Ellie turns 10

On April 11th, our "baby" turned 10!  Where did the time go?  Ellie has grown from a sweet and easy baby into a beautiful, funny and still sweet young lady right before our eyes.  We have enjoyed watching her grow up so much and wouldn't want to change a minute of it!

Each year for her birthday, it is a tradition to cover her floor with balloons while she sleeps.  This started when she was really small and she has come to expect it each year.  This year to mix it up and provide a little surprise for her, I found this cute idea on pinterest.  Emory and I blew up around 150 small water balloons.  While Ellie slept, I put a piece of clear plastic over her door and carefully filled the space between her door and the plastic with the balloons.  When Ellie opened her door early on the morning of her birthday, all of the balloons fell down on top of her.  Suprise accomplished!!!

Next came the special birthday breakfast.  This year it was a stack of ten mini pancakes with sprinkles! 

She opened a couple of presents in the morning before school because she was just so excited.  Pandas are still a favorite this year. 

While Ellie was at school, I made the cupcakes of her choice.  She too is a fan of Pinterest and found cute mini panda cupcakes that she asked me to make.  They were so small and cute!

For her birthday dinner, Ellie requested her favorite - spaghetti and homemade meatballs.  She always makes these with her daddy and they are so yummy.

Afterschool, her first request was to come home and open the rest of her presents. 

The biggest surprise this year came in the smallest package.  Ellie has been asking for years to get her ears pierced and we have always told her that she could when she was 13.  She is definitely responsible enough to have pierced ears now, so in this small box she got her first pair of earrings.  She was beyond excited!!!

The next afternoon I  made an appointment at the pediatricians office where nurse Robin pierced her ears.  Her first earrings are simple little silver balls that she has to wear for a month.  After that she will have a hard time choosing which earrings to wear first.  She received so many cute earrings from her friends for her birthday.

For her party with her friends, Ellie decided months ago that she wanted to go to Rebounderz which is an indoor trampoline arena.  There are huge trampolines to bounce on, a dodgeball trampoline arena and a trampline basketball court.  The girls had a great time and were super hot and tired by the time we called them back to the party room for cake.

 Happy 10th Birthday, Ellie Bean!!!  We love you so much!!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Piper!

Our sweet Piper celebrated her 4th birthday on March 8th! 

She (and Owen) enjoyed opening all of her presents and tearing through all of the bags and tissue paper.  That might be more fun than the actual presents for them! 

 

Happy Happy Birthday Baby Girl!  We all love you sooooo much!!!

Happy 13th Birthday!

Solo & Ensemble Weekend

My Birthday!

This birthday is one that I won't forget. Not because it was so much fun, but because I had a horrible case of the flu. The entire day was literally spent in bed from the time that the kids were both off to school until almost dinner time. Dan, Emory and Ellie did a great job making it into a celebration for me even though I wasn't quite up to it. Love you guys!!!!

Back to Disney

Painting a Masterpiece

As a fundrasier at PES, Ellie and I attended a pottery painting night at school and it was so much fun!  Ellie makes the best pottery and has been doing it since she was a baby and was just having her feet painted and stamped onto a plate.  This year the school was making bowls and she painted the cutest blue and green bowl.  It was so good that Ms. Tina took a picture of it and she said it might just end up in print ads or on their website soon.  Great job EllieBean!

A Weekend Getaway to New Orleans

First Trip of the New Year to Disney

One of the perks of living so close to Orlando is the opportunity to just "drop by Disney" for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.  We did just that on the afternoon of January 20th.  With our Disney passes again this year, we are going to try to make more of these short trips.

We started off the morning with a little shopping.  Dan and Emory wanted to check out the Bass Pro Shop for some kayaks and fishing supplies.  This place is huge!  It wasn't something that Ellie and I were so interested in but that all changed when we came across this little guy...

This little guy was there visiting from GatorLand.  Ellie has done this before and has no fear at all, even though this was the biggest gator that I think she has ever held.

Ironically, I had just taken this picture of Emory out in the parking lot when we arrived.  He is not as fearless as his sister!

 He was a good sport about it and let me get a couple of pictures...it might have helped that his sister was standing beside him egging him on.

This was painted on the side of a truck just outside.  Maybe this would be a good first vehicle for Emory? Just a few more short years until he drives (yikes!).

After a quick trip to Ikea, it was on to Disney.  It was a holiday weekend and boy was it ever crowded!  Miserably so, in fact.  Just another good reason to have passes.  We rode Space Mountain and a couple of other rides without crazy long lines and then didn't feel bad when 4 hours later we were in our car and headed back home.

About once a year, Dan decides that the HUGE turkey legs that they sell in Frontierland smell just too good to pass up.  I'm not sure that I agree, but they are funny to watch him eat!

Good night, Disney...

PBMS Soccer 2012-2013

Congratulations to the Pacetti Bay Middle School soccer team for their undefeated season!  Go Wildcats!