Ellie's Bubble Bash!

My little girl turned 3 at the end of May and we celebrated her birthday over Memorial Weekend with a huge party, lots of food, and even more fun! I had been planning her birthday for a few months, bought decorations, planned out the food and activities only to ditch it completely a month before. Craziness I tell you!

We decided to ring in the big 3 with a bubble bash! It all started with the adorable invitations from ElementDStudio. I fell in love with her invitation and the theme had more range for fun and creativity. I would think of one thing and then another, and then another. I like parties that are fun, relaxing, and have just enough to keep everyone entertained with activities people can do at their own pace. We had about 60 people (including kids) at the party so it was a pretty big party, but a ton of fun! It was definitely less stressful than her first birthday party, I've learned to start early and keep the DIYs simple.

I had ElementDStudio create matching coloring pages from the invite to use for bubble painting. It was so much fun! A drop or two of food dye in bubbles and voila! It's such a fun activity and something different for the kids to enjoy. I picked up these cute craft aprons for the kids to wear to protect their clothing and the colors matched great with our bright theme.

These fun popcorn boxes were at the Target $1 spot and I knew I had to get them! The tables were covered in different colors and matched with different boxes. I picked up some flowers in the morning from Costco, used some tin cans from IKEA for snack mix, and filled small cups with bubble gum.

We also had a big bubble station for the kids with a ton of different wands (I bought two sets of these and picked up some more at our dollar store). For favors, the kids each got a bubble set with a net to catch their bubbles (it was awesome with our bubble machine) and ElementDStudio created matching tags "Thanks for POPPING over and making my party BUBBLICIOUS!" They were my favorite touch!

A few days before, I thought it would be a great idea to make a photo backdrop and it turned out really great for being a last minute craft. Matt had built the PVC pipe stand from a previous party and I used $1 table cloths and garlands I already had. It turned out so cute and I love it in all of our pics! I'll definitely be doing it again for Emma's birthday at the end of summer.

For food, I made tissue poms (so easy!) and balloons for decorations and we served pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, watermelon, and baked beans. Matt had been making the meat since the day before and it was so tender and juicy! ElementDStudio made matching food labels as well.

Danielle of Pretty Posh Shoppe made Ellie the cutest hat and cake banner! She's made a hat for Ellie every year and I've kept all of them as a keepsakes. They're adorable and perfect for the birthday girl!

I just wanted to give a HUGE shoutout to Marin from ElementDStudio! Marin was so easy to work with and made all my party dreams come true with the invites, coloring pages, food labels, and favor tags. I love all the colors and they helped bring together our theme so well. They added such a nice touch to the details and I couldn't be happier with her work! If you're planning a party, definitely check her out! It was nice to have one shop to get all matching items to pull the party together.

We had so much fun celebrating her big day! Last year, we just had a small family party and plan to only do big parties every other year instead. It was fun to go all out for her, she was so excited and talked about her "happy" for weeks!! Thank you so much to all our friends and family who came and celebrated with us!

Our Weekend

Last week I was on vacation and today starts my first week back to the grind. We had such a great weekend and the girls actually slept in on Sunday! I didn't know it was possible. When we woke up we brought the girls to our bed for some snuggling, made french toast for breakfast with fresh blueberries, and then just did stuff around the house. It was so nice to be together with no schedule and stay at home. We're always on the go and I just relish these days without plans together.

Top (out of stock, similar here) // Shorts // Wedges

Saturday night Matt's work had a big social event so we got a little date night out. It was so fun and a lot of his coworkers all had kids around the same ages as our girls so we all had so much to talk about. Everyone he works with is so nice and it was great to meet their wives. I actually know a lot of them already from working at the same place back in college and through my girlfriend who also worked there for several years. The food was great and the company was a lot of fun. I know Matt enjoys working there, and I can see why! They were goofing off the whole night.

