so the birthday parties begin…what makes me so excited about this is because i love our school. both the girls started a new school this past year and we couldn’t be happier with the school we chose. the staff is amazing, kind, caring and the parents i have met have been so beyond wonderful!
i was a little bit nervous about that because my experience with olive at her community school was not good. parent after parent i encountered were not friendly, social, or it was overall awkward. there were a handful of moms i met that were wonderful but maybe, it was because we all knew that most of us would go our separate ways and no one made an effort??
i don’t really know, but i do know that we are in this journey together at our new school and the parents have been nothing but great. i am excited for this whole experience for the next 9-10 years and beyond!
so, we went to one of olive’s classmate’s birthday party {her second one so far} and it was a princess theme! the invite stated that the girls could wear their favorite princess dress to the party! oh, how exciting and cute!
olive was so excited to be dress up as belle. she was very specific with her hair…she wanted a half bun updo with cascading curls. yes, girl! i was also excited because the mom, manar, had also told me to bring miss ellie…how fantastic was that?! i knew ellie would have the best time as well! and of course, ellie wanted to be elsa. LOL
we arrived at the house and there was the cutest purple and pink number 5 balloon set up in the front yard. adorbs. we ran into a dad, mike, of another classmate arriving and olive went running to meet up with his daughter. once inside, i spotted the cutest mini tables with colorful mini chairs, covered in sparking tablecloths, princess wands at each seat, and gold crown print pink organza sheers draped down the large window.
outside i spied the largest castle bouncy house, a trampoline, and a cute playset for kids. we all were a bit bummed because it was currently raining but that ended up clearing up midway through the party.
manar had her friends, outside of the school, there who were all so friendly and i was happy to have met a few other school parents as well! i connected with patrick, kiersten, andrew, valerie, elisa, annie, paula, and manar’s hubby elias. it was optional to drop off or stay…i really wanted to get to know manar, at least, so i decided to stay and i am glad i did, as i had the chance to get to know all the other parents there as well!
the girls had a blast. a blast!!! it was soooooo much fun for them! manar outdid herself. she left no stone unturned. from the sparkly table set up, to the castle bouncy house, she had a princess piñata, princess cake, princess utensil holder, fairytale book favors, and last but not least, live princesses! rupunzel and princess sofia were there to entertain the kids! oh em gee. this party was phenomenal…my girls were in awe.
these princesses sang, entertained the girls from beginning to end! there was face painting, balloon animals, candy treats being passed out…the works! olive and ellie were in heaven! they loved this party so much i could not get them to leave!
honestly, though…i was having such a great time with the parents that no one was leaving! hahaha! our day, that day was already packed. the girls had their first ballet lessons, then we cruised on over to the party, and i had also committed to going to a neighbor’s house party that evening too {gahhhh!}! the girls and i ended up staying at the kid’s party until 8-8:30pm?? it had started at 3:30pm too! time just flew by and when it was time to go, i literally had to fight and wrestle my children out of the house. they were clinging to the house for dear life…as if i was the meanest mom ending their hours of fairytale fun. haha!
it was such a great time and i am feeling so blessed to know so many great parents already but feeling very, very grateful that olive has segue into this new chapter in her life and has made so many good friends already! she absolutely loves all the girls in her class and is getting to know the ones in the other k class as well!
[i can’t with this girl olive…]
[how adorable is everyone?!]
[the birthday girl!]
[how sweet are they?]
[the adorable family!]
[oh, even though she’s pouting…i can’t even with that face. so darn cute!]
[iridescent pink tablecloths and princess wands for all the kids]
[olive with princess sofia and rapunzel]
[happy birthday girl!]
[make a wish!]
[yayyyyy!]
