Hi friends, happy Monday! This weekend was one for celebrating. We celebrated Chinese New Year a little bit all week long, and Ella got dressed up for the occasion on Friday. And of course, like most of you, we celebrated Valentine's Day on Sunday. Michael and I had our first day-date since July and it was incredible. I haven't been the best about taking meaningful photos lately, but I did take some and have attempted to organize them for you. *This post may contain affiliate links, see disclosure for more info.
Friday
Friday morning we woke up early and Ella made it clear she wanted to spend all her time playing outside. It's been a little cold and damp in the mornings, but luckily on Friday it was sunny fairly early.
We went for a long bike ride around the neighborhood and stopped by the park on our way through. Ella is finally learning to pedal a bit on her trike, but still loves us to push her too. Sometimes she takes a little walking break.
Ella being her silly self at the park, as usual. We need to get this girl in gymnastics because she loves hanging, swinging and climbing!
Happy girl loves to swing and never wants to leave the park when it's time to go.
Luckily she enjoys playing in our backyard at home too! :)
We changed Ella into her Chinese New Year outfit so we could take some pictures!
My gorgeous baby girl! I can't believe how grown she looks.
At some point on Friday we went and picked up a playhouse we found on Facebook marketplace for $50. It was brand new in the box. Michael spent a couple hours putting it together, so we ordered pizza for dinner...
As you can see, Ella was pretty excited. Michael didn't finish the playhouse until after dark, so she had to wait until the next day to use it. She was a little bummed.
Saturday
Saturday morning was cold and wet but Ella immediately wanted to check out her playhouse! It's the Little Tikes Build-A-House, and is normally 200$ brand new. We got a great deal, and it was so fun that Ella could help us build it. The frame has to be built by an adult but all the side panels, windows and doors are customizable and can be placed on the frame using the fake drill and screws that came with it.
I finally convinced Ella to take her playing into the playroom because it was so wet out. I was much happier being cozy inside. Ella is really getting creative with her stacking rainbow and getting creative in how she plays with her toys.
She has also been OBSESSED with her tiles, and we have so much fun playing with them together.
It was a lazy day but everyone still got showered/dressed for the day. Ella and I took a quick pic before we headed out for Saturday errands. Side note- my bump is growing FAST! I feel like this was me full term with Ella. Michael and I are both drawing a complete blank on where we even went Saturday... we know we went to Target, but I swear we did something else. #Pregnancybrain (apparently that affects him too, haha.)
After our Target trip, Ella found her Valentine's gifts from Michael, so he gave them to her early. It just totally melted my heart. She was so sweet and happy. We apparently don't wait to give gifts around here, because I had already given Ella her gift from me...
She needed her water bottle, so we just let her have it early. She doesn't know the difference, haha. It was so fun putting her little basket together!
Sunday
Valentine's Day breakfast was a hit! I made pink, heart shaped oat pancakes with strawberries on top.
Ella let me dress her up cute for Valentine's Day, so I had to capture the moment with some pics. As you can see, she loves her little bouquet from Daddy.
She's a big fan of these lollipops. Actually she's addicted. I told Michael we are hiding the bag and she can never see them again, haha! She was allowed one for Valentine's Day though... it's a special occasion, right?
We dropped Ella off with Michael's parents around 10:30 and had our very first day date planned. It was our first one since July!!!
First stop, coffee!
We both got decaf vanilla iced lattes- I got iced of course. We sipped on our coffee in the car waiting for our table to become available at a BBQ place nearby. This was also our first time eating anywhere since July. We ate once outside on our date date over the Summer and hadn't been out since. We figured we would give it a try. It felt very safe overall, but we probably won't make it a regular thing just yet.
I ordered the salmon, mashed potatoes and roasted veggies. It was so good!
After lunch we stopped at the mall so I could buy a new fleece jacket. I got Ella a matching one and we picked up a little pajama for Mia.
We spent the rest of our day date eating my V-Day chocolates on the couch and watching Netflix. We started watching Crime Scene: The Vanishing at Cecil Hotel. Have you heard of it or watched it?? So creepy so far, and we are a few episodes in!!!
We picked up our stinker around dinner time. And I find her in the baby swing, haha! She didn't like it as an infant, but of course she loves it now. Let's hope it's still working when Mia arrives.
We ate some noodle soup with Michael's parents for dinner and then headed home.
Over the weekend I also rotated Ella's shelf activities...
And that was our weekend! We have very few plans for today and Tuesday but I hope the weather is good to us so we can take advantage of being outside as much as possible. We hope you all have a great week! xo
-Ashley & Ella
Joining the ladies for the Hello Monday link up today!
Busy weekend! Ella is so cute and what a deal you got on the Little Tikes playhouse!
ReplyDeleteWe were so excited! I was hoping to find something on marketplace for under 40$. But to find brand new for 50$ was the ultimate deal!
DeleteWhat a fun Valentine’s Day! That playhouse is so cute and Ella will enjoy it for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope she does! So far she is loving it :)
DeleteWhat a fabulous weekend! Ella is just adorable and your baby bump is getting so big! That's fabulous.
ReplyDeleteIt is growing rapidly, haha! I was not nearly this big with Ella, so it's been kind of a shock. One day I woke up and was like "oh my! here she is!" Haha. Trying to enjoy it as much as I can, as it is more than likely my last pregnancy!
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