family portraits and ella at two

I commissioned my sister-in-law Kathie again to take pictures of our family with Ella at two-years old.  I had a vision of E playing with balloons, bubbles and sidewalk chalk in our backyard, which I felt captured her interests and personality at this age.  We were only able to successfully photograph two of the three activities, but we did get some good family shots (and shots of Gavin), so I'd say it went well. It's definitely my favorite shoot we've had with Kathie so far, as she was able to translate what I had imagined into print.

New Year, New Posts (Hopefully!)

So the reason for the lack of posts has because I've been having trouble uploading pictures to Blogger.  For some reason, they kept telling me I exceeded my limit.  I didn't even know I had a limit.  Anyway, I think it's been fixed, but we'll see.  For the time being, before my barrage of catch-up posts, I thought I'd try it out and post some pictures from our latest photo shoot (taken in November).  I wanted to get some pictures of Ella approaching 18 months of age, some bump pics (I have been SO incredibly bad at keeping up with this pregnancy...sigh), and some Christmas card pics.  So here are some of our favorites.  Thanks to my old high school friend, Teresa at Pirouette Photography, for taking these lovely photos!

Belated Birthday Pictures: The Cake Smash

I had never heard of a cake smash until I was a very grown adult.  Okay, it was like three years ago.  As a kid, it just wasn't part of our culture to smash a cake.  My mother would have said, "What a waste of a perfectly good cake!"  Well, she more likely would have said, "It's too messy!  Let's just eat fruit!"

But I love the idea of a baby being able to just dig their hands into a cake and get messy.  They are so tactile that it seems like the.best.birthday.event.ever. for a one year old.  That being said, I try to avoid feeding Ella processed sugar.  Plus, she just doesn't have a sweet tooth (total father's daughter thing going on here).  So I brilliantly decided I would bake her a small cake that was low in sugar so she could smash and eat and have a grand ol' time.  Well, I ended up getting a cake mix from Whole Foods that allowed you to add your own sugar and was gluten-free (not that Ella is allergic to gluten, but it just sounds healthier, doesn't it?).  Remember now, that I was in my early stages of pregnancy and definitely feeling the symptoms so I was exhausted by the time I had to bake this cake.  Let's just say it didn't turn out as planned.  The thing was super dense.  Like, I-could-throw-it-at-a-pug-and-knock-him-out kind of dense.  But I frosted it anyway and hoped no one would notice.

Ella noticed.  We all noticed.  There was no smash.  The poor girl couldn't break through it.  She just swirled the frosting around a lot.  I had to take a knife and break it up for her, only to realize the inside was uncooked.  Total first smash cake fail.  But she had fun nonetheless and managed to get frosting everywhere.  It was a learning experience for all of us.  For the next kid?  Totally using angel food cake.

Testing out the cake.

"Um, Mom, it's rock solid!"

"Can I get some help?"

"Much better!  There's cake inside!  And I don't like it!" 

"But my toes do!"

"Here, Dad, you like Mom's cooking!"

Belated Birthday Pictures: Le Fete

Here are pictures from Ella's Secret Garden birthday party.  I chose the theme because one of our favorite things to together (and with the Grandmas) is to visit botanical gardens.  Ella really enjoys watching birds and looking at flowers.  So the theme seemed appropriate.  Since having Ella, we haven't really thrown an all out party like we used to, so I was really excited to go all out on this one.  Then I found out I was pregnant the week of her party and my energy was zapped.  Fortunately, I planned ahead somewhat and had most of the preparations done.  We ended up simplifying a lot of things, but I think Ella enjoyed the event nonetheless.

This way to Ella's party!

I LOVE these moss letters I found on Etsy.  I embellished them with some butterflies to give it a whimsical touch.

We catered from Lemonade, that specializes in light, fresh faire.  Perfect for a summer party.

I scored this wire terrarium at HomeGoods for super cheap.  It housed some spring flowers and served as table decor!

I saw these fabric napkins on clearance at BHDLN, and I fell in love.  You can always use fabric napkins in cute, girly prints.  Always.

Ice cold lemon water, sweet tea, and raspberry lemonade kept things refreshing.

As did lavender soda (gotta have herbs at a garden-themed party!) and some Fat Tire beer.

Found these flower-themed alphabet cards on The Land of Nod, and couldn't resist using them for a first birthday party.  I love when ideas come together!

Some birdhouses I found at HomeGoods, and some paper fans to help beat the heat.

Handmade paper party hats for guests to wear.  I made these with help from Donna and Ashley.  Clearly this was done before I found out I was pregnant and and lost all my energy.

Little lunch boxes for the smaller guests.

Don't let the pout fool you.  Ella was a party animal!

Wearing her hat for all of 15 seconds.  I'm saving it for her 15th birthday and making her wear it all day long so she can better appreciate her mom's handiwork.

Picnic-ing.

Blessed with so many gifts.

We saved her cake for her actual birthday (the day after the party).  So we celebrated with mini cupcakes from Dots instead!

Fascinated by her 1 candle.

It was a sparkler candle and I realized it maybe wasn't the most appropriate one to use.  Ha!

First time having a cupcake.  First time having a baked good.  First time having so much sugar in general.

She just liked posing with it.

And she didn't really want to eat it.  Just maybe throw it around a little.

We nibble on these 1-year-old legs on a regular basis.