[the princesses putting a necklace on the birthday girl]
it was a double whammy! first day of school for both my girls!
it was in three parts…first – it was the meet the teachers and drop off supply day! there was also an ice cream social afterwards!
second was olive’s first day of kindergarten!
third was ellie’s first day of preschool 3!
and here we goooooooooo!
the whole week leading up to the first day of school was crazy. the girls were starting a new school, the communication from the school was so much more than olive’s previous school {who almost sent nothing in terms of that}. we literally were receiving multiple emails a day…so it was a lot to keep up with. they wanted you to enroll into their communication system…so that was an hour up set up and another hour of navigation to get acclimated. so, that was something i wasn’t used to! they needed school supplies, new clothes, new shoes, new backpacks, lunch box, thermos, food for lunches, complete school forms, sign up for hot lunch, sign up for milk, buy school uniforms {i have never returned and exchanged so much in my life to find the right fit for olive}, buy spirit wear, we needed to sign up for a class to volunteer at school, meet the teachers and drop off supplies, ice cream social, mass, coffee chat, and on and on and on. phew!
so, the first major event was meeting the teachers, checking out the classrooms, and dropping off supplies. i was hoping hc could come with me that day but he couldn’t. he had an important work event and could not make it. i spent the morning running around, getting errands done, and then we gathered up all our stuff to head out. i had to haul two huge bags of supplies with me, paperwork i needed to drop off, my camera {i never leave the house without it!} and of course, my two baby girls!
we arrived later than what i wanted but no matter. the girls helped me with bringing in the supplies. i could not fit two paper towel rolls into my bags and it was perfect because it was really all they could carry! so that worked out! we walked inside and met ellie’s teacher first. she was super sweet and we navigated around a little bit but i wanted to drop off olive’s supplies just to relieve my shoulders from the weight of it.
so, we moseyed on over to olive’s classroom {next door} and met her teacher. we explored the room, found her desk, put away her supplies, and chatted with her teacher for a bit. we then found her cubby and the girls played around the classroom before we headed back over to ellie’s classroom to spend some more time with her teacher and have her get familiar with her surroundings.
after 30 minutes or so, we decided to walk over to the school office to drop off more paperwork. i chatted with the school’s secretary and the marketing director for awhile before we skipped on over to the ice cream social over by the church. thank goodness it had stopped raining because they pulled the ice cream truck back up and mr. goodhumor was handing out ice cream bars again outside! so novel!
the girls were super excited and immediately honed in on the sponge bob ice cream bar! of course! they were so delighted and thoroughly enjoyed eating it. oh boy, it was easy for them but so hard for me! ellie kept screaming because since it was humid and warm out, her ice cream bar kept melting and dripping on her hand and she freeeeeeaked out each time! oh em gee. i had to wrap a paper towel around the stick but that still didn’t stop it. she was melting down as quickly as the ice cream bar was melting down. LOL
the ice cream social wasn’t so social for me and i tended to my needy kids and didn’t get to socialize with anyone! negate the purpose. ha! once they were done with their ice cream, i was like see ya! i wanted to gooooo! ellie had ice cream all over her shorts, shirt, and shoes. i had ice cream all over my hands and on my pants, and their lips and hands were stained. oh what fun! off to our abode we went to clean up!
scroll down for more of our eventful days to come!
[a little back to school fun]
[my sweet girls testing out their backpacks]
[i love them]
* I C E C R E A M S O C I A L ~ S C H O O L S U P P L Y D R O P O F F *
[checking out her new classroom]
[such a ham]
[my silly girls. olive’s cubby]
[her desk]
[ellie checking out her new classroom]
[her cubby]
[she loooooooves phones]
[she’s so sweet and sassy]
[the girls were so excited over their sponge bob ice cream!]
[i was like pose…and they do this…]
[excited for her ice cream bar]
[oh, eating this was a struggle!]
