Events – Page 2 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Events February 12, 2020

Madeline Themed Parisian 1st & 3rd Birthday Party

With the Emilia and Georgie’s birthdays exactly a week apart, I decided that we would throw them a joint party this year! When I was pregnant with Georgie, my sweet friends threw me a surprise Madeline/Parisian themed baby sprinkle, and I absolutely loved every detail. A few years ago, I saw a ‘Oui, oui, _____ is three!’ party and knew I wanted to do it for one of the girls’ third birthdays – this just so happen to be the year! So ‘Oui, oui, Emilia is three! Oh how fun, Georgie is one!’ became the motto of the fête.

One of my best friends, Monica, who was the designer-brains behind the baby sprinkle, and I work out together 3-4 times a week. So she got roped into every detail of party planning – a blessing for me, since she is so incredibly talented. We designed the invitations using a graphic from Juan Charles on Fiverr.com, whom I’m used for every one of the girls’ parties for custom coloring sheets. Monica and I game planned every room of the house during our BBG workouts in the garage, and I am was so excited as we started to piece things together in the week leading up to the party. Her Ladurée inspired cake was next level perfection, as were all of her backdrops – but the ‘Bonjour Mes Amis’ welcome mat (inspired by Sézane’s beautiful tiled entrances) was probably my favorite. The biggest thank you to Monica – times a billion! This party would not have happened without her!

I am so grateful for my talented friend, Esther, who owns cuteheads, a beautifully curated girls dress company, who designed the girls’ party frocks and their capes. Madeline herself would have been jealous! My mom made dress up capes for the guests to wear too! We had oodles and oodles of fun balloons throughout the house (including Madeline’s balloons by the front door!) thanks to Tiffany of Glamfetti (the balloon party shop!). The flowers were done by Holly of Flower Vibes, who is as sweet as she is talented. Besides the fabulous cake, we had desserts from Wink by Erica and Sarah Savory and Sweet – and there were almost none leftover! That is saying a lot! One of my best friends, Julie, owns the very successful Young Wild & Friedman, and she made the most precious Parisian-themed mini play dough kits for favors. Everyone is always grateful for some YWF! I made an eleventh hour decision to have a balloon artist at the party for the older kids, and they flocked to Rick! He was such a hit – I’m so glad I hired him from Twist It Up.

Mom Talk January 30, 2019

Two Sweet & Simple Classroom Valentines from Minted

This post was written in collaboration with Minted! Thanks for supporting the brands we love.

For the past few years, Valentine’s Day has crept up on me, and I’ve always been running to the grocery store on February 13th to get classroom Valentine’s for the girls to hand out. Since I’ll have a newborn this year, I decided I would get ahead of the game and order something sweet, but simple, early and have them ready to go for the 14th. I found two designs that I thought matched the girls’ personalities at Minted, and ordered accompanying treats – heart lollipops for Isla’s class and Valentine’s rubber duckies for Emi’s. I stuck them in little clear bags, hole punched them and attached the cards with ribbon and voila, they were easy to assemble and inexpensive!

Events November 2, 2018

Isla & Emi’s Flower Girl Dresses

I cannot believe that Jill and Kevin’s wedding was over three months ago! It was one of the most perfect days – after a few drizzly days in Inverness, Scotland, the sun came out for their big day and everything went off without a hitch (which is so rare for weddings, right?!). Isla and Emi were flower girls in the wedding, which Isla adored and Emi was totally oblivious about, ha. I had to hide my face going down the aisle because I knew she would just want me to hold her if she saw me! She was totally fine though, and both girls had the best time at the wedding, dancing up a storm.

Florence of Monbebe Lagos reached out to me a few months before the wedding asking to work together! Her dresses were gorgeous, so I immediately thought of Jill’s wedding. Monbebe Lagos specializes in flower girl and junior brides maid dresses, as well as custom special occasion dresses ranging from ages 3 months to 16 years. We chose the Cassie dress in gray with an ivory bow. When we got the dresses the week we left for Scotland, they were both too small, but my tailor took them out in time for the wedding, so I recommend being very specific when you take measurements! If you’ve never done it before (like me), I would suggest going to a tailor to have someone do it professionally! Other than the sizing being a bit off, we were very happy with the dresses. They were beautiful, well-made and perfect for the occasion. My sister loved them too, and a happy bride is all you need!

I will share more photos of their wedding soon! Here are some of my favorites, including the girls in their dresses!

Events June 25, 2018

The Hilton Anatole American Girl Package

We received this accommodation for free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for supporting the brands and companies that we love!

