Ella's Birthday Tea Party!

The week before Ella's party I came down with the crud that had been going around. It always seems to hit our family in February. Because of that I was still recovering and I was so tired. Thankfully Kim came over and spent 4 hours with me on Friday morning helping me get everything set up! I could not have done this without her! 

We got the garage completely set up which included organizing all the stuff that was in there so there would be room for the tables, sweeping the floor, setting up tables and chairs, and decorating the tables. Kim also helped by washing all the dishes for the food and all the tea cups for the moms.  Once Michael got home he hung up the cute polka dot sheet behind the food table and then he put up the birthday banner. 

There was also a craft table for the girls and cute coloring pages with teapots and tea cups on them. 

Here were the tables! The whole reason I ended up going with a tea party theme was because I got this amazing deal on party stuff at a garage sale. It had those cute gift bags, bracelets, necklaces and crowns and the guy only wanted a $1 for the whole thing!!! The girls each got a tea cup that was glass. They were actually the cups that go with my punch bowl. They were pretty, but really sturdy. 

In preparation for Ella's party my friend Ellen was so excited to help. She's the reason I had such amazing dishes for the food and she even bought tea cups for the party. My mom also bought tea cups as well. I thought since the girls were going to be going home with some fun stuff that it would be nice if the moms went home with something as well. So each of the moms got to keep the tea cup they used at the party. I made place cards so everyone would know where they were going to sit. On the morning of the party I asked Ella to help by looking at the tea cups and specifically picking out which cup would be for which mom. It was precious to watch her pick and choose. 

The party was at 11am and that's early for our kids party. We usually plan them for 4pm so I did not have all day to prepare like I normally do. I made sure I did as much as I could the day before, but thankfully my Mom and Norean came over early to help with the stuff that needed to be made that morning. The menu included scones with raspberry jam and homemade lemon curd, deviled eggs, quiche, mini corn dogs, 3 different kinds of sandwiches, grapes and strawberries. 

Look at all these lovely girls!!!! This just makes my heart melt! I love that Ella is surrounded by wonderful friends! 

Left to right - Anna, Farrah (Ella's friend from school), Kendra, Logan (yes she came all the way from Spokane for Ella's party), Ella, Addison, Grace & Audrey (friends from church) and in the front is Lilyann and Caitlynn (wearing a pretty dress that Ella had just given her a few weeks before).

Kim and Caitlynn! 

Ella Bean and Logie Bear! 

Christina and her twin girls....Addison and Anna! 

Me and my Ella Grace! 

Rachael and her girls...Kendra and Lilyann! 

Elaine and her twins...Audrey and Grace!! 

Ga-Ga, Norean (who extended her vacation to be at Ella's party) and Ellen!!! 

And one boy did get to be with all us girls for the party! Baby Jaymes was a total gem the whole time! 

After we ate and had tea some of the girls chose to color and some chose to go play. 

For dessert we had brownie bites, raspberry shortbread cookies and mini cheesecakes! 

Happy 7th Birthday Ella! 

Present time! 

Ella got a baby doll from Kendra and Lily...I believe she named her Rosie! 

From Logan she got this cool bag that was filled with fake press on nails! She also got a reusable cup that had nail polish in it. 

And she also got Twinkle Toes that match Logan's! 

I got this game for Ella way back on Black Friday. As you can see she wasn't super thrilled! Later on when we actually played it she realized it was fun! 

From Audrey and Grace she got this cute Minnie Mouse pillow...she sleeps with it every night. She also got a mermaid Barbie! 

From Caitlynn she got a Lisa Frank (my 90's self was geeking out a bit) tracing book! 

She also got the Elena of Avalor DVD! As you can tell this was a home run!!! 

Ellen got Ella this adorable owl. It was so prefect because Ga-Ga and Pa had gotten Ella a baby owl at Northwest Trek last year so now her baby has a mommy! 

From Anna and Addison she got this beautiful bracelet. 

On top of all this she got a Frozen dress from Norean and a bear, a balloon and flowers from Farrah. 

It was such fun celebrating my girl and getting to visit and enjoy time with all the moms!!!

Girls!

A few months ago Rachael started working a full day on Wednesdays. Since she wouldn't be able to pick Kendra and Lilyann up from the bus she asked me if they could come over on Wednesdays and then either Lance or her would be by to pick them up later. Of course I said yes! Ella has been in heaven having them over almost every Wednesday. Of course they have their ups and downs because they are girls after all, but I'd say overall it's been great. 

On this particular night the girls wanted to paint their nails and then take silly pictures. 

They all asked for the same colors for their nails! 

 Kendra looking so pretty! 

Beautiful Ella! 

Lovely Lilyann! 

Then they decided that they were fashion stars and wanted to do model poses! 

Strike a pose! 

Oh...

My...

Goodness!!!

These girls are too much fun! Love them all so much! 

Track is starting up soon and not only will they be coming home with us on Wednesdays, but now Tuesdays as well. Hopefully they don't get sick of each other! 

Ella's Actual Birthday!

Oh my goodness I'm so behind in blogging, but what else is new! 

Ella's actual birthday which is February 16th landed on a Thursday. I always volunteer on Thursdays so I was able to have lunch with her and then we passed out cupcakes to celebrate. 

Since Ella is allergic to dyes I couldn't get the normal cupcakes with sprinkles or colored frosting, but I was so excited to see that Wal-Mart had these cute little Cookies and Cream cupcakes. 

Originally I was going to make waffles with strawberries and snow..aka powdered sugar...for Ella's birthday dinner, but then since it was on a Thursday that meant it was family night with my side of the family. Also Jim and Norean were in town on vacation. So there were 8 adults, 4 kids and 1 me! I decided that being stuck in the kitchen making waffle after waffle didn't sound like that much fun so I asked Ella what she'd like in place of that and she decided Costco pizza sounded yummy! 

Ella's birthday party with friends was a tea party so only girls were invited. I wanted her to open some of her presents on her actual birthday so those that wouldn't be at her party would still get to see her excitement and joy from the present they bought her. 

First gift was from Ga-Ga & Pa. Of course Ga-Ga was going to be at the tea party, but not Pa. 

Hmmmm....

Since it was in a plastic bag she didn't really know what it was. Ga-Ga bought her Zip-It bedding. It's like a sleeping bag for your bed. Once I washed it and put it on her bed she LOVED it! 

The next gift was from "Zeke".....when we were out shopping we found a couple things on clearance and they were too good to pass up. Like these adorable boots that were only $5. 

And an outfit to match for $5!!! 

Next up was Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie's gift. Of course Uncle Ry wasn't going to be at the tea party and unfortunately Aunt Stephie had already made plans before she knew when the party was so she wasn't able to come either. 

They totally hooked Ella up with coloring stuff! 

Books, crayons and stickers! 

Plus princess body wash!!! 

Later that night she used her stickers to make her laptop monitor pretty and then she used the same stickers to make my monitor pretty as well. They are in the corner and they are tiny, but she wanted me to take a picture of our matching computers! 

The next day Ella wore her new outfit from Zeke to school! She's such a cutie and it was fun getting to have a small party with family on her special day!