* O L I V E’ S F I R S T D A Y O F K I N D E R G A R T E N *
oh the anticipation of olive’s first day!
i was so excited! we woke up super early and got the girls ready to go. hc dropped ellie off at my dads as ellie’s first day wasn’t until the next day. olive had breakfast and then i got her ready in her oh so cute uniform! i know it’s novel right now but olive really loves wearing a uniform! thank goodness!
after hc dropped ellie off, he drove from my dad’s to the school as he had to go to work right afterwards. i was scrambling. i was still grabbing everything for olive’s first day and i still needed to snap a few pictures of her! oh i was running out of time! we finally jumped in the car and we hit so much traffic! i have taken that route so many times before at the exact same time and i have never had such a traffic jam! i called hc and he was struggling with it as well {he took a different route than me but it was bumper to bumper on some roads for him too and it’s all local!}.
i finally got there with plenty of time to spare. olive and i walked to the classroom as hc thought he wasn’t going to make it at all {before the bell}, which bummed me out! you could tell how full of excitement this day was. if was full of energy, pride, love, smiles, and tenuous emotions. olive does school like a boss. from preschool to kindergarten, she’s never had any trepidation. there was so excitement in the air when we arrived, it was almost tangible. there were kids sporting their new backpacks, proud parents escorting their children, and lots of knowing glances and smiles were exchanged as we passed by one another. we walked in {it was bustling!} and i navigated her to her cubby to put away her backpack, lunch box, and thermos.
afterwards, we made our way to her desk and met her new friend madison. while i was chatting with madison’s mom, hc came swooping in! he made it!!! we were so excited to see him! soon they rang the bell and the parents scrambled to wish their kids a great first day at school and gave last minute hugs. i hugged olive soooo hard and then it hit me. i wasn’t expecting to be emotional because olive and i have never cried over school the past two years but it hit me hard. i burst into tears. a new school, new friends, a full day of learning…it was all so overwhelming for ME! i did my best to buck up and walk out there like champ, albeit crying. i couldn’t believe my baby is in kindergarten and growing up! so many big girl things happening, my heart couldn’t take it!
[back to school breakfast]
[school lunches]
[picking up olive from her first day of school]
[they’re like maaaaaa, stop with the pictures]
[walking hand in hand with her sister, like a boss and so happy]
* E L L I E’ S F I R S T D A Y O F P R E S C H O O L *
it was really nice olive had her first day of school and then the next day, ellie had her first day of preschool. for me, since it was a new school, it was great we could have both girls experience their first days separately. i felt that they were huge milestones and it was nice to do it that way.
we got the babes up and ready and i made sure i gave myself enough time to snap some pics of miss ellie, as i scrambled with olive. we hit the road and excitedly walked our way to school. we dropped olive off first {she was like, ‘bye, see ya’ and ran off} and we then walked ellie over to her preschool class. we waited outside with all the happy parents and anxious kiddos, then the door then opened up and we all filed inside. we found ellie’s cubby, put her backpack away and then found her laminated name on the table and put it inside the basket to account for her attendance.
the teacher asked us to play table games with the kids and then after 10 minutes of that, we were asked to leave. here we go! i turned around and hc is already out the door, leaving me with ellie. i told her i was leaving and she started saying, “no, no. no kiki. hug meeee! hug meeee!”, so i picked her up. i walked her over to the rug area where her teacher had started playing music and was dancing to distract the kids. i coaxed ellie into dancing but that wasn’t working. she started to cry and there were 4 or 5 other kids crying as well. just then, the principle came in to visit the class. miss debbie, the teacher, yelled out to the principle to lock or watch the door. as i put ellie down and started running towards the door, a kid was literally running next to me trying to escape. the principle caught him and then grabbed another kid headed for the exit while i snuck out the door, leaving the teacher to dance and rally the kids, many kids screaming and crying and the principle trying to catch kids from running out the door. it was hilarious! a total circus.
it took ellie 3 days of school to finally not cry when i left her. now she is a champ and looooooves it!
well that sums up their first days of school. i would say success! i can’t believe my girls are getting so big and experiencing these big milestones. gah! i am so proud and excited for their growth and learning this year!
