Celebrating Ellie

In our family, when it's your birthday you get to pick everything we do (and eat!). All the kids really enjoy getting their special day but nobody enjoys it as much as Ellie. She is my child who values the gift of making memories so much more than physical gifts so a day to do her favorite things is the best gift for her! She plans for it all year long and she thoroughly enjoys every second of the day where it's all about her. Every year she tells us that it was the "best birthday EVER" and this year didn't disappoint!

The kids got to watch a movie when they got up since Ellie LOVES TV. They used to often watch TV in the morning when they first got up but since we got rid of our cable they generally don't watch TV. Ellie picked Charlotte's Web to watch. She also got to open her present from her siblings. They gave her a mermaid Barbie and a pack of Tsum Tsums. She was so excited about her gift!

We started our day off with chocolate doughnuts for breakfast.

Paul bought her flowers for her birthday!

JP also enjoyed his doughnut!

Then we went to the last day of swim team practice which also happened to be Fun Friday. On Fun Friday you get a special snack after practice. This week it was...doughnuts! Ellie was ecstatic...2 doughnuts in 1 day!

Pic with Annie, Ellie and Ruthie's mini team coach!

We headed home after swim team and had lunch and the girls got to watch TV during naptime.

After JP's nap we headed to Edventure (our children's museum) at Ellie's request. The museum wasn't very crowded so the kids got to enjoy all the exhibits. While we were in one of the rooms we saw someone in a "behind the scenes" room that had a lizard out so the kids were watching through the window. She opened the door and let them pet the lizard and then invited them to come back and do a craft! They used markers, coffee filters, and water to make beautiful butterflies!








After Edventure we met Paul at Moe's for dinner. Ellie loves Moe's! After Moe's we went to 32 Degrees, a yogurt place, for dessert.




When we got home Ellie got her present from Paul and I. I was really excited about her present because she had NO CLUE she was getting it! I had American Girl dolls growing up and my mom saved all of my dolls and their outfits, trunks, and accessories. Each of the girls gets to pick the doll they want. Ellie thought she was going to have to wait until she was 7 to get Addy (the doll she picked) because that's when Emmie got her doll. Actually Emmie getting her doll at 7 had more to do with the age and maturity of Emmie's siblings so Ellie got her doll this year!

While everyone else was getting ready for bed Ellie got to play with her doll all by herself. She LOVED the time she got to spend exploring Addy's trunk without anyone interrupting her.

Once everyone was in bed, Ellie got to stay up with Paul and me for a while. We had a blast playing Headbandz with her! I love the special time we get with each child once a year...that extra 45 min or so is my favorite time of the whole day.

Ellie also had lots of family and friends call her during the day to wish her a Happy Birthday. She so appreciated every one of those calls and is still talking about everyone who called her! (She also gave everyone a full run down of her plans for the day down to the last detail!) As an extra special treat, Gin-g was visiting Aunt Suzy and Uncle Clyde and their crew so she got to FaceTime with all of them!

We had lots of fun celebrating Ellie and she is still talking about her "best birthday EVER"...and starting to plan for next year!