Valentine's Day Fairy

This Valentine's Day I decided to treat everyone to special pancakes. Thanks to my pancake batter pen (on the right) I can make shapes and even letters.

Ely and I made cards and treats yesterday so she was well aware what today was. So what did she request this morning? To wear a special dress of course!  Ely got this for her birthday from Uncle Tay-tay.  She added a tutu underneath for added pouf.

Breakfast of Champions.

Here is Ely being…exuberant.

Here she is opening her Valentine's Day present. Ely's reaction was so cute because yesterday she and I picked this dolly out. Yet she was so thankful and surprised.

The bubble solution ended up on the floor in about 1 minute.  It's a good thing I had a back up.

The Valentine's treats got dumped on the table and devoured in about 60 seconds too.

Then we paid surprise visits to some special Valentines. The Valentine's fairy also visited Tia Kena but she was in the middle of a procedure at the animal clinic and couldn’t pose for a shot.

And last but not least…

As most of you know, Eliana is no good at goodbyes. She was very disappointed that Daddy was not coming with us.

After some sugary bribing she cheered up.

And what does this Valentine's Day fairy like best of all? Playing in the park!  Ely was so good about sharing treats today that she definitely earned some playground fun.

Happy V Day! 

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son; that whoever believes in Him, will not perish but have everlasting life!

John 3:16

Yo Gabba Gabba Birthday Party!

If you love pictures, you will love this post. Ely's party took 3 weeks to plan, lots of sleepless nights and lots of wonderful helpers. Thank you to everyone who babysat, cut Foofa flowers, made plaster, ran errands, took party pictures or helped clean up! And last but not least, Gina was the totally talented creator of Ely's birthday cake.

Notice the hundreds of edible sugar flowers on the table…genius! Ely could not, would not stop eating them. Along with everyone else!

Here is the Gorgeous Gina with Austin.

These were the kids' goody bags. The Foofa and Plex cut outs came from the Nick Jr. website.

This was our guest sign in made out of posterboard from HEB.

These were the guest 'Thank You for Coming' rainbow cookies. Thank you Good Life Eats blog.

This is what the cookies looked like before the slicing process:

Kelsie and Kevin were so sweet to do last minute errands the day of the party for us. And these were the flowers they picked. Perfect!

These were some of the party hats I made. Thank you Lavenders Blue for the template.

This is Foofaland. This came together the night before the party when the Spirit of Last Minute Ideas paid me a visit. I used butcher paper that my church gave me for free (so nice) and painted the lime green fields with acrylic paint. I got the characters from the Nick Jr. website but had to blow them up at Alphagraphics and laminate them.

Miraculously, I cleared off a window sill for the presents. This was probably the happiest our windowsill have ever been.

Here is Ely hogging her babies…hoping no one will notice.

Here are 3 members of the Piña clan.

Here is Ely with one of her favorite women in the whole world.

Ava was the most entertaining participant of Pin the Eye Muno game…

Ely's Top 3 Favorite things about the party:

1. Daddy dressed up as DJ Lance Rock

2. Ms. Gina's amazing cake and…

3. the Foofa piñata, thanks Bulala!

A very squirrely kid picture posing in front of Foofa.

The adorable Baby Zachary…

Here is Bulala having the time of her life and future softball all star Ava.

Here is Ely's other favorite woman in the whole world.

Cutest DJ Lance ever!

Ely was keenly aware who's party this was.

The DJ Lance wannabees.

In case you have a shoe fetish, here is a close up of my DJ Lance-alicious shoes.

We gave Ely her first Williams Sonoma apron, because every serious chef in our family needs one.

This is what the inside of the top cake tier looked like. Lots of ooohs and aaahhhs….

And the bottom tier was all chocolatey goodness! We are still eating birthday cake and we couldn’t be happier about it.

Ely's Shem

The word shem in Hebrew has several meanings. One meaning is ''name''. Another is ''fame''.  But more commonly it means ''the essential reality of who someone is''. So technically, according to Glen Penton, God's names (in the traditional sense) are not: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace, etc.

But rather, these titles are the very essence of God. God is Wonderful. God is the Counselor. God is the Mighty God. God is the Eternal Father. God is the Prince of Peace.

Cool, right?  That got me thinking about Eliana and what her essential reality or essence is. And I have determined that her shem is EXUBERANT.

What is your shem?

Let the Cake Begin!

Last night's deafening rainstorm created a very unusual day for Ely and me. We actually stayed home!

And what is the most dangerous thing about staying home on a cold rainy day? Baking!

I decided to make the same cupcake recipe that I made for Ely's 1st birthday. It's out of a baby cookbook and is pretty good, as far as healthy cupcakes go. It's basically a mild spice cake with cream cheese icing, purple in our case.

Eliana is getting to be a very good sous pastry chef. She is definitely in the 'I want to help you!!!' phase of her childhood.

She is learning how to wield the squishy pastry bag. She definitely did not stick it in her mouth this time. Improvement!

Here is her proud accomplishment!

Yay! Almost ready for Dub's birthday!