[first day of pre-school]
[she’s a doll]
[she’s like f you ma. making me take all these pics]
it was a beautiful day out, we had nothing planned but i’m always about taking advantage of a lovely day!
i am always the one game for plans in the city. the hubs…not so much. he does love the city but he doesn’t love it as much as i do. when we got married, i insisted that we lived in chicago first {as i knew we would eventually make the transition to the ‘burbs}, when we were looking to buy, i was steadfast about staying in the city {but caved because life wasn’t about me anymore…it was about our family}, and so the only thing i can hold onto, anymore, is whenever we have a chance to do something on our own terms, i love being in the city!
yes, a majority of my friends are still in the city {so we tend to go there when we commit to plans} but how can you not take advantage of such a great city so close by?? hc did a great job looking up some fun, kid friendly events to go to and we stumbled upon retro on roscoe and it peaked our interest. it was super kid friendly event. they had a large section of the fest filled with kiddie games and a whole area filled with bouncy houses! a kid’s dream come true!
we parked super close {score!} and once inside the festival…we grabbed a beer and started exploring. once we neared the kiddie section, we were done for. the girls. did. not. want. to. leave. hc and i were famished and needed to grab something to eat but olive and ellie almost had a meltdown that we were leaving the bouncy area! oh em gee. like mama needed to eat or she was going to pass out!
i promised olive and ellie that we would return once we finished eating something but that was so unconvincing to her. the entire time we were trying to enjoy our super greasy festival food, olive kept on nagging us on when we were going to go back. i almost lost it and told her we wouldn’t go back if she asked us one. more. time. and i mean it!
on top of that, ellie woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning {funny…she can only get out one side, as the other side is the wall. LOL}. baby girl was so mooooooody and slightly mean and very stubborn. gahhhh! she pretty much cried and whined from the moment we arrived and almost the whole time we were there. the only time she didn’t was when we were in the bouncy house area. plus, she insisted that we carry her the whole way around the festival. uh, scuse me baby girl…i see two capable chubby legs of yours that can walk. we don’t need to hold you for the two hours we were there. yeahhhhh, she didn’t like that answer and proceeded to whine and cry if we didn’t pick her up. ughhhhhh!
despite the kids whining, crying, pouting, and lack of joy in parts of our adventure, it really was a good afternoon. hahahha! i know you don’t believe me but truly, hc and i had fun hanging out together, we really enjoyed our time there, together as a family, and we were happy we experienced the festival and we did something fun and different!
[this one was in a MOOD that afternoon and not a good one. eep!]
[cutest necklace by little blue olive + hooray everyday]
[loving her hair style]
[jumpy houses]
[there were so many jumpy houses, the girls had to try them alllllll]
[just us parents standing around while our kids explored]
[right after her meltdown…sweet face ]
[ellie refused to take a picture….thennnnn….]
[ellie was, again, like no…i don’t want to take a picture]
when you buy membership to somewhere…you use it when you can!
we love having a family membership to the brookfield zoo! there are year round activities to do and the kids just plain love it. my favorite time to go is when it’s about 70 ish degrees. i do not like walking around when it’s so darn hot outside and that temperature is the perfect zoo day kind of weather.
it was an impromptu move to go. we didn’t have anything planned and my sister was off of work that day, so we thought…why not go to the zoo? it was a beautiful day out and, of course, the girls would love it.
it was a pinch to get there and parking was easy. we started exploring and decided to go to tropic world first {of course, not without seeing all the animals along the way!}. the monkeys were front and center and very active and fun to watch. we stayed there for awhile, as we had front row views of the cute creatures doing their thing…like nursing, scratching, and hanging around. LOL
when you go anywhere with little kids, it typically takes foooooooooreverrrrrrr to get to one place to the next. we love going to the zoo but we can never ever make it very far! every time we’ve gone, we’ve had intentions of seeing their lego exhibit and that’s been a failure each time. hahaha!
