My birthday girl

This little girl had a birthday. We celebrated with a simple get-together with close friends and grandparents.

It was perfect. 

Ellie (thankfully) got a nap in on our way to my mom's. She's a sprawler like her mama.

Ellie was so excited as we waited for everyone to come over.

First, we enjoyed some pizza. Since it was her birthday and all, we let Ellie have her request of holding and eating a full size piece by herself.

When she opened her presents, she was good about saying, "Wooooow!" and "Thank you." When she opened a handmade little skirt from the Waltons, she said, "It's so cute!" That's my girl.

She requested a pink birthday cake, so I tried a new red velvet recipe (close enough to pink, right?) and made some mint oreo ice cream. Mmmm. Ellie excitedly joined in the "Happy Birthday" song and loved blowing her candles out (with dad's help).

Cute new jammies and slippers from grandma

She was showered with presents and love and had the time of her life. The fun thing is that we still have Christmas to look forward to with her!

Now I am going to record some fun things she does at this stage in her life so we can read back and remember them:

The other day she said, “Mommy, I miss you.” “I love you, mommy.”

She also said in the car one day, “Mom, you’re gorgeous.” melted my heart.

She is a great eater and says “mmmm” when she eats something she loves.

Every time she sees a dog she wants to go pet it, even if it is the size of a horse like the Great Dane we saw the other day.

She loves playing with other kids, regardless of their ages. She will make friends with random kids at restaurants or playgrounds and run around laughing with them.

All she wants to do all day every day is pretend. Her favorite pretending games:

-In the middle of doing something she will randomly say, “The babies are throwin' up!” we instantly have to go take their temperatures and get them some medicine, stat. She loves playing with her dolls – taking them on picnics, on the “school bus” and saying, “where we goin', mom?”

-She also plays what she calls the “bye” game. She will put a tote bag around her shoulder and say, “I’m goin on a trip to Florida/Australia/Arizona,” then leave. About 5 seconds later, she runs back with a huge smile on her face and says, “I came back!”

-She comes up to me and either says, “Mom, I wanna buy!” (I know, scary.) or “I gotta buy my food.” I then play the cashier and offer her different items from her toy box for her to buy. She hands me her card from her play wallet and I swipe it. One time I said, “Thank you, Mrs. Christenson,” and she said in a corrective tone, “E-O-N.” I realized she meant “S-O-N,” which I constantly find myself spelling to people since Christensen is more common.

-She is potty training like a champ.

We love our baby girl!