Ella's Birthday Luau!

I cannot believe our baby is 2 already! The saying "time flies" really takes affect after you have children. It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital and she was keeping us up screaming all night! It has been honestly 2 years of wonderful blessing for us. Sure, there's times we want to ring her neck, but can any parent honestly say that's not true?? :)
We (I) decided to do a Hawaiian-type theme this year, mostly because I found TONS of decorations at the Dollar Tree! Gotta love it!! We had some really cool decorations, including a light up palm tree we borrowed from a friend, and I found on-line one of those pictures with the faces cut out of a Hawaiian couple that you could have your picture taken in. I am bummed I didn't get pics of the decorations, atleast on my camera. I guess I was a little busy and forgot to designate that job to someone! Ella wore a Hawaiian dress I scored off of eBay; she looked so precious.



Brad and I got Ella a Cozy Car Coupe... what I like to call the Flintstones car! It's so cute and she just LOVES it! She got lots of nice gifts from family and friends, now we have to go through and get rid of some old toys! She's luckily still at the age where I can do that rather painlessly. I'm hoping in the future to teach her to willingly give some to other children in need. I hope it's that easy!
Now you see why we need to get rid of some toys??



She was excited to open the first few gifts, but then got completely sidetracked. There were quite a few kids there and she was more worried about what they were doing; she didn't want to miss out on the fun! So, I opened the last half of the gifts on her behalf. :)
See her in the background while I'm doing her job??



She got this great little patio set from her Uncle Brian and fam. I really like it..she insisted on eating her dinner there with her cousin Addie!



This is after she suckered her cousin into opening a few things for her. She's a happy little mother!



And the best part...cupcakes! (Thanks Aunt Denise!) Ella actually blew out her own candles this year! She must have a lot of hot air like her dad. ;)



Lastly, here's a pic of her in her "new car" when the party was winding down. The dress came off and she was cruising!





All in all, it was a very HOT, but fun day. It was nice to have all the family over and celebrate our greatest blessing with them. Until next year!!