so, we were there for a couple hours and only made it though a corner of the zoo! gah! we spend a gazillion minutes at tropic world, a gazillion minutes at the play area, a gazillion minutes getting their face painted, then it was time to go home. bahahhaha!
speaking of face painting, the girls wanted to get their face done {ohmergawd…it costs a fortune at the zoo. like seriously…so much moolah and it washes off the face in two seconds}. this was ellie’s first time ever getting her face painted! what a moment! she has always resisted in fear before this. so, i was so excited she was game on! of course she chose the most colorful and detailed design. LOL she was so stinking cute while she was getting her face painted! proof in pictures below!
we had so much fun at the zoo. our on the fly decision of going was a great one! it was a perfect day, we spent the right amount of time there, and had so much fun the rest of the day {we did dinner at shake shack, shopped at the mall, and hit up target on our way home! yay!}.
cheers to having fun sisters who make amazing aunties! built in besties and PIC!
[look at miss extra olive]
[i love her]
[children and water…always a fascination]
[literally monkey see, monkey do with these two!
[she wanted this monkey sooooooo bad]
[getting her face painted for the first time ever! she was so cute scrunching her eyes shut]
it was a sunny day and we couldn’t wait to get out! we headed to oakbrook center with my sister to grab some lunch and look around. we beelined for table at crate, as thuy hadn’t eaten there and i really enjoyed my prior experience.
it was such a beautiful day! we sat outside, facing the fountain and enjoyed our meals. as we were finishing up the girls wanted to play by the fountain and i let them, as they were in eyesight from our table.
we basically lounged around, relaxed, walked the mall and the girls had fun wherever we went! i thought jeni’s ice cream was open but i was wrong! it wasn’t open yet and we were a bit bummed because we were looking forward to getting some yummy treats there! instead, we hopped on over to lolli and pops for some sweet treats and decided to walk towards nordstrom on our way out to the car.
uhhhhh, that was a big mistake! we walked by top shop and i couldn’t stop shopping! i found so many good things and we ended up being up there for 45 minutes or so. then, i brilliantly decided to go to the kid’s shoe department and buy the girls some new shoes. the problem here was that i needed to meet hc and grace for dinner!!! we were still shopping for the girl’s shoes when i should have been at the meeting place! LOL terrible! we rushed though our purchase and the worst part about us being late??? we still had to drive thuy home to our house so she could get her car!!! arghhhhhh!
well, the good news and not so good news was the wait for the restaurant that we wanted to eat at had a very long wait, so that was our saving grace! we sped home, dropped thuy off, the girls took a bathroom break, we freshened up, and zoomed back to downtown dg to meet hc and grace for dinner! phew!
all in all, it was a fabulous day and evening! we had such a great afternoon with my sister and topped it off with a lovely dinner with our family. cheers to sunny days off!
[the coolest stairs]
[posin’]
[leave it to my girls to organize the chess board]
it was becky’s birthday and i text her to wish her a happy one when she text me back to say that she was coming into town in a couple weeks! yayyyyyyyy!
honestly, we see each other once a year because i rely heavily on her coming home for christmas. the last two years, though, she’s either gone to cali or nyc for christmas and we were super duper sad about it.
well, they were coming into town {the whole an clan was meeting up!} and we had to see them! it was all last minute and i was hoping i could coordinate a whole get together with my sisters too but that idea wasn’t in the cards. we threw dates around and it was slim pickings. the only day open for the both of us was monday and by george it was going to happen no matter what!
we decided to order food in and relax, catch up and just be. they arrived promptly and the festivities began! oh, it was soooooo damn joyous to see them! they are such good people and we love them so much! ruby and wren joined right in with the girls and disappeared immediately.
we laughed, we drank, we ate, we giggled, we shared story after story. the boys hung out. the girls hung out. we hung out all together. the kids put on several plays for us adults and played dress up to their heart’s content.
