A Whole Hand

Someone special turned a whole hand in our house on November 11th! Sweet Ellie is growing fast and we can't believe it! We tell her all the time to stop growing but she lets us know that she can not do that. We are so honored to be her parents. She is a super sweet sister to Quinn and Mia. They both adore her and Quinn desires to do whatever Ellie does. She is helpful and smart. She is beautiful and each day desires to be more and more independent. She has a style all her own and a memory like a steel trap. She is curious and imaginative. She is immensely excited about starting school next year and is learning to read so she will be well prepared. She blesses and challenges us daily as parents and as people and we would have it no other way.

This year Ellie requested a Little Mermaid party, which is extremely ironic since it snowed the day before her birthday. She started the day with breakfast with Daddy, we then had a special mermaid lunch that I made her and then we went for pizza for dinner (her favorite, besides noodles) and ended the evening with presents and cake. We always do something fun for their birthdays and so to go with her theme we went to the SeaLife Aquarium , which they had in Charlotte and we have season passes to. We were so excited when we found out they have one here too and it is the largest underground aquarium in the US, maybe even the world, as it is at the Mall of America. The following week we also took her ice skating as for her birthday we got her ice skates since we live in a cold weather climate we wanted to get her something she could enjoy now as opposed to when it warms up. When I agreed to the idea of ice skates I did not realize that Ben would not be doing any skating. I have not skated in probably 11  years, but it was like riding a bike and it came back to me quick. Ellie did awesome! She did not fall once and had a great attitude while trying something new. Ben said he was very proud of us! :) We are going to get him out there one day to give it a whirl! ;)

 Unfortunately a few bins and boxes did not make it to the townhome and are in storage, the birthday bin was one of them! :( I bought Ellie a banner for her theme instead of being able to hang her traditional one up that I made her. It will make it's appearance again next year.

 Helping make big sister lunch!

 A sea star sandwich, goldfish, and green grape seaweed!

 I made her cake with inspiration from many images of cakes with her theme. She requested a pink cake this year, so it was strawberry in the inside.

 Our traditional birthday photos!

 Traditional Birthday Book Reading

 Aquarium

 Ice Skating