Our Valentines

Valentines was the very first holiday that we celebrated when Ella came into this family…she was born 15 days before.  I remember trying SO hard to set up a little photo-shoot for Ella’s “first holiday”.  Yeah…it was a TOTAL fail! haha I laugh when I look back at those pictures now…

 

Ella cried and fussed the whole time. I JUST wanted to get a cute picture of BOTH my children…was that too hard to ask for….yeah but it wasn’t happening.  At the time I remember being so irritated (or hormonal!) But I’m glad I got these pictures to remind me just how ridiculous I was.

Fast Forward to this year…Valentines isn’t a big thing in our family. I don’t stress out about making some crazy cute valentines for Owen to give out in class…yes I find buying the ones at the store a win-win!  I don’t waste my already crammed tired evenings making crap AND Owen isn’t old enough to care either way! Heck…this was actually the first year I remember to get my kids a small something to celebrate. Whooops.

They were SO excited for these little lame presents. Made this mama feel good!

And Daddy did good for mama this year…Mama got her new phone! Woot Woot. And my favorite was the Valentine Card that Owen picked himself for me!
 

We taught this kids about Valentines and spending it with those we love….so yes we were together as a family…and we went to the beach and hung out with some of our closest friends…those we love too!  The beach was hot, crowded but pretty perfect.

 

  

 

  

It was a beautiful day…and ended it was a perfect dinner at a place that was new to me…Cafe Rio.   Talk about romantic hahaha.

And when we got home I noticed Ella’s shirt….and this little girl totally DOES make me happy when skies are grey…

Tiny Celebration for our tiny girl.

Are two year old birthdays a huge milestone??  Eh…not for Ella. haha I know I know, I’m a horrible mom.

For Owen’s 2nd birthday he got a huge pirate themed party…and spent his actual day at Disneyland.  Ella got a tiny Frozen party with family and spent her actual day like any other work day at home. sad. haha. Second child neglected probs.

I think big parties are over-rated…well actually they just give me crazy anxiety! So I opted to skip a big party for Ella-Bean this year…she won’t know any different.  But we had a fun family little gathering to celebrate our crazy girls big day!  It was fun…and easy for mama! ;)

 

I guess we are at that age where taking a good picture of her looking AT the camera and actually smiling is near impossible!
 

We had my in-laws and my parents over…nice and easy.  We ordered Ella’s favorite food, which is Miguels Jr. and hung out. 

She was very excited to eat cake and ice-cream so as soon as everyone’s food sorta digested we got the cake going.  It was cute because she pretty much orchestrated her own party. I didn’t have a time schedule to keep and people to really please…so it was nice to do it as she wanted! Thankful my family is so easy too! I know some people aren’t as lucky!!

She is a little diva…singing herself Happy Birthday along with the family! I loved it. 
Present time was great too. No pressure about anything. She would open a present and if she wanted to actually open it we would hand it off to one of the family members for them to get out of the box while she was opening another. It wasn’t the typical party craziness of kids everywhere…presents flying…tears….ugh.  It was perfect!

It was a nice change of things to have family around to help Ella open all her presents and get playing ASAP. Thanks cousins Bailey and Nana!

 

 

The best present went to..Aunt Missy and fam for the sparkly Elsa shoes…she loved them.   

So her celebration was nice and small. Just like her!!  Maybe we’ll giver her a proper party for her 3rd…haha ohhhhh we’ll see! haha