the night rolled on and time flew by way too fast. we were having too much fun! we were super bummed we had to wrap things up as this was a regular evening for us with a regular next day. unfortunately, we were not on vacation mode like the carlsons. LOL we wish!
we hesitantly said our goodbyes, gave big hugs, and wished them a fabulous rest of their time here. our evening was perfect. we had so much fun catching up and being together. i love it when longtime friends can get together after years and it feels the same but not the same. ya know what i mean?!
we love you becky, james, ruby, and wren! we hope our time together next is not too long in-between.
so last year, we decided to get the girls into swim lessons. yes, maybe to some, a bit late in the game but i think it’s never too late! you just gotta do what is right for you and the kiddos. {olive was 4 and ellie was 2} well, last year, ellie and swim lessons were like oil and water and we totally caved in and didn’t make her do it because she didn’t like it. olive didn’t love it but she did it. we did private lessons at our private pool and it was alright. i felt that it was hard to schedule lessons that worked for both parties and sometimes the weather wasn’t on our side, so that stymied her progress.
well this year, we enrolled the girls into goldfish swim school and we recently had their first lesson there. hc and i were both nervous over ellie because of the run for our money she gave us last year. i touch based with the general manager about ellie and even talked to the deck supervisor about her having a possible meltdown during her lesson.
they were both so reassuring and understanding. they told me to not worry and to keep ellie at it. they said they deal with crying children all the time. obviously, not their first rodeo but it was so nice to hear those supportive words, it’s exactly what anxious parents need to hear!
so, ellie’s first lesson went something like this. screaming, crying, shrieking, clawing, desperation, terror…just a few descriptive words of her thirty minute session. total props to her swim instructor for being so patient and sweet with her. we waved to ellie from behind the glass wall, feeling a little helpless and knowing that she needed to go through the ‘lesson’ and get comfortable with this. i didn’t take one photo of her during the this, as i tried to stay as far away as possible to not interfere or cause her to become more upset.
olive, on the other hand, did soooo well! she loved it! she was so excited and loved every second of her lesson. she’s become so comfortable in the water and i love that she is learning so much!
that was their first week! scroll down to see the second week of lessons!!!
[she’s ready for swim lessons!]
[ellie – not so ready]
[just keep swimming, just keep swimming]
[my sweet girl]
[floating like a starfish ~ her favorite part of the lesson]
[way to go girl!]
[ellie after her lesson]
[that face!]
*****
{week 2}
well, we had no worries with olive and her lesson but we were both anxious over miss ellie. what was it going to be like? was she going to scream for thirty minutes again? what if she really, really doesn’t like it? it’s so torturous to watch her be so upset for so long!
well, well, well…her second lesson turned out AMAZING!!!!! she was game and ready. she listened to the instructor, didn’t scream for dada, and she was all smiles!!! she even let the swim teacher dunk her head underwater twice!!!! wow…i am so proud of you miss ellie! we {kinda} knew you would get there! ok, we had doubts but we WANTED you to and you did!
she loved wearing her goggles, did such a great job with her classmates and her teacher. she was even waving to hc while she was in the water! what a champ! oh ellie, you are full of surprises and we love you for all your might, stalwart ways.
thank you, thank you to goldfish swim school! you guys are so wonderful. you have made this ‘first’ time experience so fabulous. from the first instructor who was so sweet to ellie, although she screamed the entire time and to the entire staff who have been so friendly and encouraging through this process. thank you so much!
i highly recommend anyone going to a goldfish school near them! you won’t be disappointed!
on ellie’s actual birthday, my sister kim took the back half of the day off of work to meet us for a lunch outing to celebrate miss ellie.
we met them at table at crate, a new restaurant inside crate and barrel. actually, the only restaurant inside any crate and barrel. it had opened seven days prior, so we were super excited to try it.
i was excited there was no wait as we waited for kim and the boys to arrive. we were seated inside, as they do not have seating for more than a party of four alfresco. our server was super sweet and nice, the kids were well behaved, and the food was delicious. we absolutely enjoyed all the dishes we ordered!
