Happy Birthday, Ella!

My little one turned one year old on Tuesday, July 2nd! We wanted all of our extended family to be able to attend, though, so we held her party on the Saturday, which was the 30th of June. As you may remember from Evie's jungle-themed party, I tend to go all-out when my babies turn one! Instead of a jungle theme this time, though, I decided on a garden theme. Elizabeth is my little "cutie-bug" and since her birthday is in July, I thought it would be a really fun to have a rainbow of bright happy colors at her party. I think we succeeded!

For decoration, I bought some really fun pinwheels at Hobby Lobby and used balloons to make shapes like a flower, a butterfly, and a caterpillar on the walls.

On the wall behind the table, I hung the banner I made:

In case you can't make it out, it says Our lil Ladybut is Turning 1!
Just like last year, I really put my whole self into this party, but because of last year, I sort of knew what I was doing and was able to be a lot more efficient and creative. Most of the food ideas were mine, and I just bought and made a few decorations at a time so I wouldn't get burned out like last time. The first thing I did when I woke up Saturday morning, was make Ella's personal 6" cake, which I made out of chocolate cake mix. When it was cool, I colored it purple and decorated it like a caterpillar head.

The cupcakes for the guests were made with chocolate or yellow cake mix and decorated in one of four colors that made up the caterpillar's body. I bought a package of cupcake papers that had four colors in it, all with cute white polka dots. Each cupcake had matching paper and frosting. I called them "Caterpillar Cupcakes" and arranged them all on the table.

Next was my "Veggie Patch." I was especially proud of this idea. I wanted to have a variety of foods to choose from, including a healthy option. So I bought some cheap green broadcloth and stuffed it with plastic bags to make rows, and then put the veggies in between the mounds to get the effect of a veggie garden.

Each row had its own sign, just like a real garden. I got the veggies as little as I could so they would make easier finger-foods: sugar-snap peas, cherry tomatoes, baby corn (from the can), baby carrots, and slices cucumbers (it occurred to me later that I could have gotten some little whole pickles instead, but these worked anyway!).

 My next endeavor was my own home-made Edible Arrangement. I found a tutorial online and made some tweaks. I used pineapple, watermelon, grapes, and strawberries and arranged them all into a flower pot filled with foam. This took a lot more time than I expected, but it actually looked amazing when I was done, and it was a huge hit! I called my bouquet "Floral Fruits" and moved on to the next item on my list.

Next, I went for something easy. I poured our "Bee Hives" (Honeycomb cereal) and "Sun Chips" (...Sun Chips) into their respective flower pots and put them on the table as well.

Then Todd helped me make our "Cups of Dirt," which consisted of layering chocolate pudding, Cool Whip, and crushed Oreo cookies into 9 oz cups before garnishing each one with a gummy worm. I got some cute little wooden "shovel" spoons online to complete the cups.

Once again, these were the treats that Todd and I liked the best: they were delicious!
Our last menu item was "Lemonade." It was a recipe I found online that was lemonade, pineapple juice, and Sprite. It actually needed more Sprite than I'd bought, so it was very tart, but it was still pretty good. I thought it would be a really fun idea to serve the lemonade out of a new watering can. I couldn't get the really cute metal yellow one I found online in time, so we ended up just getting a huge plastic yellow one from Wal-Mart for $3. It still looked pretty cute with the rest of the decor though!

By this time, our guests were starting to arrive, so I took a few final pictures and got Elizabeth ready for her presents!

I didn't want to exert extra effort by making Ella's party hat. Instead, I found, at the Dollar Tree, cute butterfly wings and cute butterfly antennae for her to wear.

Elizabeth's first present was from her Uncle John/Aunt Margot and their family; they gave her a cute set of pajamas.

The next gift bag was from Tia and Uncle. Julia, Ella's cousin, wrote her a cute handmade card. Then Ella pulled out her actual presents: a pair of Weebles, a Disney book, a Sesame Street book, and a cute little jungle book.

Finally, it was time to open the presents from Mommy and Daddy. She opened a cute little butterfly box that held her little porcelain 1-year-old Growing-up Girl figurine. Evie's are brunette, so I bought the blonde one for Elizabeth.

Next was a long line of the Little People Disney Princesses, concluded by the palace.

After all of the presents were opened, I lit the candle on her cake and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

Then we stripped her down to her diaper so she could dig into her cake. Where her sister ate her cake very fastidiously, Elizabeth needed only a little prompting before diving right in! By the time she was done, she had frosting all over her face and hands, and even some in her ear!

Jenette mentioned that Ella's eyes looked super blue while she was eating her cake, and it's because the purple frosting really accents that bright blue.
After everyone else left, it was time for Elizabeth to wash off all of the cake crumbs and frosting. We put her in the tub and let her splash around. Even in the tub, she was still "tasting" herself! Then, when she was finally all clean, we got her out and let her play with her new toys.  

