Photo Dump: A Princess Elena of Avalor Party on a budget

My llittle JAE turned 2 on Monday. HOW??? I still remember going into labor with her. I still remember her quick delivery. I still remember so many things from her first week home with us. The time has FLOWN by!

J, JOE and I threw her a Princess Elena of Avalor themed party and she thoroughly enjoyed being princess for a day. Truth be told though, she bosses everyone around the house every day :-D.
I pinned a lot of items on Pinterest but since life happens, I didn't get a chance to finish it all. So a lot of what I did is what you'd consider "semi-homemade". In other words, I just built on the base. 

A few days before JAE's birthday, her custom birthday cookies arrived. These cookies were once again a big hit. They looked and tasted delicious. I got them from Jackie Chews and they arrived on time. I plan on ordering from her for other celebrations we have. She is professional and very talented!

For the gift bags, I included a noise maker ($2), some M&Ms (bag was $8.65, a Butterfly fan (Elena theme) - $5.37/12, a kids compact mirror (Elena theme) $6.99/12 and a bubble bottle (Elena theme) $7.96./12.
For the M&Ms, I simply printed out a picture of Princess Elena and added a message on the side. 
Then I had JOE color each in red or blue. Those were the theme colors. My baby did a great job!

A few weeks before the party, I cut up Esteban (character from Princess Elena) mustaches and tiaras. I then stapled them to the gift bags. I already had the paper at home so there was no additional cost. 
Also, the bags were left overs from JOE's PJ Masks party last year so it was nice to not purchase new ones.

For JAE, I couldn't find 2T Elena dress for her from the Disney site or any other sites. BUT I did find a 2T costume. Instead of looking for a dressy dress, I just looked for a costume. I did this for JOE's birthday a couple of years ago and decided to try it again this year and it worked. The dress was $23 from Amazon.
For the tiara, I didn't want to spend a ton on her tiara so I purchased a set of tiaras from Amazon. It came as a set of 4 for $7. I then used red nail polish to pain the biggest stone and 2 side stones. It worked PERFECTLY!

I made red and blue vanilla flavored chocolate covered pretzels. I have never used the vanilla flavor before so when I found it at Wal-mart, I was really excited to try it and it tasted REALLY good! I had 3 before I was done making them :-D.
Each bag of the chocolate melts was $1.50. I didn't use the full bag. The container of pretzel rods was $4.50

We decided that instead of having the party somewhere else, we would have it at our home since it allowed for more flexibility.
So we got a deal through Groupon. We used this company for JAE's Sip & See a couple of years ago and they were just as professional to work with. And definitely a great deal. 
We also got a cotton candy machine. The total for the bounce house (12-hours of use) and the cotton candy machine came up to about $165.

I purchased the butterfly from Amazon. It was $12.17

J and I set up everything the morning of and then I got to cooking while J ran some errands with JOE. JAE was supposed to sleep but we had no such luck so I ended up listening to her babble while I cooked.

I wanted a Mexican themed party since Elena is Disney's first hispanic Princess. I looked on Pinterest for ideas and came away with a few. 
I made chicken quesadillas. This was a 4-ingredient item and was wicked easy to make. Basically, you use cut up chicken breast, add taco seasoning, add sliced bell peppers and then cook. Then after it all marinates for a bit, you throw them on the tortilla, add cheese on there, throw another tortilla on top and just let it all melt together. 
Then slice and enjoy! It was ALL GONE!

I made some chicken wings as well. 

And made some sweet BBQ meatballs in the crockpot. The meatballs are EASY! Get frozen meatballs, put them in your crockpot, add grape jelly and a bottle of BBQ sauce. Stir occassionally. I left it on low heat for 3-hours and then kicked it up to high for about half an hour and it was ready to be served.

I picked up some On the border tortilla chips and salsa. 

The cake was SIMPLY DELICIOUS! We used the same place we used for JOE's first birthday. To save some money, instead of them making the tiara, I gave them one of the ones that came in the pack JAE's outfit. Worked GREAT! Plus kids don't like fondant so why spedn $49 (what we were quoted) for a tiara when we could just get one that would be taken off?

