Happy Birthday Ellasen!

We had a birthday party for Ellasen on Sunday at our house. The theme was "Ice Cream Cone". Ellasen chose the theme herself, and she shared her party with her friend Kylie who was turning 1! She had a great time eating cake and ice cream and opening presents. I think her favorite part was having everyone sing happy birthday to her. She also loved the ice cream cone shaped bubbles we gave out as favors. We had a cake shaped like an ice cream cone, ice cream cone cupcakes, homemade ice cream sandwiches, and a huge ice cream sundae bar. We also served dinner (lasagna, salad & garlic bread). Huge thanks to Emily, baby Kylie's mom and my good friend, for helping to host, for spending 4 hours making the cake with me, and for helping me decorate and pull the whole thing off! We made a great team! Also, a big thank you to everyone who came to celebrate! You all are the best friends two little girls (and two big girls :) ) could ask for! You treat us and our kids like family!

This was the girls' party invitation

Decorations

Sundae Bar

 Smash Cakes

The birthday girls with their friend Kinsley

On the morning of Ellasen's real birthday I put her candle in her bagel and sang Happy Birthday just to her. She blew out the candle herself this time...she was too nervous at her party! 

Later on in the day Daddy came home for a little while and Ellasen got to open some more gifts! She got Lego's, play dough and some movies from Mommy and Daddy and a Rock and Roll Elmo from Grandpa. I forgot to get pictures of her opening her gifts from Grandma, but she got snow pants and boots, a cute vest, a purse and a book! We are leaving tomorrow to make the trip to Michigan to see my family and we will have another little party there with Nana and Papa and all the rest of my family. Ellasen is a lucky girl! 

Craft Show

Some of my super crafty friends decided to participate in a local craft show recently.  Since I have been making headbands for Ellasen since I can remember I decided to join in with them! We had a great time, and I actually did pretty well making a small profit! Plus, Ellasen can wear the left overs! The first few photos are Ellasen modeling some of the headbands, and the next couple are at the craft show. My friends Emily and Sari are really talented!

Visitors! Aunt Di and Uncle Dave

We had some fun visitors this last weekend. My Aunt Di and Uncle Dave came up for the weekend. We had a great time hanging out, watching football and going to a haunted house with Ellasen (Not a scary one, don't worry!). The guys played a lot of golf while the girls went shopping. We had a great time!

Ellasen at the "Haunted" House

One video - Ellasen was pretty wound up one night before bed. She was running around the house singing so I decided to record it! 

Halloween 2011

We had a great time this Halloween! This was the first year we took Ellasen trick or treating. She was a ladybug, and her costume was perfect because it was nice and warm and had a built in hood! We thought she might be shy, but she did a great job - a "trick or treat" and a "thank you" at almost every house! Tim and I probably had even more fun. It was a really nice night, and we live in such a nice neighborhood to be out in the evening. There were a lot of people out and lots of kids with really cute costumes. Ellasen even trick or treated on Daddy at our house before we headed in for the night. So much fun! I love having a toddler! (most of the time!)

 The first house