I think she really enjoyed her special day, and I'm glad that her party went almost perfectly! 


Just like last time, I'm putting together a list of where I bought everything for any crafty people who might care.

Hobby Lobby:
Colored pinwheels
Orange tablecloth
Colored cupcake papers
Flowered paper for place-cards*
Red/black cardstock for ladybug banner*
Green broadcloth

Wal-Mart:
Balloons
Watering can
Flower pots
Cake/frosting
Green gardening styrofoam
Oreos
Pudding
Gummy worms
Belle/Prince Adam set
Ariel/Prince Eric set
Cinderella/Prince Charming set
Palace/Dwarves bundle set

Babies "R" Us: 
Ariel/Aurora set
Rapunzel/Tiana set
Jasmine/Aladdin set
Belle/Beast set

King Soopers (local grocery store): 
Fruit/veggies
Honeycomb cereal
Sun Chips
Cool Whip
Drink (pineapple juice, Sprite, lemonade mix)
9 oz cups

Dollar Tree:
Wrapping paper for Ella's presents
Butterfly wings
Butterfly headband
Butterfly box
Blue plates

Party City:
Napkins
Yellow tissue sunshine (not pictured, for some reason)

Online:
Wooden shovel spoons--this website
Purple paper flowers on Ella's cake--this website
Age 1 Growing Up Girl--this website

*The font I used on the banner and place-cards is called "Bumble Bee BV."

More Fun Family Pictures

Elizabeth's 1st birthday is on Tuesday, so, just like we did with Evie's 1st birthday, we had professional pictures taken of our family. This time, we went in expecting to pay for the entire CD of cute pictures, and I now present the cutest of the crop!

This is probably my favorite pose of the entire set! I love how it shows off both of my pretty girls' pretty smiles!

I love how happy my girls are together.

I can't get over how grown-up Evie looks!

When she's really happy, Elizabeth has this huge grin and takes over her whole face.

Trying to escape...

Our big 1-year-old girl!

Well, my girls are obviously sisters! Remember a similar picture with Evie?

Oh, how I love that mischievous little grin!

Seeing Elizabeth sit on her "1" block made Evie want to sit on the "2" block.

Followed by a close-up of Evie's gorgeous smile!

We think this picture is so fun!

Our first outfits were all supposed to complement Ella's outfit. Then, we wanted to change into something a little more formal and pretty for the girls to wear. Our photographer had been great so far, and she was able to get such bright, happy smiles from my girls. However, during the break we took to change our clothes, another girl decided to "help" her colleague get the girls' attention by being really loud and really shrill. As a result, our girls are a bit more bemused in the rest of the pictures than beaming. Oh well, I still managed to find a few I really like.

This is Evie in her huge poofy dress that she loves!

I think this is a preview of what Evie will look like as a teenager.

We call this the "zombie picture," because it looks a little like Evie is eating Ella's brain. :)

This picture looks like my girls are sharing a secret, but it was really just Evie trying to give her sister a kiss.

This little half-smile is the one that Ella wears when she's being thoughtful or bashful. I love it just as much as the grin!

Elizabeth has such a light about her that radiates out of her sweet face.

The girls with their Daddy.

The girls with their Mommy.

Ella with her Mommy and Daddy.

Evie with her Mommy and Daddy.

Our whole family. I wish that the girls were looking at the camera and really smiling, but this was the best we got.

Disney Princesses

Oh, I am so excited for Elizabeth's birthday! For Evie's 1st birthday, we got her the Fisher-Price Little People Noah's Ark with some additional animals. She loves them, and so does Ella! We really like the Little People in our family because they're just the right size to fit into our kids' little hands. To continue our tradition of getting our kids Little People sets for their 1st birthdays, we found the perfect gift for Elizabeth! Fisher-Price has recently started making Little People Disney Princesses! They're absolutely adorable, and I know Ella will love them. I've already purchased almost the entire collection for her.

 

I bought the palace in a bundle with Snow White and the Dwarves for $55 instead of the $70 that they would have been individually. I also bought several double-packs of the princess figures, which are about $8 full price. Fortunately, I managed to score everything--the palace, the dwarves, and 7 double-packs of figures--all for about $100, instead of $126! The wedding figures of Belle/Prince Adam and Ariel/Prince Eric were available exclusively from Wal-Mart; not even the Fisher-Price website carried them! And, I managed to only get one exact duplicate: Snow White. She comes with both the castle and with the dwarves, so I'm thinking of giving the extra figure to my niece who loves Snow White. I hope that they'll keep coming out with more figures, especially of the princes, but I'm done for now. I had so much fun getting her these toys, and I know that she'll have even more fun playing with them!

