Our Ella is FIVE!

I feel like that title cannot be right. How could she already be five?! It seems like yesterday I was rocking this precious baby girl:

And today we have this precious BIG girl: How could it be? The years have truly flown by and now I am the mom to a beautiful five year old girl who never fails to bring joy and laughter into this family. She is kind hearted, joyful, incredibly caring about her brothers, loves to play with her friends, and delights in crafts and singing.

She had a magical birthday this year and here is photographic proof of many of the events of this fun weekend celebrating her! She started out the festivities by a trip the the American Girl Bistro and Boutique with Mimi on the day before her birthday. Here they are enjoying their special girls' lunch along with Ella's new friend, Kit Kittredge: Ella and Kit:Here she is, excited to be bringing her very own Kit home:

Later that same afternoon, Ella was able to go to Petsmart and pick out her very own pet. That's right, we have a pet! It's a betta (fish are pets, right?). For those of you who don't know us, that's the only kind of pet these parents are ready for!

Here are Ella and Kit after picking out the perfect fish:By the way, Jonah is happy and always has a full tummy in his new home, our kitchen. Is it true that you can kill a fish by feeding it too much because fish feeding is a highlight of our day so far, so Jonah gets lots of Betta Bits?

While she was sleeping that night, we covered her floor with balloons. Here's our birthday girl sleeping with no idea about her birthday balloons:

Ella and Kit just after waking up on her birthday morning:

And an even bigger surprise was waking up to find Grammie. She and Poppa arrived after the kids had gone to bed, so she was super excited to see her!

After playing in the balloons with her brothers, Ella dressed in her finest princess gown and opened a few presents:

We then headed out to her princess Build a Bear birthday party.
Here's big Will (our only partying Prince) showing Daddy the bear he picked out:

The girls and boy naming their bears:The princesses showing off their bears:The birthday princess and Bear, her cheerleader bear:

The birthday girl and friends:

Happy 5th Birthday, Ella Girl! We love you and are so proud of you! Now, if I only knew how to get you to stop growing!

My Catch Up Post

I have been slacking in my blogging lately. Here's a quick recap of some of the things that we have loved doing this summer:

Ella and Will had a great time at Sewell at the Circus with Mimi and Pop. Here they are enjoying their outdoor barbecue lunch on what was possibly the hottest afternoon of the entire summer. Ella's favorite parts of the circus were the human cannonballs, tigers and Bello. Will's favorite part was the tightrope walker. From what I heard, Ella loved giving a play-by-play of all the circus happenings and both just had a blast! These next pictures are their hats that their $12 cotton candy came in. My poor dad couldn't quite believe his tab of $24 for 2 bags of cotton candy. Ella and Will repeatedly told us it was the best cotton candy they've ever had (I'm sure it was because only the finest, highest quality ingredients went into it this sweet treat causing the high price tag, right Pop)!

Here's a couple of shots of Ella and Will at their end of VBS show. If I can ever figure out how to download a video, I will include some quality entertainment of big Will in his first ever "show". It promises not to disappoint!
We discovered the Museum of Nature and Science and have had a great time there playing in the water room, making huge bubbles, excavating dinosaur bones and studying the ball elevator thingy. Here's a couple random pics from our first morning there. We are now proud members so let us know if any of you ever want to head down there for a fun morning outing.

And lastly, one of my favorite things about the summer has been our lazy mornings. I love not being in a hurry to get out the door and just enjoying our mornings together. Here is a shot captured by our in-house photographer Ella:
After breakfast, Ella and Will love to play computer games. I have to set the timer or they would gladly sit there all day long!

Will Makes Us Laugh!

Our precious boy makes us laugh. Though he does like to say "just teasin'" to his mom followed by a long drawn out laugh from both of us, he is usually being quite serious when he makes us laugh the most. Here's a couple of cute and very matter-of-fact things he's said recently that I don't want to forget:

1. when asked what kind of pizza he'd like:"I want pepperoni pizza without the pepperoni". Followed by us saying, so you want a cheese pizza. "No, I don't like cheese pizza. I want a pepperoni pizza without the pepperoni".

2. he dialed the numbers to call michael's parents and when poppa answered, he said: "Poppa, I pushed the numbers to call Grammie's phone, not your phone." (Sorry Poppa. Will really does love you dearly!)

3. after reading a book about careers (that did not mention anything about chefs, by the way), he tells me: "Mom, when I grow up I want to be a chef who cooks hot dogs, (pause) hamburgers, (long pause) and broccoli. mmmmm.....broccoli. I love broccoli, but not white broccoli (cauliflower to clarify) just green broccoli."

Goodbye...

Today I said farewell to my constant companions of the last three weeks. It was a great day!

Goodbye, crutches. Allow me introduce you to our attic. May we never meet again!

The View From the Couch, Part II

My First Blog Entry by Ella (typed all by myself... 30 minutes at least)

my favorite things:
1. watermelon slush from sonic
2. swimming with my face in the water
3. my dora crocs
4. my brothers
5. m&m's
6. jumping in the pit at gymnastics
7. watermelon
8. cinderella the movie
9. mimi, pop, grammie and poppa (and their houses)
10. sea world
11. my softie
12. uno
13. hello kitty
14. my swingset
15. my dollhouse
16. baby greer
17. six flags

The View from the Couch

As I've been "couch bound" the last 2 weeks, I've had lots of time to make a few observations. Here are a couple of lists I've come up with:

things I love:
1. my husband who makes a fantastic stay-at-home dad, too! (more on that below)
2. my very busy children who I've missed like crazy as they've had some great times playing with their grandparents and other people who are much more fun than a resting mom.
3. my mom and my mom in law (and their counterparts) for whom we could not have survived the last 2 weeks without!
4. our family who has all jumped in to help take care of all of us
5. friends who provide delicious meals and help me take care of my family
6. and a God who has provided for us abundantly despite me trying to "hold the reins" as our plans just keep changing!

things I miss:

1. picking my baby boy up from his crib.
2. playing in our upstairs playroom with the kids.
3. showers....oooh, i can't wait for a shower!
4. having my leg rub up against my hubby's leg in bed.
5. shaving my entire leg (well, I sort of miss that)

things I've learned while michael is in charge of household matters:

1. while sweeping the kitchen floor, just use the broom to clean off the kitchen table too.

2. you really can wash colors, reds and whites all in one load and just keep cramming it in there, it will all fit. (note: our washer does make a new squeaky noise in the wash cycle i've never heard before...could it be related?)

3. i couldn't ask for a better husband and father to lead our family (not that this is new news)!

stay posted, I still have another week of being stuck on the couch, so I'll let you know of any other revelations!