This past weekend, Isla and I headed to Dallas a fun ‘big girls getaway’ – she asked at least two-thousand five hundred times why Emi wasn’t coming, of course. We met our best friends, Kirby and Lillian, at the Hilton Anatole for the first of many similar trips. We had an unbelievably fun time with our big four year old girls (Lily is four this Saturday, so I’m rounding up!).

When we arrived in our adjoining bedrooms, we walked in and saw two of the queen beds with treats waiting for the girls – American Girl beds, robes, slippers, swimsuit and cookies! The girls were literally giddy with excitement. We arrived on Thursday, but the plan to go to the American Girl store wasn’t until Friday, so we all threw on swimsuits and headed to JadeWaters – the pool at the hotel. It’s a kid’s pool dream come true. There is a lazy river, lots of shallow wading areas, slides galore and on Friday, a pool party! After hours in the sun, we ate at the restaurant by the pool, then headed to our rooms to get ready for the big day.

The girls woke up READY TO GO on Saturday! We met our friend, Mary, and her baby at Snooze for breakfast (the scrambled tofu was delicious!), then went to the American Girl store for the main event. The girls were running around wide-eyed, looking at all of the pretty dolls and accessories. Lots of “Can I have that please?” being asked. Lillian picked Samantha, and Isla picked a lookalike doll (“Truly Me”), whom she named Samantha (ha!). They picked out a few accessories, then as soon as we got to the car (valet was free and included in the Hilton Anatole package!), they were ready to change their outfits already!

We ate lunch at Flower Child (holy cow, it’s amazing), then went back to the Hilton Anatole to relax (i.e. try pointlessly to get the girls to nap!) before going back to JadeWaters. We participated in the pool party, went down the big slides again and relaxed in the sun. It was heavenly! Isla proclaimed, “This is the best day of my life!” I’m not even kidding! That evening, we ordered room service, as everyone was exhausted and we didn’t leave the pool until 6:15pm.

We had to be up early in the morning, as I was taking family photos for a friend and Kirby and Lillian wanted to hit the road to spend the day with Brett and Henry before they left on another trip the following day. The girls ate Top Knot Doughnuts before doing a super huge farewell hug.

We will definitely be going back to the Hilton Anatole with Kirby and Lillian again (probably with the rest of the motley crew too!), as Dallas is halfway between Oklahoma City and Houston. Isla is in love with her Samantha doll and hasn’t stopped talking about how much fun she had this weekend. I loved my American Girl doll growing up (Kirsten), and I’ve long thought about what it would be like when I could take Isla to get her first doll. Such a dream come true!

Special thank you to The Monogram Shop in Houston for the fun inflatables, towels and beach bags!

Events June 3, 2018

Isla’s Royal 4th Birthday Princess Party

Yesterday, we celebrated Isla’s fourth birthday with a small(ish) princess party with eight of her closest friends. There were faux floral arrangements being made, cheese and cucumber sandwiches being eaten, a castle piñata being (lightly) whacked at, but most importantly, Cinderella, leading these nine girls in songs, dances and etiquette lessons. With some sprinkling of princess dust, they took an oath, turned around in a circle, and each became real princesses. Isla believes it all, and I’m sticking with it.

Isla had the best time at the party, and I wish I had just told her it was her actual birthday, because I feel like tomorrow would be a disappointment were it not for yoga camp starting! Lucky me – saved by the bell.

I had lots of help from my friend, Monica, and her daughter, Riley, who made the cake, signage, a silhouette cutout, and a balloon arch. They’re the best! I tried to narrow down the photos that I took, but like always, I failed at being selective. If you want to be nostalgic (like me), you can go and see Isla’s last three birthday parties:

Confetti-Themed First Birthday Party | Tea for Two Second Birthday Party | Unicorn-Themed Third Birthday Party

Party Sources: Cake, Floral Shop Signage, Balloon Arch Table and Isla Princess Silhouette from Monica and Riley of Paper Flour Ink | Custom cartoon by Juan Charles on Fiverr | Custom Crowns Monogramed at The Monogram Shop | Cinderella is a part of Fairytale Headquarters | Table and chairs rented from Aztec | White Tablecloth and Pink/Gold Tray from Target | Mint Chargers from Michaels | Gold plasticware from Amazon | Pink Coupe Glasses and Gold & White Napkins from Sugar & Cloth | Honeycomb Poufs from Debra Party Corp | Florals from Mi Bella Rosa | Crown Cookies from Memorial Bakery | Gold Frame for Silhouette from ForeverLoveNotes on Etsy | Smaller Gold Frames from Nice Price Favors | Floral Teapot Favor Boxes and Floral Plates from MoonlightWeddings on Etsy | Castle Piñata from Pinatas, Etc.