Thursday, March 28, 2013

Eliana's 2nd Birthday {Finding Nemo Style}

My favorite little red head turned 2 on March 22nd, but we celebrated her birthday on the 14th. The girls on the soccer team are like big sisters to Eliana and I wanted to make sure they were able to join us for her party- they were all leaving for spring break the next day.

I absolutely LOVE birthday parties! My mom always made sure that our birthdays were a very special day that included a theme party and lots of friends and games. I would love to continue that tradition with my girls. Nate and I have talked about what sort of traditions we would like to do for a our girls, an when we talk about birthday traditions, I just get SO excited! :) :)

Finding Nemo has pretty much characterized the life of Miss Eliana Lou since she was 10 months old until about 4 months ago. We ended up traveling a decent amount after Eliana turned 1 and watching this movie was just about the only thing that would keep her entertained. I'm not sure how parents took trips without the technology we have available today! I am soooooo thankful for our iPad and for Finding Nemo- it has definitely kept me sane on quite a few trips. :)

Here are some pictures from Eliana's Party. 

I can't believe my sweet little girl is 2! She loved her party and two of her favorite gifts were her Mickey Mouse and Woody from us. 


My first attempt at a shaped cake. As long as Eliana knew who the cake was, I was satisfied! :)


Her Birthday Bunting


Nemo Cookies


You can't have a fish party without some gold fish...


Cupcakes. 


We "found" Nemo and he was sitting on the table to welcome the party guests. :0) 


The Table Spread with the desserts/snacks

My poor watermelon "shark" is missing his top row of teeth because I ran out of time, but I still thought it looked cool and so did my little nephew. :)
The blue jello jigglers even had fish "swimming" on them. 


One of my favorite parts about the party was the photo op. All of the party guests wrote Eliana a special message on the chalkboard and had their pictures taken with their message. 
Nate thinks he is so funny sometimes. :)


Our family at the photo op. 


A picture with my beautiful little 2 year old right before we sang Happy Birthday. 


The next two pictures were on Eliana's actual birthday. One of the traditions we would like to continue is to have birthday pancakes for the girls on the morning of their actual birthday.  
 

Eliana LOVES pancakes and she was super excited about the sprinkles and the "2" on her plate.


Since today is all about Eliana we took her out to eat at Pizza Hut since she loves pizza as well.
 {pizza and sweets...this girl is a mini-me!}

I am so incredibly blessed to have this sweet little girl in my life. All I can say is thank you, Lord. 









Friday, March 8, 2013

Duck Dynasty Party!

February 27, 2013...does this date mean anything to you?? Well it does to my family...it was the Season 3 Premier of Duck Dynasty. This show has easily become one of our favorite shows to watch as a family. Even Eliana recognizes the theme song and says "Duck Dynasty?" 

To celebrate the Season 3 Premier, we had some friends over to our house for a little party. :) 

Here are some pictures...


My friend Jami snapped these pictures. 
The two pictures on the left were by our front door. 


Oh, Si. :)


Close-up of my Duck Dynasty Cupcakes.


Some DD cupcakes


Welcome to the party...


Food! 


My Duck Commander labels that I made


One more picture of the table.