Wedges // Purse

For my birhtday, my SIL and BIL gave me an Old Navy gift card and I picked up these two items with it. I've had my eye on this saddle bag forever and it's blush perfection! I've fallen in love with these Chloe espadrilles, but there's no way I would ever pay so much for a shoe! I saw these online and thought they were similar in style. I wasn't 100% on them, but they were super comfortable. I wore them out with the above outfit and they didn't hurt my feet at all! At the very end of the night, after 6+ hours in them, I had two spots on my feet that were getting a bit sore, but that's it. No real pain. That never happens ya'll. Go get yourself a pair.

Top & Bloomer Set

We are taking family pics in August and Emma's outfit just came in and it's so cute!! I absolutely love this and I'm gonna pair it with a cute headband and matching moccs. The back opens up and I think it's gonna photograph really pretty. I want her to wear it now, but I'm afraid of it somehow getting ruined before our pics so I'm just gonna put it away for now.

Shorts

I was just sent an 8 in 1 wand curler that I've been playing with and it's so fun. I'm going to play with it some more and try all the wand options and will be doing a full review soon. So far, I'm loving it. It's definitely different than using a curling iron with a clip, but I like how the curls are turning out! Do you use a wand or curling iron? Have any tips or YouTube video tutorials I can watch?

Hope you're all having a great week! Happy Monday, thank you for stopping by!

Our Little Emma's Owie

If you follow me on Snapchat or Instagram, you've seen that our little Emma Brooke has her first major boo boo and has a full cast on her left arm. Poor baby! I feel so terrible, but I'm so thankful that she's ok! Thank God for children's resiliency, she has been such a sweetheart and her cast hasn't even slowed her down any. 

It all started with a wooden stool, which has since been thrown out. Ellie has a stool that she uses in the kitchen to help us bake and wash her hands. Emma was playing next to it (Ellie wasn't on it or using it at the time) and started to pull herself up on it when it fell over onto her hand. She cried really hard, but for less than a minute and that was it. I check her fingers, legs, etc and couldn't really see anything so I went to work and took her to daycare. When we came home that night her finger was swollen and bruised, but it wasn't bothering her. She could make a fist, she was using it to grab toys and crawl, putting all her weight on it, and she didn't wince when we squeezed it. We decided to just watch it and see what happens. 

The swelling went down, but the top of her finger was still swollen so we brought her in to have it checked out. The doctor did all of the same "tests" I did and thought we should get x-rays just to be safe. She sent them out to orthopedics who said there was a break and to come in the next day to have a look further. So we went in and saw the doctor, took more x-rays, and he wasn't sure what to do. He said that her body would probably fix it on it's own, but for adults they would need surgery. He went back and forth about what would be best and asked us to sit tight while he took the case to a meeting for other doctors to review. He called us late that night to tell us it was a tie and he still had mixed feelings about the best route to go since she's so young. He said if it had happened to Eleanor he would know exactly what to do, but Emma is so young he was worried about making the right decision and referred us to a baby orthopedic doctor to see the next day. 

The specialist was amazing and I'm so glad we were able to meet with her. We talked about how it happened, how she's been, and she was saying how tough she is. Anderson strong my dad would say. She said that babies bones go overlooked all the time since they heal so quickly and are unable to tell us if it's bothering them. She said we had done the right things and decided that it's best to wait and let her finger heal on it's own. We're going to monitor her healing process and go back to see her several times in the next year. She said there's a chance that surgery may still be needed, but she think her body will correct it on its own. If you look at the first pictures of the x-ray, there's a round ball that's up that should be sitting in the pocket of the bone. The specialist said that it's best to cast her arm to protect her from falling or from her finger being stepped on and damaged further. They had to cast her arm up to her elbow because she would have wriggled out of it by the time I hit the parking lot. She has to keep it on for two weeks and then she'll be good to go. 

She is such a special girl, I can't believe how well she's been handling everything. She's sleeping just fine, hasn't been fussy, crawls everywhere, and is just as happy as can be. Again, I'm so grateful she's ok and surgery won't be necessary (for now). I prayed so hard and we had our visiting teachers come by for a blessing and I truly believe in the power of prayer. It's just a broken finger, and this may seem over dramatic, but it's so hard to see your children go through hard times. Thankfully, she's totally unaware of it and will never remember this time! Thank you all so much for all your prayers, thoughts, and kind words. It's means so much to me to have so many friends who are so supportive! 

