mini cee, kay-ee-why.

why?  because we like you.

one of the bean's favorite people in the whole wide world, sweet little mini cee, turned 4 yesterday.  the hub and i zoomed home from our ojai getaway in order to meet up with MIL and the girls at travel town, the venue for mini cee's birthday bash 4.0.  when we got there, the party had just started and they were already out and about, exploring the trains on display.

another bonus was finally catching up with nanette and her family, who moved back to the l.a. area a few months ago.  it was really fun watching the bean and em reunite and get reacquainted.  obviously, it didn't take long for them to remember how much fun they have together.

lilcee had done a fabulous job as always with the decorations.  avoiding the obvious "thomas the train"-theme typically done at this park, she opted to follow mini cee's girly style, with some disney thrown in for good measure.

joined by dailygluttony and her family, the kids had a great time together with the help of a cart borrowed from the city of los angeles.  it was comical watching them take turns pulling each other around.  reminded me of mini cee's party last year.

time for cake!

we were sad to have to leave the party early, but the bean's annual gymnastics showcase was that same afternoon.  of course.  but we were happy to have been able to join in the fun for a little while, and now that we've seen once again how much fun the kids have together, we'll have to plan more playdates soon.  i mean, how cute is this?

then on mini cee's actual birthday we met up with lilcee & co. at disneyland.

lilcee and i indulged in an adult beverage before sucking it up and waiting forty minutes for the toy story ride.

happy birthday, mini cee!  hope you're making the most out of birthday princess week.

i am such a sucker, episode 3513424.

on black friday, lilcee alerted me to a killer deal via ticketbastard for something we'd talked about briefly - disney princesses on ice.  after we coordinated our schedules and settled on a date, we managed to score pretty decent seats normally going for $75 for a mere $28.  sweet.

it was a chilly, rainy day, but that didn't dampen the girls' spirits one bit.  although the bean has been to a disney on ice show before, she was extra excited to see it with her BFF.

i'd perused the selection of show souvenirs briefly before settling on a program that came with a flower a la belle, while lilcee scooped up a light-up spinny toy for mini cee.  the bean took one look at that flashy business and gave me the eyes.  gah.  but we'd dawdled so long that the show had already started by the time we got to our seats, and we were trapped in the center of the row.  but hey, our seats really were pretty good.  way better than last time.

halfway through the show, the skaters scurried backstage and the lights came back on.  intermission!  you know, when all the parents (including me) run out to spend cold hard cash on overpriced snacks and crap. while lilcee took the girls for a potty break, i stood in line like the good mom i am.  and it was totally worth it, because look:

come on.  for those smiles, you would've sucked it up and bought the damn thing too.

afterwards, we walked over to nearby lawry's carvery to grab some dee-licious grub.  as usual, the girls alternated between hugging and giggling and squabbling over who got to play what game on whose iPhone.

these two, man.  they're totally like siblings.  it's comical to watch.

warning: cuteness overload

my friend nanette, if you don't already know her, has an adorable daughter we call "em."  she was born almost exactly a year after the bean, and it's fun to watch her grow up and remember what the bean was up to when she was em's age.

because we live about an hour away from each other, we haven't had a ton of opportunities for playdates together.  but now that the girls are getting a little older and can do more fun stuff, we're making more of an effort to plan toddler GTGs.  it's SFAM 2.0 in action!

last week, we met up at the grove/farmers market in l.a.  we love that place, and it was a nice outing-slash-MIL's last time there for a while.  when we arrived, the toy store window caught the bean's eye, and that's where we ended up meeting with nanette and em.

so cute, right?

this farmers market (no apostrophe!) has been here since the 30s, and the original owner happened to strike oil on his ranch.  he's apparently credited with inventing the self-serve gas station, and a replica of the original one was built here between the parking lot and the farmers market.  there's also an antique (non-working) truck parked here, and the girls decided it would be fun to climb into it.  after peeking inside and seeing that it was clean and safe, we let them.

can you imagine the havoc these girls are gonna wreak in, oh, about 13 years?

they're totally BFFs.

don't kill me for this one, nanners.  i couldn't NOT throw it in.

as we found a table to sit at for lunch, the girls were captivated by the birds sitting in the tree above us.

this is what i got when we asked them to "smile!"

even though i knew we'd be having some today, for st. patrick's day, i always find myself coming here for corned beef and cabbage.  seriously, i need to branch out next time.  but it's just so darn delicious.

according to her mommy, em wasn't yet a hot dog fan - but she warmed up to it as she watched the bean chow down on hers.  while the bean doesn't like ketchup (or ranch, or any other kind of dressing or dip), em sure does - and that's how nanette finally got her to eat pieces of her hot dog.  and when they were both done, they got to share a treat:

ice cream is to the bean what corned beef and cabbage is to me - she never passes it up.  so even after em was so over it, she kept plowing away at their cup.

we walked with them to the grove so the bean could stroll through the american girl place, which nanette and em had already visited earlier.

it was em's naptime, so they shared a goodbye hug before we parted ways.

MIL and i were happy to let her lead the way through the store - with a full belly, a trip to the potty, and a nice walk, she was guaranteed to take a good, long nap in the car on the way home.

 

i hope we can make playdates with nanette and em a regular occurrence.  they're just too much fun not to.