Ella Marie - 5 years old

My baby girl is 5!!!

What?? I told her to stop growing up....she forcefully said, "NO!"

Ella is an amazing gal. She LOVES school, LOVES her friends, LOVES playing "The Lion King" with all her lions, LOVES elephants, LOVES to eat junky, "unhealthy" (as she calls it) cereal when allowed, LOVES her family, and LOVES being 5.

We started off her birthday weekend with a few treats that she was so excited about. She came home from school one day earlier in the month and said, "Mom, I know what I want for my birthday.I want to get my haircut and my ears pierced." Say what?? I was ok with it, but we had to talk daddy into both....luckily we did.

First, it was to get her ears pierced.

Before

After (I think...I can barely see if there are earrings there). It was the EASIEST thing ever. I was surprised by how well Ella did and how simple and harmless it all looked. She now has a pair of pretty purple studs in her ears and is taking very good care of them.

After the ear-piercing event, Travis and I surprised her and took her to see The Lion King in 3D. What fun!

The next morning we were off her get her haircut.

She had never been to a salon before so this was all a real treat.

jonah was so happy it wasn't him getting his hair cut. He has already had more haircuts than his sister and he is not a fan.

Let the cutting begin...we were all a little nervous but once that first chop happened, and there was no turning back, we all relaxed.

She wasn't much of a fan of the hairdryer...complaining it was too hot.

But the final product was....

So freakin cute. I loved it, Travis loved it, Ella was in shock and it took her a little while to love it. After everyone else saw it and loved it, she felt better.

Our pretty birthday girl.

I started this last year and hope to keep going with it throughout the years. I love seeing the changes as she gets older.

Ella Marie - 5 years old

Ella's favorite

color: purple

food: McDonald;s

drink: milk

movie: Aladdin

tv show: Franklin

game: The Ladybug Game

friends: Lauren, Danielle and Taylor

book: Dumbo

animal: elephant

shoes: Crocs

shirt: any of her Disney shirts

breakfast: cinnamon rolls

season: fall

letter: E

number: 100

song: The Farmer in the Dell (she says Bell)

thing to do: color

sport: soccer

toy: Dumbo

special in school: Music

thing to learn: reading

holiday: halloween

place to go: Disneyland or the Disney store

And she wanted to come up with a question and it was "what is your favorite thing to do when it snows??" pretty random considering it doesn't snow here ever. But she answered "build a snowman"

We love you to the moon and back Ella! (and she would reply: "I love you to Australia and back")

The Purple Polka Dot Elephant Extravaganza

Ella's 5th birthday party was a success!!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I put a lot of work into this party....probably too much because in the end all that really mattered was that Ella had a blast and she did. Months ago she decided on the "Purple Polkadot Elephant" theme and I tried my best to make it happen. I know Ella was impressed :)

Ella and her new kindergarten friends. They all laugh and give hugs like every 3 seconds.

I just thought all these shoes looked so funny outside the bouncy castle....what a great way to entertain.

The "mom" friends

Carissa, Brooke, Camryn, Danielle, Ella, and Olivia

Ava, Taylor, Hannah, Audra, and Abby

The "older" girls

Jonah was lovin life in this mix of girls

These girls were just overcome by excitement while Ella was opening her presents...

Amanda and Jonah

Playing a little "Pin the Trunk on the Elephant"

We did the same game last year but it was "pin the kiss on the frog", she wanted it again this year and she will probably want it again next year....creature of habit.

Ella's wonderful girlfriends (minus Lauren)

The family shot....as good as we could get.

The morning after....he was in heaven!

Ella Marie on the morning of her 5th birthday...still going with the purple polka dots.

we love you beautiful!

The Busiest Month EVER!!!

The month of September proved to be an extremely busy month for me. It all started off with Disney, then 10 days of making 20+shirts, then it was Amanda and Jake's engagement party at our house on the 17th (pics below), Ella's bday party at our house was the next weekend, as well as my mom's bday and NY was the following weekend after that....all super fun, memorable, and exciting stuff - just all within 4 weeks of eachother....I usually like things spread out a little more.

Anyways, all things were successful. I found quite a knack for party planning (I have always loved entertaining but PINTEREST has turned me into an obsessive party planner)

Amanda and Jake's party was black and white themed and although the pics of the table aren't that great, there was a lot of time and effort put into it and everyone had a wonderful time.

Amanda and Jake are getting married on March 17, 2012. We are all very excited for them to start their real lives together. They are very much in love.

JAMANDA!!!

The decor

Amanda and her future sis-in-law, Meghan

We might as well all be sisters...

We need a trick to keep my grandma's eyes open in pics....she will be in a lot of them in the next 6 months.

The food turned out great with lots and lots of help from my mom....wish I had taken a pic before it was devoured.

The "nearly" weds

Jonah LOVES Jake....and Jake LOVES Jonah!

J and B

These two are getting closer and closer to being able to "play" with eachother. If they are anything like their sisters, they will be best buds. Can't wait to watch these two grow up.