The dessert table.

My favorite part of the birthday celebration was JOE singing the Princess Elena birthday song to JAE. JAE smiled the entire time and it was just so cute!

And other pictures from the festivities.

Me and my girls. I was so busy throughout that I didn't get to take a proper picture with them so I had J take a few pics after the celebration.

After everyone had left, I decided to get in the jump house with the girls and we all had a great time. Then it was time to clean up. 

The next day, we were all VERY tired. So much so that everyone slept until almost 8am. So we decided to watch our Church service online and then head to the mall for the girls to take pictures with the Easter bunny.

I'll stop here and continue next week :-). 

Hope you had a fabulous week! Thanks for reading. Have an awesome weekend and remember to be kind to strangers!

Photo Dump Wednesday: Complete Randomness

Post was written last week...
Happy new week! We had a fabulous weekend and are thrilled to be starting off the new month! I can't believe we are in April already! I mean, I still feel like we JUST celebrated Christmas and already, we are one month closer to Memorial day. HOW?

Anyways, March was a month filled witih celebrations for my family. One of them being my parent's 42nd wedding anniversary. Check out the cute couple responsible for who I am today. 

I took this picture for 2 reason. 1. I liked the way I looked that day at work and 2. I had just told J the day before that I felt my hair wasn't growing. Well, lo and behold, I stood at the mirror and had some definite hang time with my curls! Woohoo!!! :-)
And yes, I know..."health over length"...but I still like to see length :-D.

JOE's patient Pocahontas hurt her foot so JOE put a "bandage" on it to help it heal properly. My ever so throughtful daughter. #futuredoctor

I was sewing a pair of pants 2 weeks ago and JAE volunteered to be my model. I love that she enjoys wearing things I make. #mommyslittlehelper

Our neighbor is having a baby soon and I totally had to make her a onesie. Her beautiful miracle baby arrives soon and I know she will be loved and definitely, #flawless 

Off to church we went. From our Sunday morning car selfies on our way to church. It was a pink and yellow Sunday for the family. I have on a purple scarf because I was showing too much at the top. :)

Sisterly love. They get along great! Yes, they often fight but when it boils down to it, they have each other's back.

Me and my baby! I love that we now talk and have good heart to heart conversations. This little girl is really just the best 4 year old I know!

I attended the baby shower for our neighbor last Sunday. It was a surprise and even though I wasn't there when she came in, I heard she was very pleasantly surprised. I am so happy about that because she really is awesome and very deserving of the surprise baby shower. Plus it'll be her first girl after 2 boys. Woohoo!!! 

I decided to make personalized Easter baskets for the girls this year. I found these buckets at Hobby Lobby and decided to put the girls names on there. How cute are these??? I love the way they turned out.

JAE, watching her iPAD before bed. We are trying to transition her to the bottle but this girl is having none of that. She holds on to the "big girl cup" and refuses to drink her milk from it. The positive thing is that we are saving on almond milk since we aren't buying as many. LOL!

Late last week, Ariel had surgery courtesy of Doctor Jordan. She is safely resting now and appears to have made a full recovery. Check out the "surgical instruments" used. #scary

Life has been so busy. I often start the blog on Monday, expecting to post on Wednesday but inevitably, something comes up and I don't get around to it. I'm not complaining though. It just means life is happening as it should. 

I hope your year is also progressing positively. Have a fabulous new week and remember to be kind to strangers!

Photo Dump Wednesday: Celebrating the Spring

Spring is finally here and even though the temperatures don't always cooperate, I am grateful for the seasonal changes. It is a sign of new life, new beginnings and growth. 

I love how much JOE and JAE are growing and how they are developing their relationship. They play together and often, they have each other's back. Except for when they want the same item and JAE is determined to get it.

Last week, I came home and saw the mess in the girl's room. Below is a brief conversation with JOE.

