A Fab 2-Tu Party for Ella!

Aunt Monica came to visit last weekend and she wanted to throw Ella a little birthday party with Ella's best friends here. What is better that a tutu party for a new two year old? And it was a great excuse for Monica and I to wear tutus, feather boas and tiaras. I don't think I have seen anything as girly since my trip through the Barbie aisle at FAO Schwartz. Everything was bedazzled, pink, shiny, feathery, pink...did I mention pink? But it was FABULOUS! We had an awesome time even though Ella woke up from her nap in the worst mood ever. We have deemed her the nickname Posh Spice because the smiles that night were few and far between. She had fun once she was able to blow out her candles (8 times) and she loved opening up her presents. Everything she opened had to be taken out of the box and set up or played with right then and there. Johnny helped out, too. Every now and then he would open a present and say "hey Ella, you got a barbie doll!" He wore his pirate costume to protect the girls in tutus;) I promised Johnny's dad he wouldn't wear a tiara allll night!

We kept it fun and simple and had an absolute blast. Ella asks to wear her tutus everyday and she loves dressing up with her tiara and feather boas. She is the ultimate girl.

Party Bags

The birthday girl:)

Ella controlling her guests with her magic wand (we called them magic wands because with a boy at the party it sounded better than princess wands)

The Hostesses...who probably had more fun at the party than the kiddos:)

Yes, we made our own tutus. And it took many, many yards of tulle.

Monica is a very happy ballerina. Maybe it's the wine.

Johnny loves aunt Monica and kept laughing all night with her.

Ella building her princess 3-D Castle.

Aunt Monica bought Ella her first Britney Spears tee...and True Religion Jeans. My two year old has designer denim.

Ella showing me her newest Princess doll.

Callie couldn't help but buy Ella her first pair of heels. Actually, it was a 4 pack of heels so they match every outfit;)

Cadence playing in the new tent! She is too cute!

Ella was putting her new dolls to sleep.

There aren't words for this photo.

Finally happy and smiling!

My besties. I love these ladies.

We stayed in our tutus long after the party ended.

Still playing!

I say the party was a success. Birthday girl is smiling, happy and LOVES her new gifts.

Thank you Aunt Monica for a fabulous idea and beautiful party. Ella has the best Auntie ever and I hope you know that she loves and adores you! It's cute to hear her on the phone with G-Ma, or Granny P and even Daddy asking for "annika". Definitely left a lasting impression:) To see more pics from the 2-tu party, click here.

Hijacking Guest Blogger!

I promised Melissa I would "guest blog" about our 5th anniversary date night "extravaganza". This blog entry also proves that I totally know Melissa's "blogger password", a password which she may want to change to prevent the future possibility of "drunk blogging".

I'll admit I am more of an on the fly planner...at least when I am out of the office, but I was determined to make this the best date ever...and man was it an epic fail. I told Melissa later, as we were walking down a dark mountain with the clock nearing midnight: "Glad this isn't out first date, because if it was I'm sure it would be our last!"

I started planning a few weeks before the big night. One of my colleagues, a fellow captain and battery commander offered to watch Ella if I wanted to take Mel out. It was a great offer because romantic dinners usually don't go so well with two year olds. I thought the plan was set but then received an offer that I couldn't refuse. One of the guys I work with and his wife offered to watch "E" overnight. The more I thought about it it became apparent that it was by far a better deal. Not that I couldn't trust my captain friend, I just knew that he would be watching Ella wth a twelve pack of Miller Light.

Babysitter: Check

Now I had to find a place to stay...I wanted it to be special, so I booked at the Crowne Plaza in Seoul. Pretty fancy joint...I was on a roll.

Swanky Hotel: Check

Time to make some dinner plans. I decided to get one of my KATUSAs to make dinner reservations at N'Grill, a revolving restaurant at the top of Seoul Tower. Just to clarify, KATUSA stands for Korean Augmentee to the US Army. Military service is compulsory in Korea, meaning every male has to serve in the military. Those who speak English well (and usually come from wealthy families) can apply to serve attached to the US Army. I have three working for me, and they are awesome. When my KATUSA called the place was booked, I had no backup.

Romantic Dinner: Fail

The night of 16 October I rushed home from work (after a couple of drinks at the officers club, that is routine and can't missed). Melissa and I dropped Ella off and headed to the train station. The station is about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. I decided we could make better time if I took a short cut...bottom line, I could sense we were getting lost so I hailed a cab and got us there in pretty goodtime.