Friday Faves

Whew? Is it Friday already? I've been on vacation and had my dad in town this week and it's just flown by! So much has happened this week and I will be doing a full blog post recapping Ellie's birthday bubble bash and Emma's broken finger next week. Kids, I tell ya! If it's not one thing, it's another. Thankfully everyone is ok and in good spirits. Until those posts are up, I wanted to share some of my favorites from this past week. I'm hoping to have some posts up soon, and I'm sorry to be so behind! Lots of great reviews coming up though!

One of my fave bloggers and girlfriends, Meg, sent me this gorgeous highlighter when I couldn't find it anywhere! Isn't that so sweet? I just love her and so will you! Check out her blog and today's post of her May Favorites! This highlighter is so pretty and perfect for summer nights.

White polish is everywhere this summer and so on trend! I found this perfect pink/white shade from China Glaze and it only needs two coats to be perfect opaque. Win! It's Let's Chalk About It and it's awesome! I can't find it online other than Amazon, but it's from their 2016 collection.

Sandals // Shorts // Tank // Polish

Target has so many adorable doormats right now! This pineapple one is adorbs and I almost got it since the color matches our Welcome wreath, but this flamingo one also caught my eye. I want them all! I never used to change out our mat or even thought much about it, but there's so many cute ones that I've found it to be an easy way to add some color and personality to our front porch.

This week we finally tried Rita's! I hear about it all the time and I couldn't wait to try it. The Italian ice was delicious, but I didn't care for their custard. I love custard, but thought that theirs was too thick. I want to try them again, what are your favorites?

How adorable are these matching tees? I found Cheerily on Instagram and instantly fell in love! They have the cutest tops and they are so soft and perfect for little ones. All the sayings are super cute, But First, Milk kills me and Tiny Dancer are my favorites! They're offering 15% off through June 15 using LOVELIPSTICKANDPEARLS15 so be sure to snag some!!

Hope you're all have a great day and that your week is full of sun and fun with loved ones!

Our Weekend + Classic Dot Review!

This weekend was so busy! There was no lounging, relaxing, and definitely no sleeping in. Or coordinating naps. I had to work on Saturday (as did Matt), so my sister came up to watch the girls. We had a whole day planned for over a month for shopping, errand running, and party prep for Ellie's third birthday next week.

Saturday was pretty hectic, I was home later than anticipated for work, it took longer to get out of the house, and we were home later than we wanted to be. Why does that seem to always happen? After dinner we got to work on some crafts and we got a ton done for Ellie's party. We watched Zootopia and How to be Single while we did the party favors and made tissue poms (only 6 left to fluff!). It was so nice spending time with her and it was really the only day to do anything for the party. I'm so lucky to have a sister and be so close to her, I wish we were able to see each other more often!

Sunday we had a birthday party at a local park and it was so much fun! It's so great seeing my girlfriends and their kids, and the babies were all obsessed with each other. It was the cutest thing to watch! They'd all laugh at each other, try and feed one another, and play.  I had intended to do more errands after the party, but the girls were tired so we came home for a nap. I was hoping to get them to nap together (a miracle), but they each napped independently from each other and when one wasn't crying the other was. No errands or crafting for me!

While we were out, I dressed Emma in the cutest moccs from Classic Dot. We got so many compliments on them and I love having something soft on her feet. I used to think that all baby moccs were the same, but I'm obsessed with these spring silver ones! They're such high quality, and they totally stayed on her feet all day long! Emma loves to pull everything off her feet, but she kept these babies on all day. The shape of them seem to fit Emma's feet better than other baby shoes we have and the elastic around the ankle is a higher quality. The leather is a nice thickness and super soft, perfect for little feet!

Classic Dot is offering all readers 20% off through May 31 using LOVE20 at check out! Be sure to get your little a pair, I'm loving the Bloom and Mint ones!