movie (at least until Harry Potter came along …) Her dad was THRILLED. He also made her headpiece, sourced the dress and whipped up the tulle cape. Pretty rad Dad, huh?

img_9323So yeah, Harry Potter. Cut to her actual birthday where she woke up and opened presents with us, all of which were Harry Potter themed, and then we did her annual birthday interview.

Instead of a birthday party, she chose to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios instead. We had a great time – Ed + I can’t even remember the last time we went to Universal, and it was really fun experiencing something new at a theme park. We tried our first Butterbeer, did some magic spells and even rode a roller coaster. It was only $10 more to get a 9-month pass, so we will definitely be going back a bunch more!

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The Nightmare Before Ruby’s Birthday


With Ruby’s birthday only being two days after Halloween, I’ve always worried about lumping them together because it just didn’t seem fair. Turns out, Mom was completely WRONG on this one! Ruby absolutely adores Halloween and was thrilled that it fell on a weekend this year so that she could have a Halloween birthday party! We’ve always had a crew to trick-or-treat with, so we just invited folks over for a little extra fun before hitting the neighborhood.

One of her very favorite movies is The Nightmare Before Christmas, so we did our best to make the celebration worthy of an event in Halloween Town. She was pretty happy.

Of course, Daddy had to be Jack…


My last minute costume was dressing up as Shock, one of the troublemaker kids in the movie who kidnaps “Sandy Claws”.  She dresses like a witch but wears a big, oversized green mask. Props to Ed for constructing this last minute for me! (And how great did Daddy pull off Sally‘s awesome makeup?!?)


Matchy-machy Tim-Butron-esque tights. :)

Ed went all out and decided an Oogie Boogie piñata needed to be made. He did the whole thing … paper mache and all. I didn’t know how he’d pull it off, but he sure did — it turned out incredible!

A few pics from the celebration:


And finally, the Annual Halloween photo — AKA, the Orange Couch Session!

Trick or Treating in the neighborhood

Ruby’s Royal Treatment

If you would’ve told Ed and I about 4 years ago (heck, even two years ago!) that we’d be taking our daughter to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Disneyland for a “Princess Makeover”, we probably would’ve given you a look of disdain and exclaimed, “Never in a million years!”. Now we realize more than ever why the cliche, “Never say never” exists.

The salon is inside Fantasyland, right next to Sleeping Beauty’s castle. She chose to do this over having a birthday party this year. Thanks to ALL of her Grandparents, we were able to make this happen for her. It was pretty mind-blowing; she got to choose any gown she wanted — complete with matching crown and wand — and get her hair, nails and “makeup” done.

After her treatments concluded, she was swiveled around in her chair and told to wave her magic wand at the mirror. The curtains parted, the mirror lit up, and her new “regal” look was revealed! After she was finished, she was escorted to do a photo shoot inside a Cinderella carriage, and got to meet Cinderella, Snow White and Ariel in person.

For the rest of the day, she walked the park in her very fancy Princess Anna “Coronation Day” Gown. The big hair and makeup freaked Ed + I out a little, but seeing how happy she was the entire day made it all worth it!

(See more pics of the treatment here.)