Ella Roo Turns 2!

Ella’s birthday was the day after we got home from Vegas so I’d done most of the prepping for her party before we left on our trip. And it was a good thing because I got off the plane with a nasty cold and wasn’t feeling very party-ish by the time Ella’s big day rolled around. We went with an Elmo Beach Party theme (and of course, it poured.) Yes, we know it’s not very traditional, and a little off the wall, but it was her birthday, she’s 2 and that’s what she wanted, so we did it. We put up some beachy decorations, put out some beach balls, made snow cones, had pineapple and served everything up in sand buckets. We added in some Elmo here and there in the form of cupcake wrappers, Elmo plushes, plates, cups and napkins and some Sesame Street style signs that read “Today’s party was brought to you by the letter E and the number 2.”

Friends and family joined us for the festivities (except for Nanny and Papa who were still on their vacation) including Uncle Ian and Kathryn, the Gibsons, Barths, Stubbs, O’Briens, Brileys, and Bracketts. It was a fun little crowd and it sure was nice to be surrounded by our church family after our week in Vegas. The kiddos decorated cupcakes and played for a while.

I made a simple beach ball cake and we served Ella up a piece with a “special” birthday candle (because somehow I’d overlooked getting real birthday candles before we’d left on our trip!)

Ella opened presents and played with some of her new gifts along with her friends. We handed out the goody buckets filled with goldfish crackers, sunglasses, playdough, etc. and wrapped up the festivities. It wasn’t our most spectacular birthday extravaganza, but she had fun, and chances are she won’t remember it anyway, so I don’t feel too bad not going all out considering she’s 2 and we got home from a very involved week of traveling 12 hours before.