Ellie's big day

It's nearly impossible to believe, but Miss Ellie is TWO! In so many ways, I can't believe that two years have passed since this amazing, loving, energetic, funny little girl came into our lives; but in others, it seems like just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital...and then sitting on the couch, looking at her strapped into her big carseat, wondering what in the world we were supposed to do with her.

We had Ellie's birthday party today and despite the fact that a lot of the kiddos couldn't make it due to illness, the birthday girl had a great time! My friend Celena (who was sweet enough to come to the party even though both of her kiddos were home sick) brought a parachute for the kids to play with. They LOVED it! They liked shaking it and watching balls bounce around on it and they really liked running under it and riding around in circles on it. Oh, you might wonder why Jackson is in costume -- apparently, he convinced his mom and dad that Ellie really, really wanted him to come to the party in his Mickey Mouse costume. :-) She loved it!

The big moment...more "cupcakes." Jackson had waited so patiently for cake that we just had to give him a candle too.

After a nice long nap, Ellie opened her presents. She loved the Minnie Mouse nightgown and pajamas that Grandad and Grandma Sue gave her. On a side note, Ellie now points to the picture of Grandad/Papa on our refrigerator and says "cry, cry, cry" -- she loved playing that game with him!

And then came the gift that I may spend a lot of time trying to hide...a drum...with all kinds of other noise-makers! Actually, the headaches will be worth the utter joy that it brings Ellie...and Charlie will probably stop flinching with every bang...eventually. Luckily, it came with a strap so she can chase us all over the house while she plays it. Thanks, Shiny Grandpa and Meme! ;-)

Gaga and Papa gave Ellie a Skippyjon Jones stuffed animal (with whom she has an animated conversation in the next video) and book, and some paint pens. Ellie LOVES painting and always talks about how she painted at school, so she'll be so excited to have some paints of her own...and I'm excited that they're washable. Thanks, Gaga and Papa!

Nana and the Ennis Family got Ellie some pretend food for her kitchen -- and Ellie thought it was lots of fun to make sandwiches and then pretend to eat them.


They also got Ellie a wooden train set, complete with a bridge and a water tower. I can picture the kids playing with it together in a couple of years; and in the meantime, Daddy doesn't seem to mind being a stand-in. Thank you, Nana, Auntie Emma, Uncle Brian, Thomas, and Joseph.

I don't know if you noticed, but Ellie said "Sawah" several times in the other videos. She wasn't saying it because the gifts were from Auntie Sarah, but because she apparently thinks one of the princesses on the wrapping paper looks like Sarah. Anyway, this gift was from Sarah and was a big hit -- thank you, Auntie Sarah!

Auntie Jamie, Uncle Eric and Alex called and sang a beautiful "happy birthday" to Ellie and then Alex recorded a message for Ellie on their blog. Here's Ellie watching it for the first time...we didn't record the other EIGHT times that she insisted watching it. ;-) Thank you for the sweet birthday wishes, Galyons!

The birthday girl with her daddy:

Blowing kisses:

Phew...lots of videos. I'm sure there is some way I could edit and condense them, but I'm not sure how...maybe I'll figure that out before Ellie's third birthday.