Happy Birthday!

So the big day arrived! Adam stayed home with Ella on Friday for a 'Daddy/daughter' day that he said he wants to make tradition! Then when I got home, we all went to Red Robin for dinner - it's a great place where they always make a big deal about birthdays (with singing and a sunday!) Ella was all decked out in her 'birthday clothes' and ready to go!

She gave them lots of cute looks when they were singing to her!

Here she is playing in her sunday!

After dinner we went through the mall, and actually let her ride the carousel - something she ALWAYS is interested in but we haven't ever stopped to let her do - she had a blast!!

Then afterward we let her play on the playground in the mall. She had so much fun playing/watching the other kids and climbing on everything (she is quite the climber!)

So we've come to the end of our first year journey, and 'what a long (but FAST) strange (and exciting) trip it's been'!!

My quote to Ella as she is getting 'older' and growing up on me, is taken from the great Dr. Seuss..."Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you. And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along. YOU’ll start happening too. OH! THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!"

Happy 1st Birthday Part 2!

I know people say that first birthday parties are more for the parents than for the child...and in some ways that's correct - but we tried to make Ella's very 'kid friendly'! I think though, it is for the parents - a celebration that the ENTIRE family made it through the first year!
And a celebration it was! There were a total of 10 kids including Ella, and they all had a blast!

We made our yard into a playground - complete with a sand/water table, tunnels to crawl through, a ball pool, and even sprinkler so everyone could get nice and wet!! We were SOOO blessed with a beautiful day and are extremely thankful for that!

One of the things I was very excited about was making the cake for her Baby Einstein theme. It turned out GREAT, and here is Ella blowing out the candle - with a little help of course! The cake you see on her high chair is her own personal cake so she could get as messy as she wanted!

And, as with every party, there is 'THE gift' and for Ella it was this little push car that her grandparents got her. She LOVED being pushed around, and the look on her face was like she was a QUEEN!

So...I think we finally got our house back to looking normal this afternoon! I wouldn't do anything differently and I think Ella will enjoy looking at all of our pictures when she is old enough to appreciate them! I put up as her 'Photo of the week' a picture of her a year ago - can't believe it - it is just so bitter sweet. But, as I told Adam today, I would not change where we are now with where we were last year for ANYTHING! I love our life and can't wait for everything (the good, the bad and the ugly) that this next year has in store!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day and were able to enjoy it with friends and family! I was anxious to download the pictures from our weekend, and thought while I was on here, I would go ahead and post for the week!
Our family had a wonderful week/weekend! Adam and I were on Spring Break from school (Wednesday through tomorrow) so we have had a good mix of relaxing and getting things done around the house! We were finally able to get out our deck furniture and do yard work, plus we cleaned out the fire place for the season, cleaned out our closets and dressers (including Ella's AGAIN!) and rewarded ourselves with a day in Richmond (just the two of us!)
Ella has had lots of excitement as well! Friday, the day we were in Richmond, she got to stay with her Grannie (Adam's grandmother) - they both really enjoy playing together! Later that evening we all went out to do some fun Easter activities. We went to the mall to see the Easter Bunny, but Ella was so scared (and truly I can't say that I blame her) - she didn't cry, but she let us know that she was definitely not interested in getting anywhere close! SO, we did something even more fun, which was go to the farm store and look at the baby chicks and ducks!! They were so cute, and Ella is becoming quite the animal lover, so she really had fun! Actually, what she really enjoyed was kicking the side of the metal pin they were in, and then watching them scatter (poor things - I didn't let her do that but once or twice)! That's what she is doing in that first picture!

Then Saturday, I was in charge of the Easter egg hunt at church, so Ella came along and actually had a lot of fun looking for eggs with the other kids! We showed her what to do, and I think she ended up with about 5 eggs in her basket! This is only 1 of the MANY pictures I took of her hunting eggs.

Then this morning we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had come to visit! Ella was so surprised to see the trail of eggs the Easter Bunny left down the hall leading to her basket (sounds familiar doesn't it Nana? :-))!

When she got to the end of the trail she saw her basket and this was the look on her face! She had a good time looking through it, but mostly carrying around the eggs!

Then of course was church, where we (well the adults anyway) remembered what the real reason for the day was! We went to a very nice service and then had lunch with Adam's side of the family. We are so blessed to have such wonderful families (on both sides)! Ella is so lucky to be surrounded by so many people that love, support and care for her!

That should be all for now! We have a big weekend coming up - DMB concert, family portraits and one of Ella's friends will be turning 3!

Happy Easter! (Bonus Pics)

Here are just a couple bonus pics this time!

Bonus Pics!

Ok - I just could not decide what pictures to put up this week! We had so many cute ones from the weekend - so here are a few more - ENJOY!

Pre-Spring Break Action!

So ANOTHER two weeks have passed! I truly can not believe how fast time is flying by! Life has been so busy (in a good way) and we are finally to spring break week! WOW! When we go back to school (next Tuesday) we will be almost through April (and even closer to Ella's birthday - YAY)!
Ella has fully recovered from her recent illness (pneumonia for all those who haven't heard), so our lives have been much more calm these last few weeks! However, we have picked up on obligations and being busy - I did our calendar and we have something each weekend through the first week in May! But we are loving life, and Ella is always up for whatever is going on!

This past weekend, we went to West Virginia to spend Palm Sunday (instead of Easter so we could stay here during break and get things done at the house) weekend with my side of the family! We had a wonderful time! Everything was very relaxed and laid back! We got to see my grandmother's new puppy! Ella LOVED it! The puppy's name is Annie (a tribute to my grandmother's last dog who was also named Annie) and she is the sweetest little dog with the BEST personality! She and Ella had such a great time together!
Here we are trying to keep Ella busy at church. Nana Fisk plays the organ, and Ella loved sitting with the choir!

We also went to the farm and played. It was a little windy, but we were all still able to take in the beautiful spring air and enjoy being outside. Adam got to fish (his FAVORITE thing to do when we go to WV), and we took walks and looked at all the beautiful flowers blooming.

So now we get to enjoy having the rest of this week off work (after tomorrow)! We plan to do some yard work, plant flowers, and get out the deck furniture (that we were never able to get out the last time I said that because of rain and nasty weather).

We wish everyone lots of love this Easter!