Elly's 3rd Birthday ~ 9 May 2012

It's so hard to believe that my sweet little girl is already 3 years old.  She is so sweet and precious and the love of my life.  Over the past year Elly has really grown to love Dora the Explorer.  It was the first TV program that she ever saw.  Her first 2 years she didn't watch any TV and then at one point she started talking about Dora.  I asked her where she had seen Dora and she said at PWOC.  I guess they played a video of Dora in the childcare room and that was her first introduction.  After checking it out I came to the conclusion that there could be much worse than a cute, chubby little Hispanic girl so I bought a couple of Dora DVDs and that increased Elly love for her. 

It just seemed natural then to plan Elly's 3rd birthday with a Dora theme.  Elly loved to tell anyone that would listen that she was having a Dora birthday with a big pinata.  Of course, I had to do what I could to make her little dreams come true. 

This is what Elly's mornings usually look like.  She loves to watch Dora while eating her breakfast.  This was the morning of her 3rd birthday.  Seemed like the perfect way to start off her Dora birthday celebration :)

Sam's parents were scheduled to arrive the day before Elly's birthday so I planned to have most everything done at that point so I wouldn't be too stressed.  A couple of weeks earlier I made Elly's birthday cakes.  I made one of Dora (which I wasn't too happy with) and another one of Boots, Dora's sidekick.  Sam took Elly out one day so I could get the cakes decorated.  I don't think I could have finished them while answering Elly's non-stop questions.  I never knew I would be so critiqued as a Mama.  Literally just about everything I do has a question attached to it.  I can't seem to do anything without her seeing it and asking about it.  Anyhow, here are the cakes I made for her birthday.

I had the cakes in the freezer until the morning of Elly's birthday. She hadn't seen them so when I got them out of the freezer I let her see them. She loved them, so that's all that really mattered.

Sam took Elly and his parents out for a couple of hours in the morning so I could finish up last minute details and get the house cleaned. On their way home they stopped and picked up a bunch of balloons I had ordered for her birthday.

Elly was dressed and ready for her party to begin. She was so tickled that friends were coming over to celebrate her birthday with her.

We had a very simple menu. Sam grilled hamburgers and brats and I rounded it out with some side dishes. Very simple and easy...just what I wanted.

Our wonderful neighbors got Elly a bubble machine so the girls were helping her get it set up.

Sam and Aiden manned the grill.

The big pinata!

 

Elly, Maddie and Sammie eating at her little table.

The is the only picture I managed to get of Elly getting ready to blow out her candle.  I was too busy to get pictures :(

Time to open some gifts!

The last gift was a tricycle from Daddy and Mama.  She had a difficult time at first getting the hang of steering and peddling at the same time, but just a week later she was a little pro at it.

We had such a nice time celebrating Elly's 3 years.  She just gets sweeter with each passing year.  We are so blessed to have her as our little girl.  I thank God daily for giving her to us to raise.  We sure do love her!

Easter 2012

Easter is always a fun time. Last year Elly and I were in Alaska which was so nice.  I loved spending Easter and Elly's birthday with my family.  This year we were back in Germany and had fun with the activities available here.  Child & Youth Services always has an Easter Egg Hunt the Saturday before Easter.  You never know what the weather is going to be like and this year is was very cold.  I met up with my friend Kim and her little girl Sydney and was thankful she had an extra jacket for Elly because the wind was blowing and it was very cold as we waited for the Egg Hunt to begin. 

Elly and Sydney were comparing baskets

Elly kind of got into gathering eggs.  She still wasn't that interested in it, but after some encouragement she got several in her basket.

She wasn't sure what to think of the Easter bunny at first, but when she realized Sydney liked him and wanted to be near him she warmed up to the idea. It looks like she's still trying to pull away in this picture though :)

Kim, Sydney and us with the Easter bunny

Family picture with the Easter bunny

Saturday evening we colored eggs at home.  This was the first time we did it as a family.  The first year Elly wasn't into it and then last year her and I were in Alaska.  We had fun and Elly enjoyed it.

Easter morning I had Elly's baskets set up on the table.  Mom sent her a basket too so it looks like Easter basket overkill, but it didn't all come from us :) 

Chocolate!!

Ready for church!  I planned on getting her a new dress for Easter this year, but realized the dress she wore last year still fit her.  She had worn it only once (last Easter) and so I couldn't really justify buying a brand new dress when she had a perfectly good (and beautiful) little dress just hanging in her closet.  And she certainly didn't mind!

After church Elly was going through everything in her basket.  Checking it all out :)

April happenings

I'm trying to get caught up on this blog....once again...or maybe I should say "still" because I never seem to get totally caught up.  Anyhow, here it is the end of June and I'm just getting around to posting April.  Hopefully, I can get somewhat caught up in the next couple of weeks. 

April was a full month for us. Some things throughout the month required a separate post, but there were just a few pictures that didn't really belong anywhere else.  So, here are the extras.

I thought this picture of Elly laughing was so cute.  She found her bunny ears from last Easter and was playing around acting like a bunny.

Like most other little girls, Elly loves to dress up.  Anytime she finds a pair of my shoes she goes clomping around in them.  This day she was having fun dancing and watching herself in the mirror. 

Elly loves organizing her books.  She wanted me to take a picture of her with the books she had all laid out.  She loves to group them into "like" categories.

She is such a great little helper around the house.  Sam needed to wash the rolladens on our downstairs windows and Elly thought it was a perfect opportunity to help Daddy :)  She loves her Daddy and loves helping so it was perfect for her. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like hot weather. I am much more comfortable on the cool days. However, I'm really enjoying the weather finally being warm enough that I can put pretty little summer dresses on my sweet girl. Being overseas, I shop a lot of online sales and I've always bought clothes ahead for her. This has always served me well, but somehow I bought way to many summer dresses for this year. Partly, I think it's because she's still in some 3T clothes, but a lot of the 4T summer clothes will be too small for her next year so I pulled them all out and put them in her closet. She must have over 20 summer dresses!  I can't believe my baby is already in size 4T!! Anyhow...I need some warm days so she can get use out of all those dresses :)

Daddy and Elly were heading out to go to a playground and I just had to snap a couple of pictures.  I LOVE how Elly still carries her blankie and teddy bear with her :)  She is so sweet and I just wish I could hold on to her at this age forever.  I love her so much!!

Helping Daddy once again.  This time she had been playing in the pool out back, but then wanted to help Daddy so she got her little rain boots on and off she went :)  Oh, to be so young and carefree!