The Lee Family: Olivia's Birthday Weekend!

Olivia's 6th birthday weekend started with her Grandma and Grandpa being at our house when the girls got home from school after their first week of school! Both girls had a great week of school, with Sofia saying her day was "even more awesome than the day before." Olivia wasn't quiet as positive about her days, but they got better as the week went by and I'm pretty sure she loves having her own "school" to herself now. She seems confident and her teacher, Ms. Feaster, is the absolute best fit for her and seems like a great teacher. I picked Olivia up and gave her her snack (slices apples and peanut butter with a gatorade) and then we picked up Sofia from the Glen Hope bus at the back of school. The girls' grandparents arrived at our house shortly after I left to get the girls and I told them the code for our front door so they could get settled after their drive from Atlanta. On the car ride home, I told the girls that Grandpa and Grandma were at our house and they started chanting "Grandpa, Grandma" over and over and were so excited to see them! Olivia desperately wanted her Grandma to spend time with her at her birthday and we are so excited that they were able to make the trip out to do so! Olivia adores her Grandparents, but especially her Grandma!

The girls spent the rest of the afternoon with their Grandparents and Olivia was basically Grandma's shadow until dinner. For dinner we had chicken tacos and sat outside since it was in the mid-80s due to Hurricane Harvey down by Houston. The weather had really cooled off and it felt fabulous outside. Before going to bed, CK, his dad, and Sofia watched a documentary "The Last Man on the Moon" while Olivia watched an episode of "My Little Pony." The girls were both beyond exhausted when they went to bed after a long week, but they were so excited to go to bed knowing Grandma and Grandpa were there for the weekend!

On Saturday morning Sofia and her Pink Pirates soccer team had their very first soccer game of the Fall season. Again, the weather was unseasonably mild and it was actually pleasant to be on the soccer fields for the 9am game. The Pink Pirates not only have Coach Jeff back but also have 17 players, which is so much more helpful since we started most of the past season soccer games down a player since our roster was so short. Emily, the team's star player, is back this season so we know it will be a good season! In fact, Emily scored the first goal and our new player, also named Emily, scored two more goals throughout the game. Unfortunately, the opponent's only goal was actually scored by Sofia. She was playing defense and said she tried to kick the ball to Emily, who was the goalie, but it slipped past her. There were a bunch of opponents around her so no one actually knew it was her. Poor thing! At least the Pink Pirates won 3-1!

After the game was over, Connie, Sofia, Olivia and I walked back home to CK in the middle of making biscuits, scrambled eggs, and bacon! Again, we were able to sit outside to eat and it was a delicious meal! Just after we finished eating, it was Olivia's turn to get to her soccer game that started at 12:15pm. We needed to be at the fields by 11:30am to get the Rockets' uniforms before going on the field. Despite the road construction, we ended up driving to the soccer fields. Just after the game started it started raining solidly. Olivia was obviously very distracted by the rain and was far more concerned that she was getting wet than that she had to pay attention to Coach Matt and play soccer. Brinley really stepped up during the game and scored a bunch of goals, which Olivia and Emma usually do. Olivia got a few kicks on goal but missed. The girls all had fun and it was a good start to the soccer season. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any photos during her game because of the rain.

We drove home, and Olivia showered and changed and we made her birthday cake! She wanted a two-layer unicorn cake with chocolate on the top layer and vanilla on the bottom. We started with the chocolate cakes, since they were smaller and had a shorter cook time. Olivia did nearly all of the work. I measured everything out and she added it all together, cracked the eggs and mixed everything together. We put the chocolate cake into the oven and started on the vanilla cakes, which were two regular 9" rounds and would take longer to bake. The chocolate cakes finished and looked delicious and moist. While the vanilla cakes baked, I made the buttercream frosting, which also looked (and tasted) delicious. For dinner CK grilled steaks and we enjoyed it with corn on the cob and a salad. Our usual weekend dinner, which always tastes so good! After dinner, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Olivia and enjoyed unicorn cupcakes which we'd ordered from Market Street. They were so cute and delicious!

After the yummy cupcakes, it was time for Olivia to open her presents! She had presents from Sian and her family, Sofia, Mommy and Papa, Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Jay and cousins. She couldn't wait to open up her gifts and had a hard time deciding which one to open first. She picked the gift from Sian and her family first and was super excited to get a unicorn headband, a cat headband and collar, and adorable unicorn hair clips too. Grandma and Grandpa gave Olivia a bunch of cute unicorn stuff including a unicorn plate, sippy cup, banner, and wood cutout. They also gave her a Star Wars Glow in The Dark shirt that matches Sofia's, since she liked it so much. They also gave her $100! They had given Sofia $100 for her birthday and wanted to give Olivia the same amount so she could pick out her own toys/books/games too. Grandma and Grandpa also gave Olivia mermaid bed sheets, while we gave her a matching shower curtain. Olivia has wanted new bed sheets and a "cute" shower curtain, so she was really happy. Sofia gave Olivia a Lego Friends Lego set that we'd picked out together the week before. Her Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Jay and cousins gave her a My Little Pony play set, which the girls were super excited to play with! They opened up the play set and loved playing with it until bedtime.

After the girls went to bed, CK and I decorated the unicorn cake. We covered the bottom layer with cute sprinkles, which proved to be a bit more difficult than expected. CK did most of the work and we joked that we'd be finding sprinkles in our kitchen for weeks to come. A few days before, I'd made fondant with marshmallows and powdered sugar. From that, I made unicorn ears, closed "eyes" with eye lashes, and a unicorn horn. We don't intend for anyone to actually eat the fondant forms, so we used food coloring to "paint" the horn yellow/gold. It really looked great and we were excited to add it to the cake tomorrow before her party. We put the birthday cake into the fridge before going to bed. It was such a fun birthday the day before her birthday!

Grandpa and Olivia off to get a ring pop during Sofia's soccer game