Hope you have a good V--day!!
Ellie's 4th birthday party was today at our neighborhood park and let me tell you--it was perfect!! We had a giant pizza, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, a pretty cake, face painting, a Hello Kitty pinata, a fun park to play at, pleasant weather (76!), presents and tons and tons of people!!
Ellie's yummy cake--complete with Hello Kitty toppers
The GIANT pizza!
My good friend Kerry--she painted all the kids' faces with kitty whiskers and tattooed them all with Hello Kitty
Ellie and her Hello Kitty pinata--all the kids were chanting her name!
Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Matthew was the big winner!
Ellie and Grandpa Ed opening presents--lots of loot!
Grandma and Grandpa were able to come down for the party--Ellie was so excited!!
The theme was Hello Kitty and it was everything Ellie envisioned--truly a 4 year old's dream!! The only thing missing was all of you who couldn't make it! But thank you for all the calls and packages this week--Ellie has just been spoiled rotten!!
Ellie started her birthday bash bright and early and opened some of her presents before daddy even left for work. She then followed the presents by a big, yummy birthday breakfast.
The first activity Ellie chose to do, was go to the movies to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Then she wanted to play by the fountain for awhile.
Next on her list was a visit to Chuck E. Cheese!! She had full run of the place and she had a blast!
Since we were so full from popcorn and soda, we skipped Rubios for lunch and headed home to meet daddy--who had taken work off early to be able to join in on the second half of the festivities. Next on the list, was to visit the Humane Society and possibly adopt a cat...
I'm not going to go in to details on that visit, but let's just say that we all left the Humane Society with different emotions. (Ellie--a bit disappointed about not getting a cat, Mark and I--very annoyed with the Humane Society and the way that handled the whole situation, Maddy--probably relieved to be out of that noisy and smelly place)
Our last visit was to the mall for Ellie's choice of fine dining--Red Robin. After her dinner, ice cream sundae and song, we headed down the mall to play at the playground and to visit the pet store. We ended up falling in love with the cutest little mini daschund puppy and played with him for a bit. But at $1400, we decided not to take him home with us. yet....
Ellie started her ballet/tap dance class today. She looked so cute in her new leotard dancing around the studio. She LOVES it!!
It never ceases to amaze me how observant Ellie is! She appears to be engrossed in her playing, when really she is hanging on my every word. I will be talking on the phone and later that day (or week!) she brings up parts of my conversations. It really makes me stop and rethink some of the things I say around her. (Not that they are bad or anything, but I mean after all she is only 3 and you never know when she will repeat something she heard... )
Example #1--During the fire evacuations I started reading "New Moon" to Mark , while the girls played quietly in the backseat. I was filling him in on the important events of "Twilight" since he hasn't read them (doubt he EVER will!). Well, that was back in October--flash forward to today when I was retelling a strange, but very brief, dream I had had about me being Bella and Edward having to save me from falling into a pit (crazy I know!). So later on, we were out running errands and Ellie starts talking about vampires. Ellie asks--and I quote " Mom? Who is the bad vampire again? And why does Bella want to be a vampire so bad? And how come Edward doesn't drink blood??" NO JOKE!! She really asked all those questions.
Example #2--She was telling Maddy the other day how "inappropriate it is to hit others." And she always tells her little sister (as well as her dolls) things that Mark and I tell her. And on numerous occasions I have found stuffed animals in time out for "having bad behavior." And they aren't allowed to come out until they have "thought long and hard about what they have done."
Example #3--She LOVES music and sometimes while we are flipping through the radio station, a song might get stopped for a moment or two too long and later I will hear her singing things like "Fergalicious" and " Shake your Booty" or something similar.
Wow! It's just scary how sponge-like little kids are!!
I really do get quite sad when we have to pack up all the holiday decorations and lights and take down the tree. We had such a fantastic Christmas season this year-it was hard to say goodbye! Mark went back to work today after a nice long break. We had really immersed ourselves in all of the holiday festivities, so it was a little hard for me to get back to "real life".
We carried on some of our past holiday traditions and even started a couple of new ones that we hope we will continue in the years to come!
We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Years!!
The girls decorating the gingerbread house
Mark and I in front of our tree headed to a KPMG Christmas party
Mark and Ellie got to go to the Old Globe Theatre at Balboa Park again this year with KPMG and see "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Ellie loves getting all dressed up and getting to meet the Grinch before the play.
Santa Claus comes to all the kids' houses on our cul-de-sac every year and brings them toys. Ellie loves it, but Maddy, once again, would not sit on his lap without screaming!
