Friday Favorites: Birthday Day Edition

Happy Friday y'all! We have all made it! 

Wahoo!!!! 

This week was filled with so much fun, and our weekend is jam packed too. We have been on birthday party overload here for a special little FOUR year old. When we started this little blog a few years ago L.C. was just a tiny little tot about to celebrate her first birthday. 

Look how little she looked! 

(And let's not even get on the subject of how young I looked...)

Now she is a fun, sweet/sassy little girl with a huge heart and a love for super heroes that goes deep. Her greatest passions include her family, her puppies, and cheese dip. 

She's fearless, smart, and over the top dramatic. 

And we LOVE her to pieces! 

So hopping in this week for Friday Favorites to give you a little sneak peek at some birthday fun we've been having, mixed in with some of my other favorite finds.

My first favorite of the week...SURPRISE! :) 

My sweet family invited us over to my parents house last minute when they found out Mr. Cute was headed out of town again. We walked in the door and they had a surprise party planned for this girl. She was so surprised and so excited it was a party in her honor in her favorite theme - Super Hero Girls!

My parents gave her this Disney Princess art set as one of her gifts and she literally painted, colored, stickered, and traced for hours. 

She loved the special day they planned, and it was a great way to kick off her birthday week. 

I will share more on this birthday moment next week, but I wanted to share a little sneak peek now because it was definitely one of my favorite moments of the week.  

I coordinated with L.C.'s preschool teacher to bring a little surprise to her classroom. The kids were so excited to see they not only got food treats, but they were receiving fun super hero goodie bags as well. L.C. was so surprised and felt so special. 

They were the easiest things to put together and super inexpensive too. Stay tuned for my secret...

L.C. was spoiled rotten and received quite a few gifts over the course of the week, but this might be her favorite one. 

The only thing she asked for her birthday was a phone that can take pictures. Clearly I wasn't going to give my newly four year old a new phone. I thought about reactivating one of my old ones so that should could take photos with it. I thought about just buying her her own camera (she loves taking pictures with one of mine). But then after doing some research I stumbled upon this - the KidiBuzz. 

It's like a smart phone for kids, but way tamed down. It has camera and video functions, as well as music, games and a few fun apps. They can also send messages from it as long as you are connected to wi-fi. It has a parental control on it that you can state how much time they can play on the games and apps. And if you want to add more, you can. 

It had mixed reviews, so I was a little nervous. It comes in two colors, but I ordered the pink one. I found that it was easy to set up, and haven't had any problems with it. L.C. loves playing with it and so does Cute if she's feeling nice at the moment and shares. 

I love it because now I don't have to share my phone or delete a 1000 blurry photos of my hard wood floors at the end of the day. 

Best. Gift. Ever.

We still have one more birthday celebration on the horizon, but after that it's full on Halloween mode. We are all so excited this year! I think it's the fact that all three Cutes will now kind of "get it". 

That, or the fact that a massive amount of Reece's Peanut Butter Cups are about to make their way into the house. 

It's a toss up. 

I've been in full on decorating mode, and still have a few final things to add this weekend, but my front porch has the beginnings of it's spooky makeover. I love my black gingham pillow covers and might use them again to mix with some red pillows for Christmas. 

Another favorite is our big orange and black spider (it's over 5ft long!). It is battery operated and comes on on its own when it starts to get dark. Spiders are our theme this year and there is more to come, but love the start. 

Sadly, I don't think my mums are going to make it. Doesn't anyone have a trick to these? Especially in the south. I purchased/planted them about three weeks ago and they are struggling. 

We still love all of our usual favorite Halloween books, but have added a new favorite or two this year. 

There are two that seem to get the most laughs out of all of them lately. A Halloween Scare in Georgia has been a long time favorite of ours. We love that it mixes in some of our local cities and hotspots with in the story (This book is also available in a bunch of different states.). Alpha Oops! H is for Halloween is our new favorite. It is so silly and a fun way to get kids to learn about the alphabet. The kids laugh hysterically at the storyline. 

And switching gears a bit from all things birthday and holiday related for my next favorite. 

It's gotten a little cooler here lately, so we've been breaking out the fall wardrobe bit by bit in between the hot days.  Our love for leopard print runs deep, and when I spotted these shoes in Chicago a few weekends ago, I couldn't resist. 

I ended up waiting until I got home to purchase them because at the time I didn't want to carry a shoe box around the city. 

They arrived this week, and I LOVE them! I tried the leopard flats on in store and they seemed to run pretty true to size. They are instantly comfortable and didn't require me to break them in at all. 

They are definitely a new favorite and I'm thinking of getting another pair just because of how comfortable they are. The style comes in a variety of colors and I loved the blue velvet ones I also spotted in the store. They would be so cute for holiday parties. 

If flats aren't your thing, the leopard print was also available in a couple of other different styles, and I loved them all!

(click pics for details)

The slip on booties were a close second to the flats for me, and I might even go back and order those too. I love a good bootie and they were super comfortable in the store. If I hadn't just purchased a new pair of leopard heels (although, can you have too many?) this pair would have been a no brainer - so cute!!

And since it's officially fall, I'm so glad CFA brought back their Chicken Tortilla soup. 

Not the most appetizing photo, but if you haven't tried it you are missing out!  It is oh so yummy! I love soup in the fall and winter months, and I've tried to replicate this to make at home, but haven't ever gotten the recipe right. If you have one  please share!

 And not once, but twice, it was my dinner of choice during my soccer mom duties this week. YUM!

Now if CFA will go ahead and bring back the Peppermint Milkshake, I will be all set for winter. :) 

And that wraps up my favorites for the week! Thanks for hanging out and can't wait to see what were some of your favorites this week!

Happy weekend!

Jen

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