Me: Jordan, it looks like a hurricane came through your room!
Jordan: Yeah it did. Hurricane Jenna! 😂😂😃

JOE is now totally into building things with lego pieces and any other structural blocks she can put together. I love her creative mind! She never ceases to amaze me. Check out the helicopter she created. These pieces are "open". In other words, it doesn't have a set structure kids build because it wants to encourage creativity and JOE definitely did a great job.

She was very proud of her creation.

I love that JOE still likes to make faces at the camera and cuddle with me every now and then. I know as she gets older, it'll be fewer and far between but for now, I am totally enjoying it. 
That's my "I just woke up and haven't even brushed" face :-).

One of the highlights of my work day is doing Jeopardy questions with J. I often text the question to him and he gives me his answer then I give mine and we check at the end of the week to see how much we've each scored. We don't necessarily follow all the rules of the TV show but it is a good distraction in the midst of our busy days. 
J's mom got me this calendar last Christmas.

Last week, I received my 10-year pin at work. In my mind, I feel like it has only been 4-years but clearly, its been MUCH longer. Wow! Only 27.5 more years to retirement. Woohoo! 😏

My baby sporting a cute purple hat that doesn't belong to her :-). Still looking cute though. Look at that face!

My other baby. The reason behind this picture is because the writing on the glasses wore off a while back. So she decided to paint polka dots on her glasses. It looks really cute!

Introducing something new from AyoBE Boutique. I love this custom calendar board. It works year after year. A perfect birthday, anniversary, grandparents and Mother's day gift. 

We went for our family walk last Saturday. We finally have better weather. Check out JAE sporting her sunglasses.

J and I went out to see Logan on Saturday while J's parents got to spend some time with JOE and JAE. 
I was disappointed with the movie but since this is not a movie critic blog, I'll let others decide on it for themselves.
The thing that really got me though was the cost of the food! For a large drink, we paid $5.46 plus tax. This was RIDICULOUS! I mean, that is the cost of 5 whole liter bottles of soda! Granted, we got a free refill and the cups are giant size but still. I thought that was an outrageous price for soda.

And on the heels of my bad soda decision, I am happy I have been able to keep up with my steps. Woohoo!!! I love the way my clothes fit and that just makes me feel better each day.

Sunday family car selfie on the way to Church. JAE didn't want to smile but the minute J said "stick out your tongue", she was all about taking the picture. So we all did the same thing.

We wore blue as a family :-).

J's birthday was on Monday. So we both decided to take the day off to celebrate his birthday. Taking advantage of the child care. The girls serenaded him in the morning when he first got up. 

Then we each got a good workout and after cleaning up, we headed into DC to visit The Capital Grille. This place holds a special place in our hearts because it is where we ate the night J proposed in 2009.

The birthday boy...J

Can you guys his favorite drink? He gets the same thing EVERY time :-).

I got a delicious mojito. Yum yum!

They didn't have the salad I always get so I got a bacon wedge salad. The dressing was a little excessive but other than that, it was good. Especially the nice chunks of bacon. I love bacon!

J got his regular ahi tuna with gingered rice. 

He was teasing me about always ordering the same thing everytime we go there so I decided to order something different this time. 
I ordered their smashed potatoes with the filet mignon. It did NOT disappoint.

J enjoyed his meal. 

And I definitely enjoyed mine as well :-). I wanted to make sure I left room for dessert so I didn't finish mine.

They surprised us with a delicious double helping of their dessert. They were both desserts that J loves and I just like so he had all of his and I ordered my favorite.

Yummy creme brulee...hmmmm...

I promised JOE we would bake a cake for J's birthday so after we got home and settled in for the evening, we made a reeces peanut butter cup brownie and topped it with peanut butter ice cream. My hubby LOVES peanut butter! 

At the end of the day, J told me he really enjoyed his day and that made me feel great. It was the 9th birthday we have celebrated together and I look forward to celebrating many more decades with him. 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the rest of your week and be sure to be kind to strangers!