Ellie's Birthday Party

We decided to celebrate Ellie's birthday today so that both sets of grandparents could attend. I realized this morning that there was still much to do! Although Colette made the cake for all in attendance, I wanted to make Ellie a special cake just for her. Let's talk about the prep! I decided that I needed to have a little more fun with this birthday party than I was originally planning on having. I had a hard time coming up with a theme. At first I was just going to make a random cake. But how blah is that? My only daughter having her FIRST birthday and I don't have a theme? What kind of mother am I? So I figured since I made her those black-apple-dolls for her birthday (and am re-doing her room with that theme), I decided: DOLL THEME!

The boys even helped me with clean up duty! I remember my Mom always used to let us kids "help out" like this, too. Just teaching them young!

The final product

I also made cupcakes for the kids with the left-over batter.

See, look how much happiness comes from helping Mommy out!

The room. (I promise I'll get to the party soon!). The re-decorating of the room was part of my gift to her, so I HAVE to include it in this entry of course. (More pics to come at a later date).

This is the cake that Granny B made for everyone (I pre-cut some left-over fondant and slapped it on before everyone cut into it. Probably wrecked the original beautiful taste).

I love this pic, because it looks like Ellie is drunk while giving a peace sign! Haha! "Best... duuuuuurrrr... pardeeee evvvvvrr." (That's her slurring her words. If she could talk).

Time to sing!!

Not sure what to think with all this attention. Or the fire in her face. One or the other.

She wasn't sure what to do with it at first. "Are you actually going to let me touch this and get my dainty little fingers sticky?"

Too slow! I cut up the cake so she could really dig in.

Zoning....

Why did I make her a white cake and not chocolate? To test her. To see if she was truly Burnham or Ord. Well, guess what....

She's an Ord.

Could not eat it fast enough.

"Hannah, smile!" and this is what I got. What a cutie.

Jax wouldn't give me the time of day. Too busy getting down to business.

Taylor, Noah and Sarah (and Christie). ;)

Granny B taking charge! (Thanks Granny!!)

Grandma and Grandpa O.

Matt and Char-Char-Binks. I lover her "What are you doing Dad? Don't embarrass me" face.

Ellie still going strong.

Sarah was trying to help Ellie with her spoon, and Ellie thought she was thieving it. She's got a grip!

Sarah made it up to her by introducing "Mint Chocolate Chip" ice cream (a traditional ice cream amongst Ord birthdays).

And she loved it.

After a quick bath it was time for PRESENTS!

Okay, I know this isn't a "presents" picture, but I thought it was adorable with the two girls together.

Now HERE is a "presents" picture. It was cute to watch the kids excitement! They all wanted to help Ellie open her gifts. In fact, I'm pretty sure she didn't even have to touch wrapping paper once. There we go with our "helping hands" again!

Jax gave her a Beauty and the Beast baby doll. She played with it the majority of the evening.

Grandma and Grandpa O gave her some super cute books to add to her library.

The stroller was from Noah. Another fav of the night.

As you can see, I took millions of pictures and if I posted them all, this would be even longer than it already is!! So, I'm just going to leave it at, "Thanks to everyone who came and for all of the adorable presents! Thank you for being so thoughtful!"

I will end it with my original gift to Ellie. The dolls. She pretty much loved them and just wanted to hug and eat them. SUCCESS!

"Hey, she looks like me!"

She kept going back to this one, which is cute/ironic because I named this one the "Eleanor Doll" after her.

Happy Birthday (again)! I love you!

Who Likes Pie?

I'll be honest, I don't "love" pie, but I love chocolate chip cookies, so I combined the two to make a chocolate-lava chocolate chip cookie pie for our first book club of the year. Such pressure! Just kidding. Our book clubs lately have been a bit scattered with all of our move-outs and move-ins. So, with the new year in front of us we've decided to go back to a monthly book club! Our first book of the year? "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley. Get it? Sweetness? Chocolate Lava? Sarah dashed my excitement by telling me that technically the chocolate-lava, or rather the "sweetness" was not exactly at the bottom of the pie, but rather in the middle. Doh.

In the club: Barb Butler, Moi, Tarilyn, Amelia Low, and Sarah (missing is Cassie Bayley. And all of my friends that have moved away. Thanks a lot!).

So, this book is about a witty 11-year old girl, Flavia, from the 50's who tries solving a murder-mystery. With this book being a mystery and all, I decided that my BC girls could do a little "solving" themselves! So, I had them unscramble some words to find out where I hid their "treasure" (which was their Ulster-Avenger stamp from the book).

The best part about the picture above is that I accidentally kept the camera on "timer mode" as I was trying to get an action shot of the girls figuring out their mysteries. AND by the time it was ready to flash, Amelia finished her scramble, got up to find the stamp and sat back down just in time to pose! Haha! Maybe my mystery-game wasn't mysterious enough.... Or she's just that good!

Or, she just really wanted to win the "Flavia Crown." That's right people. The one who solved their mystery first got to wear the crown that allows them to have top-priority over discussions. If they have something to say while someone else is talking, they can shut them right up with a flash of the Flavia-Crown and say what they want, when they want! And trust me, a very-deserving-Amelia used it! And used it well. She'd make a great Queen.

We matched. Was I embarrassed? Nay! Honored.

But my BC girls were not so happy to have the crown-wearing Amelia in their midst. Jealousy: A definitely motive for her death that may happen some time this week. Watch out Amelia.

I had a great time hanging out with my BC girls! The book was fun to discuss (and a great read!), but let's face it, after a while discussion always leads to other topics. Like life. It was just fun to be able to have a girls night, which has not happened in a long time! It makes me grateful for the friends I have (and also makes me miss the ones who have moved away). Looking forward to next month!