Elyanah's actual birthday day!

E's birthday day was such a great day. Jason took the day off from work so that we could have a family day together! I decorated her bedroom door and the kitchen the night before, and I loved seeing her reaction to it all when she woke up. 

This was on her door

This was the kitchen area. The presents were from us and then her Maw Maw and G. G. whose presents came in the day before her birthday. 

 She got to have her very first donut (dairy free) ever for her birthday. She wasn't really that impressed with it. Sugar isn't something that she really cares for as much.

After breakfast, we opened all the presents. First up was Maw Maw's present which was an outfit and a tea set. 

G.G. got E her first pair of play high heels. She was very excited!

We got her this little Minnie Bowtique set. It was so adorable! 

We also got her a chair for outside on the patio. 

Our other big gift was her swing set that was also from my parents and Jason's dad and stepmom. It wasn't set up at the time of her birthday but there will be pictures to come. 

For a family day, we took E to the Dallas World Aquarium. She loves fish and animals so we knew this would be something she would really enjoy, and we were right. =) We tried to take pictures when we got to the aquarium and this was the best we got..hehe. 

Checking it all out 

 "Mom stop telling me to say cheese, I'm busy looking around."

Watching the otters get fed by the staff

She liked the sting rays. 

Really trying hard to stay still =)

 Being silly

"Seriously mom, stop telling me to stop to take a picture." 

Hanging out with the sharks

 My big girl too big to spend time in the stroller 

It was such a great day at the aquarium together as a family. I love being able to celebrate this wonderful gift that God gave me. I am so thankful that she entered my life 2 years ago!

Elyanah's party

This is going to be a long post (sorry!) I just didn't feel like separating it into two posts since I am so far behind in updates. I'll do the decorations first, and then show pictures of the actual party.

This was the table in the kitchen full of all the food and the happy birthday sign I made with my handy dandy Silhouette machine.

Close up of the the pretty cupcake toppers I made as well

Aren't these little Mickey Mouse centerpieces cute? Super easy to make as well. 

We had a little area for kids to decorate bows to entertain themselves while everyone arrived. The kids had a lot of fun even the boys enjoyed making them. 

Once they were done decorating, they could tape the bow on Minnie poster

All the kids were able to pick out ears to wear during the party. I followed this tutorial to make them. Let me just tell you these were a labor of love people, a labor of love.

Her cute little monthly pictures up on the refrigerator 

This was the book that I had all the guests sign while they were there. I had a book at her party last year, and I look forward to continuing this tradition!

The party favor table

Ok now on to the actual party!! After everyone arrived, we quickly did the cupcakes and sang happy birthday. Yes I know there is only one candle but this was her first experience with fire so I was just trying to keep the chance of injury down to a minimum. ( you can see my hand in the picture ready to pounce if she reached for it)

She enjoyed her cupcake. 

She preferred to eat the icing mostly...my kind of girl! 

We then opened presents! She had so much fun doing that!

After presents were done, all the kids went out and played in the pools, the water table and played with the bubble machine.

Once everyone started to leave, they took their picture in front of the Mickey Mouse back drop. Here are just a few of the people that came. 

Some of my closest friends. Love them. 

My brother and my niece

Jason and I took a million and one pictures of E in front of the back drop. She was thoroughly amused.

My cute little Minnie! Words can not express how thankful I am for this little spirited passionate girl. She is my heart.

Be back to talk about her actual birthday day soon!

Overview of August

So......it's been awhile. Sorry about that. I really have missed this blogging world and don't want to give this little blog up. August was just a busy busy busy month. My family came in for an extended stay, and we celebrated a little girl's birthday and our anniversary. Plus I spent a lot of time every  night working on projects for E's birthday party. There was just no time to blog BUT I'm glad to be back and hope to be more regular now that the craziness of August is over. I plan to do several posts about her party and actual birthday but for now  here are some pictures of an overview of what we did in August.

E went to the trampoline park for the very first time and she LOVED it. We went during toddler time so there weren't really many big kids there and I am jumping with her the whole time so I felt she was safe =) She talks about the trampoline all the time and we have already gone twice in the last month.

Dancing to Taylor Swift music

My nephew was here for 3 weeks doing some intensive physical therapy and E enjoyed every minute of him being here. She still asks for him every morning. He was pushing her around on her bike in the hallway and they were having a blast.

 E got into my make up one day and used my liquid eye liner to paint her feet! Ha! Serves me right for leaving the bag within her reach - I learned my lesson =)

 We have had play dates with our neighbors in our swimming pool in our backyard. That pool has been awesome for us!

We started our fall dance class (she is the one sitting on the blue mat). She did such a good job going in without me and she wants to go to dance class every day. She loves it and her teacher Miss Whitney. 

We enjoyed splash park time on a rainy day of all days! It was still hot, and we had fun!

We played at the park on the mornings when it wasn't extremely horribly hot. 

Overall, a wonderful month in the books for memories. Be back soon to talk about her birthday party!