my most favorite dishes were actually the waffle fries with aioli and the shishito peppers. the peppers were made with a soy balsamic and dusted in chili flakes. not too spicy or hot and perfectly balanced in flavors for lovely savory bites. the waffles fries came with a couple of dipping sauces and all of them were tasty and delicious. i mean, who doesn’t like to dip?!
they don’t have a washroom in the restaurant…they only have the ones they have always had, upstairs in the furniture section. so, ellie needing to go to the bathroom several times during our sit down meal was quite the trek! we were back and forth, back and forth, back and forth – up the escalator and down {most of them were false alarms} but i am so proud of her for doing such a great job at remembering to go when she needs to! my potty trained champ!
after our meal, we decided to walk the mall {it was so beautiful out} and go wherever the kids wanted to go. we stopped at a few stores, bought a few trinkets, and called it a day. i also happen to run into my friend kim and her friend amy! that was a lovely surprise! they were there shopping at the mall and we were able to chat a bit before i left to go home with the girls!
once home, we settled in, relaxed and waited for hc to get home. we had a very chill evening, lit a candle on a cake and sang happy birthday to our dear ellie. the smitten, joyous, slightly embarrassed expression on her face while we were singing is priceless. the whole day was very relaxing…just what i wanted for us all.
my dear ellie…you are the best. celebrating you and your uniqueness makes our hearts so full. thank you for being you. we love you so much my dear girl.
ellie’s birthday party planning started out slow and a bit clueless. i wasn’t sure what i wanted to do so i looked at some birthday invites and saw the theme – young, wild, and three and that perfectly described ellie!!!
then came pinterest and the creative juices started flowing. once that starts, i can’t seem to stop and one idea trumps another and another and that’s when it gets dangerous up in my noggin’. i then start searching for decorations and if i can’t find it, i will make it!
hc and i spent the week preparing for the party. he took care of the yard, the tables, chairs, and helped me with setting up some of the decor where i needed more than two hands; he helped with the food, and some other odds and ends. i spent the week stopping at party stores, grocery stores, clothing stores, cleaning the house, crafting all the diy decor, and slowly setting up each area. i did most of my decorating on friday, the day before the party, and completed the finishing touches on saturday morning. i definitely wanted our morning {the day of the fête} to be more low key, low stress, and calm before all the guests arrived mid afternoon.
the last thing i did was decorate the cake! i was excited to have my vision come to life! my oldest sister, kim, did the fabulous floral arrangements. she’s sooooo talented!!!! each vase turned out absolutely amazing and gorgeous! she picked out the most perfect items to create our jungle themed look {i only showed her an inspiration pic and she killed it in interpretation!}! i asked her for leftover flowers for ellie’s cake and it was like she read my mind on what i wanted to do…she brought over the most perfect flowers and leaves for the cake! exactly what i wanted!
i made an onion dip and cheese plate for our guests as appetizers and we ordered food from a local joint. everything was turning out just right. the guests arrived in a timely fashion, the food arrived as expected, and the rest of the afternoon was awesome.
after we ate, we brought ellie outside to show her the birthday present gramma and papa bought her! it was a unicorn water play table! i also got her/them a rainbow sprinkler. the girls then changed into swimsuits and played outside in the water for a bit.
after a stint in the hot outdoors, i gathered everyone back in to sing happy birthday to ellie! i tried getting her back into her themed dress but that was an utter failure {honestly…i just didn’t push it}. LOL so she wore her unicorn swimsuit for her big candle blow out!
i served up cake, ice cream, and macarons and soon afterwards, our guests started to trickle out. it was the most perfect timing, though. once i brought everyone inside for cake, the sky opened and started POURING. so, while everyone finished up with dessert and the rain finally let up, it was a sign to go!
hc and i did our thing. we cleaned up like pro’s while the babes bathed and afterwards, ellie {and olive} opened up all her gifts! oh my goodness. it was such a wonderrrrrrrrrFULL day. like so good. the decor turned out so damn fun, the food was so good, our guests were the best and we couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon to celebrate our baby ellie.
sweet girl, you are amazing. you are funny. you are silly. you are strong. you are sweet. you are loving. you are sassy. you are beautiful. you are everything good and everything you want to be! we love you so much that descriptive words insult the feeling that is so big within our hearts.
happy birthday precious babe. we love you to infinity and beyond.