Getting to the train station: Crisis Adverted.

We jumped on the subway to get to Suwon and then were going to transfer to a faster express train to get to Seoul. We score tickets but when we got on the train there were people in our seats...we were on the wrong train! The train was still heading to Seoul, we just had to stand the whole way. The conductor didn't ask for our tickets, probably because we were American (an I probably looked pretty annoyed at this point). We arrived and managed multiple subway connections before reaching our hotel.

Transportation to Hotel: Not So Smooth, But Successful

We checked in and decided to find a place to eat. Since it was almost 10:30 at this point the choices were slim. We went to this Austrian Cafe that I had been to before. The food is awesome (in my opinion) and reminded both Melissa and I of the awesome German style food we were exposed to during the first couple of years of our marriage.

That's my girl, a bier drinker!

Good Dinner: Check!!!!!

After dinner the plan was to go to Seoul Tower for a romantic city view. Seoul Tower is on top of a mountain. There are a few ways to get up...walk, cable car, bus, or, if you are a foreigner, by black taxi. We jumped into a cab and got to the top. I must admit it was pretty empty. The cabbie took off and we walked to the tower to find it was totally closed!

Romantic View of the worlds 8th Largest City: Epic Fail

Seoul Tower

We decided to walk back and catch a cab, but there were no cabs to be found! To make matters worse, it started to rain. We walked down Mt. Namsan looking for a ride, I realized no other chick would put up with my ineptitude. Melissa truly is my "Seoulmate"...yes, that just happened.

We caught a cab and made it back to the hotel where we engaged in over priced lounge drinks:

After a few drinks it was time to pack it in. I can not begin to tell you all how awesome it was to have Melissa here on our 5th anniversary. She still is the apple of my eye and I am truly counting down the days until we can be a family again.

Ella's 2nd Birthday in Korea

I am still catching up on posts from our visit to South Korea. I am going to blame it on the jet lag;) Tom and I would easily agree Ella had a great birthday with us. We didn't have a big party for her this year. We kept it just the three of us and made sure we spoiled her with extra hugs and kisses that day. During the day I took her shopping and bought her some fabulous new leggings and sweatshirt. I have to say she loves clothes, shoes, purses...she's a total girl. When Tom got home from work that day, we went out to dinner to a place called Meat. Yup, that was the name and it was delicious. It's one of those restaurants where you cook your meat on a grill in front of you. We loved it. And the best part, Ella was on her best behavior. It was so nice to go out to eat...and your kid actually behaves AND eats the food. After we took Ella bowling. She had a blast and takes the sport very seriously. I heard Tom mutter something along the lines of "Ella is a bowling dork just like her mom. " (I think this stems from a competitive issue Tom has because I am clearly the better bowler). This was Ella's second time bowling, but the first time she actually got a strike. Welllll it was a gutter ball and then a spare, but that's still pretty awesome for a 2 year old. Ok enough bragging about my kid. We had to entice her out of the bowling alley with the promise of birthday cake at home.

Ella loved the table all decorated in Dora the Explorer, but she loved the frosting even more. She gets that from the Petrini side for sure;) As a matter of fact, she kept double dipping her candle into the icing...just like her Granny P likes to do. Oh and her daddy. It was a great day with our little family and I cherished watching the excitement on our daughter's face. Children really do change your life in so many ways. Everything is so much more beautiful with her in our lives.

Ella trying pumpkin soup. She definitely enjoyed it.

Walking around the Ville with the birthday girl

Daddy teaching Ella some bowling tricks

Ella would rather throw the ball down the alley, than roll it like daddy taught her.

Doesn't she look so determined?

Mommy teaching Ella the real tricks of the game

Oh and look how fast she catches on after mommy gives her a pep talk.

No pictures please. This is a very serious game.

"You sit over there mommy!"

Blowing out her candle. We used the "2" from my "29" candles. Tom thinks it's hilarious we can re-use the "3" when I turn 30 as well. Real funny babe.

Tom having a blast

"I'm just going to get a little extra frosting on this candle to lick off."

"I wonder if they are watching...I've seen Granny P do this before so I know it's ok."

YUM.

She didn't really eat the cake...just the frosting. Maybe she's watching her figure?

Opening her presents. She loves Curious George and says "Chorus Yorge". It's precious.

I love this girl. So. Very. Much. She melts my heart:)