Small Style 6/9 Flower Girl Edition

Saturday was a beautiful day in the Northwest (finally!) and the perfect day for a wedding. Kalaya had her first role as a flower girl. For the whole story, click here. Her whole outfit cost less than $50. Can't beat that for a flower girl!! And, we doubled it as an Easter dress, so she got more wear out of it.

Dress, Ruby Slippers: Target
Sash: David's Bridal
Ruffled Socks: Hand-me-down
Basket: Michael's

The bow in her hair was originally attached to the back of the dress to be a sash, but I removed it and made it into a hair clip instead. She and the bride both wore red shoes under their dresses. Too cute!!

I am linking with Mama Loves Papa.

Kalaya's Flower Girl Debut

Oh my goodness. I have always wanted a girl and Saturday was the epitome of why. (Kalaya, if you eventually come to realize you were born in the wrong body, I appologize for all of the gushy girliness)

Our friends from college, David and Kim got married at a vineyard in Dallas, Oregon this weekend and it was beautiful. Nelson was a groomsman and Kalaya was the flower girl.

Kim asked me if Kalaya could be the flower girl earlier this year and I was SO excited and immediately said yes! It was so fun to shop for the dress and accessories. Then, as the day approached, I began to wonder what I had gotten Kalaya into. She is pretty timid and very shy in front of people she doesn't know, especially large crowds. But, we figured anything would be cute!

The rehearsal dinner was last Thursday and it did NOT go well. We tried to get her to walk down the aisle 3 different times, from me to Nelson. The first time she refused. The second time Nelson held a bribe (cheese stick) out to her and she started to go to him. Then, everyone watching applauded and she freaked out and cried for 20 minutes. The last time she wouldn't even think about it. So, we were pretty nervous for Saturday, especially since the wedding was during nap time and she would have already had to take a bunch of pictures as well.

She got up really early on Saturday, which actually worked out well, because she took an earlier nap. We got to the wedding site and got her all dressed up. Here she is admiring her pretty self in the mirror of the bridal room.


She posed for pictures relunctantly and only when we bribed her with (organic, sugar free) fruit snacks. (yup, I was kind of 'that parent'. Hey, it was better than the ring bearer who got bribed with M&Ms!!) She didn't smile much and wasn't too thrilled, but she did it. Luckily, she was totally in love with the junior bridesmaid, Cassie, and wanted to follow her every where. Cassie even managed to teach her to throw the petals out of the basket, something we NEVER thought we could get her to do, even in practice.

Practicing with Cassie

Sorta willing to pose for a picture....

Then, the big moment. She did great!!! She threw all of the flowers out of the basket and walked to Daddy, with only a guiding hand from Mommy. She was smiling and happy and did MUCH better than we thought she would. It was so sweet!! When I get a copy of the video, I'll definitely post it!!

Getting ready to walk to Daddy...

Elmo crackers for motivation....okay bribe....

Alright, some help from Mommy was necessary

And she definitely wasn't going to walk out on her own!

She was rewarded with an Elmo balloon at the reception. She did SO well. She was great at the reception too, even though were were at the site for over 6 HOURS!!!

Such a fun day!!!

Had to throw this one in: check out the socks the groomsmen wore under their tuxes!!
PS The bride and Kalaya both wore red shoes with their white dresses : )

Kalaya's 2nd Birthday

It's almost a month after Kalaya's 2nd birthday and I FINALLY feel like I can post about it, since it got stretched out a bit. Let's see, looking back, where to begin....

We gave Kalaya her 'big' present from Mommy and Daddy on the night before her birthday. We had plans for the whole day on the 6th (her actual birthday), so we wanted to make sure to give her the present. She got a Cozy Coupe car that looks like a firetruck that she LOVES. The best part is that it was free to us, we got it as a hand me down and it is still in great shape!

Her actual birthday actually wasn't much fun. She was up throwing up at 4am, poor girl! She didn't keep anything down during the morning and afternoon. We had planned a fun day of going to the Children's museum with our friends and a special birthday dinner, since 3 members of our 2 families have birthdays within 2 weeks of each other in May. She was also supposed to have her 2 month check up, but threw up all over herself in the car on the way, so we rescheduled. I think she actually had a pretty good day despite the vomit, because she got to sit and watch plenty of Elmo to keep her in one place, incase of another incident.

She was feeling much better the Saturday after, so we had dinner with my parents to celebrate her birthday and Mother's Day together, with dinner at Red Lobster. My parents got her a really cute sand and water table that she's been having a lot of fun with. (even if it has been staying in the garage, because Oregon is just ignoring the fact that it's spring, let alone almost summer!!)

We did get to go to dinner with our friends a week later, on Nelson's birthday. We went to PF Chang's. Here are the girls getting ready to go celebrate both daddies and Kalaya's birthdays.

We had a small party at our church, which was basically a glorified playdate with just a couple of families, snacks and cake. Everything was bunny themed and it was a nice, quiet, simple party. We had nice weather, so the kids were able to play outside on the playground and patio.

We also celebrated her birthday down in Salem with Nelson's family.

She got some really nice gifts; the car, the sand table, sand toys, lots of new clothes, new shoes, musical instruments, a veterinary kit, a tee, bat and ball, golf clubs, a toy to practice her letters, and new shoes. (probably more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head!)