[how sweet is she??]
[hat by little blue olive]
[oh olive]
[i said, “smile ellie!”]
[favors: glassine bag of candies, tattoos, and organic play dough – in a zebra print, of course! – housed in a brown paper bag, stamped, and i calligraphy the kid’s names]
[all the favor goodies]
[play dough from ellie and piper co}
[our sweet family]
[the bar table! plastic garland banner from glamfete]
[drink menu]
[my kind of town…]
[party straws and stirrers]
[floral arrangements by the great and talented kim]
[i hand stamped the zebra onto the napkins]
[hc’s side]
[lynne and barbara]
[animal masks for our guests]
[hand drawn, hand cut leaves, calligraphy by crazy me place cards. hc spray painted the animals and glued each card to them]
[table setting for our guests]
[i couldn’t get over the stunning arrangements by my sister. she does a phenomenal job every time!]
[the wood looking plates are biodegradable and are made out of palm leaves!]
[dessert bar]
[favor bags]
[it’s never a party without french macarons!]
[cake decorated by yours truly with left over flowers my sister left me!]
[i couldn’t pick just one pic to post of us!]
[cheese plate i hastily threw together last minute!!!]
[mom and dad or also known as rimma and ba]
[hand written menu. i tore apart a paper bag and hand wrote/calligraphy the food we were serving]
[dan and agata]
[me and thuy]
[silly cousins]
[sista sista]
]so excited over gramma and papa’s birthday present to ellie!]
[what a big girl]
[very hesitant to go under the rainbow sprinkler…she eventually put her hand in it. that was it! LOL]
it was a very long, long awaited playdate with kim and famille. like way too long! let’s be clear…it was one year since i had seen them last! whaaaaaaaa? kim and i planned 5 different times to see each other but each time, unfortunately, something always came up for kim and we had to cancel every time.
well, the waiting was over and we secured a date and boom! it happened! olive was so excited to see brady! when she woke up in the morning, she said to me she needed to hurry up and brush her teeth cause she wanted to go see brady! hahaha! too damn cute!
we could have left on time but i am at fault for wanting to do one million more things before we walked out the door, then once we did…we literally turned back around cause i forget to get the girls to the bathroom and we had a long car ride ahead of us! arghhhhh. we finally hit the road one hour after we were suppose to leave. like wtf. i am usually not this late but this was probably a record tardy start for me!
we arrived in no time, quite surprisingly and the girls couldn’t not wait to get inside! once they stepped foot inside…i didn’t see them for an hour. just kidding but they literally ran away from me and were outta sight. LOL i hugged kim and we started chatting. as i have said in the past…the girlfriends i have {kim is no different}, we have this tendency to talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. no joke…time literally flies by when i am with kim. we can gab about anything and everything!
it was super nice cause the kids are at an age where they are very low maintenance and they all play so well together. so, mikey {kim’s hubby} kept the kids entertained as they ate their lunch and kim and i ate our lunch in another room. that was awesome.
before i knew it, three hours flew by and we needed to go! olive had gymnastics and i knew traffic back home was going to be a nightmare. we quickly said our goodbyes {sadly…no one wanted to leave, including me!} and headed back home.
it was such a fun afternoon and a much needed catch up time with kim! i told her, we cannot have another year go by where we don’t see each other! i don’t think that has ever happened in the 10 years that we’ve known each other! crossing our fingers we can squeeze in a zoo date before school starts.
[make a wish!]
