Thursday, April 5, 2012

2 Girls and 2 Birthdays

Birthday season has just finished in our household. My two girls just celebrated their birthdays. I have always thought that since my girls' birthdays are just two days apart, celebrating will be cost-efficient. Well, we celebrated for three days straight - so you probably already have an idea how our wallets cried for help. Hahaha! :)

I planned simple yet special activities for my princesses and my girls had a wonderful time! :)

Day 1 - C's Birthday

Our little monster sleeps late and wakes up late too. We woke her up really early by singing Happy Birthday with three little cupcakes with candles on hand. :)

Aren't these the cutest candles?

Wakey wakey!!! :)

Happy birthday, cupcake! :)

I wanted her to wake up with balloons around her. I went to National Bookstore the day before her birthday to get helium-filled balloons only to find out that they only last for about 8 hours before they stop floating on air. Bummer! :( But of course, I had a Plan B.

Mesmerized by the balloons

The good-morning-birthday-girl surprise

Off we went to the toy store to buy their presents. This time, we let them choose what they wanted.

The little monster took home this toy shopping cart she was obsessed with

We went back home for a quick lunch then went to my sister's place for a swim.

The loveliest kiddie pool ever! :)

Mommy, birthday girl and her Lalaloopsy (she just can't live without it!)

The little one just loves the water!!!

Guess who got tired? Everyone! Hahaha.

2 adults, 2 kids and 1 baby (my inaanak/godson) on a queen-sized bed - who would've thought?

That day, we had our bi-monthly dinner with my dad's family. I ordered a red velvet cake (the yummiest at that!!!) so my girls can celebrate with our relatives and blow candles.

Red Velvet Cake by Cupcake Lab

Make a wish!

Day 2 - Birthday Dinner With Our Families

This is our official celebration with our families - my family and my husband's. We had Italian food as requested by the eldest. And the highlight of the day was a special Ghirardelli Buttercream Lalaloopsy cake that my friend, Cay Causay, made. She is the genius behind Cupcake Lab and she also made the super yummy red velvet cake from the previous night. It was actually her gift to my kiddies (she's also ninang/godmother to my youngest) and my kids loved their cake as they are crazy-obsessed with Lalaloopsy (and so am I!!!). I am lucky to have such loving and super talented friends! :) Thanks Cay!!!

Lalaloopsy Cake (plus mini red velvet cupcakes!!!) from Cupcake Lab

It's a Lalaloopsy party!!!

Day 2 of blowing birthday candles

Day 3 - Z's Official Birthday

We made a special birthday breakfast for our eldest - heart-shaped pancake (her favorite breakfast), topped with maple syrup, whipped cream, M&Ms and surrounded with chocolate syrup.

Pancake Love

Day 3 of blowing birthday candles

My birthday girl loving her Happy Birthday sign

Still a Lalaloopsy celebration!!!
So after lunch, we headed to the mall for a mother and daughter day. First up was a mani-pedi spa session at Dahing Diva which we both enjoyed! I loved that Dashing Diva offers services specific for kids. She actually said it was ticklish but loved the pampering nonetheless. She even brought her latest Total Girl issue to read. She already knows how it works. Such a natural! :)

Z getting her nails done

That's her at the drying station

Our manis - guess who's hand is rocking the zebra design!

After our pampering session, we went to Hobbes & Landes to paint ceramics. We both love doing arts & crafts activities! Guess who took forever painting her ceramic!!! Hahaha. The birthday girl was basically finished looking around the store (which takes a looooooong time) and has zeroed in on the polymer clays for sale, talking about how excited she is for the polymer clay class she will be having when she takes her summer classes at SoFA and how she could start selling her creations and make Lalaloopsy designs. Yes, I took my time painting my ceramic! Hahaha! I'm so excited to get our works of art! I think it is such a great remembrance of her special day!


After painting, we had a quick dimsum snack (she wanted hakaw which is also my favorite!) and headed to Power Station. Did you know that if you are a VIP card holder, you get a Php200.00 credit on your birthday? And we had two cards (we misplaced the first card so we got her a replacement years ago and found the lost one) so that's Php400.00 for her! And she spent them all on the Love and Berry game.

That's her Love and Berry card collection on her lap...

Good thing there weren't much people as she was glued to the machine for about an hour and a half!

Since it was Children's Book Day that day (which I had no idea until she showed me the events calendar on her Total Girl magazine), we went to Fully Booked to get a book. And she saw this.

She is obsessed with the Biebs!

Of course, we also got a book. But it's all about the Beibs! Hahaha. Before we left the mall, I got her her last treat - french vanilla ice cream - her favorite flavor! She was actually asking me for hugs the whole time that we were at the mall because it was pretty cold. When we were getting ice cream, I reminded her that she has been feeling cold the whole time and she quickly said that she's all warm and fine. Hahaha.

On our way home, I wasn't surprised to see that I was the only one awake. And that kind of confirmed that my princess had a wonderful time. :)

Before I forget, here are some extra touches to the celebrations:

To make my birthday girls feel extra special, I had birthday badges made for them. They wore them the whole time.


This was a last minute addition. I found these small scrapbook albums at Papemelroti (I love that store!) and asked everyone who celebrated with us to write what they love about the birthday girls. I will add birthday photos and decorate the cover. I think this will be a regular birthday thing from now on. And I think they will absolutely love looking through them when they're older. I'll make sure to post the finished birthday books when I'm done. :)



That concludes our birthday season for 2012! Celebrations do not have to be extravagant and pricey. All you need is a little imagination and lots of love! It was tiring but very, very fulfilling to see the happy faces of my kids. If they're happy then I'm super happy! Nothing matters to me the most than my lovely family! :)