Family Visit/Todd's Birthday!

Todd's birthday is the 14th, but he was out of town that whole week for his Team Summit, and then my parents and sister were coming to visit us a week later, so we decided to postpone his party until they could come and celebrate with us! Nona, Granddad, and Aunt Hailey drove all day Saturday and got to us about mid-afternoon. Hailey promptly lay down on our bed and took a nap, and Granddad didn't even make it to a bed! :)

It's a really long trip and everyone was really tired, but even though she was worn out, Nona was excited to see the grandbabies!

And she even managed to get a peek at the new little gumper (tooth) in Elizabeth's mouth and help me get a shot!:

Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures this week, but that doesn't mean that we didn't have fun! The day after my family arrived, we held a birthday party for Todd. The Christmas before, he'd given me The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook by Dinah Bucholz, so I decided to use this opportunity to crack it and have a simple "Harry Potter" themed party for Todd. I bought him the entire hardback Harry Potter series, plus I pre-ordered the box set of Hogwarts Library books (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard).

I had asked him what, out of the cookbook, he wanted for dinner, and so that night I made him "Warm and Hearty Mulligatawny Soup" and "Chicken and Mushroom Pies" for dinner with my family. Then I set aside the "Perfectly Smooth Raspberry Ice Cream," "Classic Vanilla Ice Cream," and "Creamy, Dreamy Chocolate Gateau" for dessert when everyone else arrived for the party. Everything was very delicious (if I do say so myself!) but the raspberry ice cream and the chocolate gateau were both very time intensive, and I told Todd to savor them both, because I would probably never make them again! Once all of the guests had arrived, Todd opened his presents, and was actually very surprised and pleased with what I got him! (I was surprised that he was surprised, since I'd made no secret out of making his entire dinner out of the Harry Potter cookbook he gave me, but I guess that just means that I'm sneakier than I give myself credit for!)

For a late birthday/early Father's Day gift, my parents gave Todd a little portable propane grill, which he's thrilled about! We packed a picnic lunch and took the grill with us to the park, but just as we started setting everything up, dark clouds rolled in overhead and started sprinkling, so we had to pack everything back up and head home. I thought it was a little cliche, but the rain clouds weren't listening to me. ;) Todd still grilled us some yummy homemade burgers, though!

Finally, as a last hurrah while my family was here, we took them to Cici's Pizza, which is cheap, close by, and yummy. I guess I didn't get any pictures of Evie, but I did get a couple of Elizabeth with ranch dressing all over her face. She likes to swirl baby tomatoes and bites of garlic knots into her ranch. 

We all really had a fun time with my family while they were here, and even though we miss them, we're glad that it won't be too long before we're all together again this summer for my brother's wedding!

Sweet Secrets

Just recently, Evie has learned about secrets. She loves coming up to people, telling them she has a secret for them, and whispering in their ears. She comes up to me and says "Mommy, I want to tell you a secret in your ear." Then, when I bend down and brush my hair away from my ear, she leans in close and whispers "Pss, pss, pss! I love you! Pss, pss!" Then she leans back with a grin and waits for my reaction. Usually what I respond with is "Oh, that was such a fun secret! I loved it! Can I tell you a secret?" She eagerly nods and brushes her own hair away from her cute little ear and stretches up so her ear is as close to me as she can get it. Then I bend down and whisper to her "Pss, pss, pss! You're my sweetheart, Evie, and I love you so much! Pss, pss, pss!" Her answering smile could power the sun. She'll then say something like "Yes, Mommy! That was a good secret!" and bounce away.

She's also learned a fun new way to melt my heart. I guess she's learning to pay more attention to the movies that she watches now because she was on the potty one day after watching "Tangled" (which she calls "The Big Hair"), and told me to come talk to her. When I knelt down in front of her, she said "Mommy, I love you very much!" and I said "I love you too, Evie." She responded with "No, Mommy, say 'I love you more!'" So I chuckled and said "I love you more, baby" and she cheered out "I love you MOST!!" I followed up with "Oh yeah? Well, I love you most!" and she looked at me very earnestly and said "No, Mommy! You say 'I love you more,' and I say 'I love you most!'" There was no arguing with her, so I conceded. A part of me knows that it's a little silly that she's quoting a Disney movie, but the rest of me is so touched by her obvious sincerity. We go through this little discussion all the time now, and it never gets old!

