Happy Halloween!

Our big Halloween weekend started on Thursday when Ella and I went to a Halloween party with our mommy group.  Ella had a BLAST and has begun her love affair with balloons...

My little Alice in Wonderland- such cuteness!


We were joking that they looked like the crew from Wizard of Oz!




Ella with her friends Hannah (the chicken) and Mason (the puppy)...


On Saturday we went to the weekend Halloween party for my mommy group...there was a face painter and balloon animal maker, plus someone brought their new puppy so Ella thought it was pretty cool. ;)


Ella was excited to spend time with her friends Reagan and Mason...






On Saturday night, while the daddies were watching football at a bar, Ella and Logan got to play, and they had TONS of fun!

First she decided she wanted to be IN her dollhouse...

Then she danced with Logan. :)

On Halloween Sunday, we carved our little pumpkin and finished decorating...we had ghosts in our tree, lots of jack-o-lanterns, a talking skeleton and two talking skulls!



Then Mason came over to trick-or-treat with Ella...our two little animals were the hit of the neighborhood!


Ella rode in style...

And held her own old school plastic pumpkin to collect candy (ok, she held it once, but Jen caught it on camera!)...


At the end of the night, we had two babies in tee-shirts and nothing else. ;)



I love Halloween, and I can't wait for next year!!

Seriously, We Should Be on Cops...

Reason #1: On Tuesday, I had to call POISON CONTROL.  That's right, my child is barely one, and I've already called poison control.  Little octopus arms got a small bottle of Lancome eye makeup remover off my makeup table, opened it (how?) and either drank it or poured it on herself...I caught her right as she finished so I only saw a wet chin and wet clothes.  There was only about a tablespoon in the bottle anyway, but still...

I immediately put my finger all the way down her throat to make her vomit, which she did, but was NOT happy about.  I then gave her some milk to coat her stomach and was going to call it a day, but I couldn't find the ingredients online so I figured I better call to be safe.

First he told me that they "don't recommend" making them vomit (uh, why?  I'd do it again if she ingested something toxic) but that milk was good.  He looked up the ingredients (where did he find them?  I looked everywhere online!) and informed me that there is nothing toxic in Lancome Bi-Facil makeup remover.  Good to know.

The worst part was that they take your first and and last name and phone number so I was joking that they are probably going to report me to CPS. ;)

But wait, it gets better...

Reason #2: The cops showed up at our house tonight.  For real.  Ella had been playing with our home phone earlier in the evening.  While we were eating dinner, someone called us about 5 times in a row, but we didn't answer because we were eating dinner and figured it was a political call (anyone else would just call our cell phones).  Next thing we know, our doorbell rings repeatedly, Gary answers the door, and a cop is standing there asking if we are okay because someone called 911 from our home phone.  They tried to call us many times, but no one answered so they had to come out.  Nice...hope the neighbors caught a glimpse of the cops at our door.

Does anyone else have the tasmanian devil as a child?  Anything she gets near turns into a disaster...if she enters a room, within about 12 seconds, she has pulled every pair of underwear and socks out of the drawer; throws every single item she can reach onto the floor; pushes every button she can find (whether it be a phone, remote or calculator); rips any piece of paper, book or magazine she sees; drink, eats or puts in her mouth anything she can open, tip over or fit in...and she does it all with a smile on her face!

Ella's Sweet Shoppe- Candy Theme First Birthday Party

A reminder of the invitation...


Courtesy of Image 32 Photography...

As you walked up, we had two gigantic lollipops (made by parents) with cute signs above that said "Ella's Sweet Shoppe" (she didn't get a photo of the signs, and I've since thrown them away!)


As you walked through the entrance, there were food tables on either side, two round tables in the center and a candy table straight back...plus tons of tissue flowers hanging from above!

There were no good photos of the whole area, but here is the general idea...you can barely see the center tables, which had white tablecloths with cute red striped overlays that I made...

Centerpieces (I lined the glass containers with the paper from her invitations and used hydrangeas, roses and lollipops)...


My "theme" colors were red, pink and blue...we did the tissue flowers in those colors...


Some of the food...vegetable crudite in glass containers, goldfish and pita chips.


The Happy Birthday Ella banner I made, which hung above the candy table...

A close-up photo I took, but it doesn't show the true colors...


The candy table with a blue and white pinstriped background, that I made with grosgrain across the top to hang...



I made all kinds of cupcake toppers, but they wouldn't fit on the cupcake stand!

I had glassine candy bags, and I made little stickers that said "Thanks for making my party so SWEET!"

Close-up I took of a full bag...


On either side of the candy table were the monthly photos of Ella...


There are little foot high bushes that surround the cupola area, and I made big lollipops that said "Ella's Sweet Shoppe" to place in the bushes surrounding the whole area...

Photo I took of all three colors...


Pink, red and blue balloons on the benches surrounding the park...


There was a tree surrounded by a bench on the grassy area, so I made that "Ella's Candy Tree" and hung giant "candies" that we made with styrofoam balls all over the tree...


The gift table (my mom wrapped up that entire buggy and put presents all inside, including Raggedy Andy driving!)...


The whole fam...


And finally, the star of the show!




We also had a huge blanket laid out with four giant pillows with lollipops that I painted on them, but there were no photos!