Glamour Girl

I have told Evie countless times not to play with my makeup. She's always liked having "lip cream" to keep her lips from getting dry or inflamed, and she's already stained a couple outfits by using my expensive lip gloss when she knows she's not supposed to. But apparently, that hasn't stopped her from watching me when I apply my makeup. This afternoon, it got too quiet. When I turned around to find Evie, I found her with my purse on her lap, unzipped, and my makeup scattered around her. Then I took a closer look at her, and this is what I saw:

At first I thought it was just the lip gloss, and then I realized that she'd put on mascara too. I had very mixed feelings. One part of me was angry that she'd ignored the rules and played with my lip gloss again, but the larger part of me was trying hard not to laugh out loud.

I am a little concerned, though. After all, I wear makeup. Not a lot, and not even every day, but I do usually have on mascara and lip gloss if I'm leaving the house. Evie watches me closely and asks me what I'm doing, and I don't know what to say to her. She looks up to me and wants to be just like Mommy, so I don't want to say "I'm putting on makeup to make myself pretty" because I don't want her to think that she needs to wear makeup to be pretty too. She's a beautiful little girl exactly the way she is, and I want her to know that. So what do I say to her? How do I teach her the true definition of beauty without feeling like a hypocrite because I'm still insecure enough to need my makeup to feel beautiful? How do I answer her questions honestly, but without potentially prematurely planting self-image issues into her innocent psyche?

Precious Moments

Just in the last month or so, I've shared some very special little moments with my girls. Each one was too small to share on its own, but I finally decided to collect them together into a single post so I don't forget the tiny precious moments that make motherhood so wonderful. 
On March 20th, the night before Evie's birthday, Elizabeth was unwilling to go to bed. Every time one of us put her down, she would immediately start crying. Finally, I got out of bed, picked her up, and just held her in my rocking chair. I didn't get upset or anything; I just took it as an opportunity to snuggle my little baby. I held her against my shoulder, and she snuggled into my neck and curled her little arm around to hold me tight. We stayed like that for several minutes, just rocking and snuggling in the dark. When I finally went to put her down, she squeezed my neck one more time before burrowing into her blankets and drifting to sleep. It was a very private moment for just the two of us: one I think we both needed. I'm grateful that I took the opportunity to be patient and let my daughter cling to her Mommy until she was really ready to let go.
Two days later, on March 22nd, Evie took a nap. That in itself is impressive since she's fought against bedtime for pretty much her whole life, and hasn't taken a regular nap in months. But this specific occasion was extra special because Evie fell asleep in my arms. This is my independent child, who has always preferred playing to letting me snuggle her. This time, though, she brought me her fuzzy blankie and let me hold her against my chest. A couple of minutes later, I noticed that she'd fallen asleep. I stayed very still and just savored the moment. They are becoming increasingly rare and I wanted to treasure what might very well be the last time my Evie girl falls asleep while I'm holding her. I'm grateful I got to just snuggle my little girl and feel the precious peace of the occasion surrounding us.
A couple of days after that, on that awful day when THE CRISIS happened, there was a tiny moment of sunshine amidst all of the darkness. When the social worker was sitting across from me, questioning my value as a mother, Ella climbed up on the couch next to me and, out of nowhere, gave me a kiss on my cheek. I treasure that memory because Elizabeth is much less demonstrative than her sister. Evie will readily give hugs and kisses, but Ella seems to need a bit more coaxing to demonstrate physical affection. So for her to kiss me, completely unprompted, at the very moment when I was feeling most dejected, it seemed like a clear sign that, regardless of anyone else's opinion, I was doing alright. I needed that right then, and I'm grateful that I was given such a priceless gift from my little one.
Last month, on April 19th, Todd and I went out to dinner at a little Mexican restaurant. I got up from the table to take Evie potty, and heard Elizabeth say (actually wail) her very first word as I left: "Mama!" I thought it must just be a fluke, but when I came back and sat down again, Ella said it again, this time as a statement. It was obvious to both Todd and me that this wasn't a random set of sounds; she was actually associating those sounds with me and was calling my name. I was so thrilled and honored that, out of all of the words out there that she could have chosen, my name was the first one she said!
More recently, just last week on May 1st, Ella was playing with Todd. They were playing peek-a-boo or hide-and-seek together. Ella was sitting on my lap on the couch while Todd hid behind it. When he popped up, she went into gales of laughter and they started all over again. If he took longer to pop up, she started to get concerned; she craned over the edge to look at him, instantly grinned, and pulled away so he couldn't catch her. This game of theirs went on for probably a half-hour, and neither of them seemed to get bored with it. It warmed my heart to see my little girl and her Daddy bonding and playing so happily together.
Finally, yesterday, we went to the zoo. The entire ride home, all I heard was laughter coming from both girls. I looked back just to see what was going on. They were holding hands and looking at each other and just giggling together. One of them would start giggling, seemingly for no reason, but then the other one would join in, and they would just feed off of each other the entire way home. My eyes actually welled up because it was such a beautiful happy sound. I loved hearing my sweet girls have so much fun together as sisters and as friends!