Mommy and Ellie day

Ellie and I spent the afternoon together doing mother/daughter fun stuff. She wanted to spend some of her birthday money, and I was happy to help :)

First, we went out to lunch. Can you tell where we went?



I had an Einstein Bros. asiago bagel with cream cheese, and Ellie had Wisconsin mac and cheese with parmesan chicken from Noodles and Company. The best part of lunch was that I had free coupons for both, so I didn't even have to pull out my wallet :)

Then, we went here:



Can you guess why?

The coupon that Build a Bear sent to Ellie for her birthday was a really good advertisement ploy. She had $5 free to spend at the store, but even with my reasoning that she could get some free clothes, she just HAD to buy a new bear :) And the most colorful bear they had. In fact, she named her new bear "Colorful."



Then, the most anticipated event... something I did when I turned 5, and something she has been looking forward to for a year or two. Can you tell what she is looking at? And what is going through her pretty little head?



She is deciding whether or not to go through piercing her ears. How much will it hurt Mommy? More than a shot?

Finally she decided she was ready, and we picked out her first pair of real earrings. The man running the booth (who was very nice and patient) asked if she wanted to sit on the stool by herself or on my lap. She chose on my lap, so I didn't get any pictures or video of the actual event. But here is the play by play.

The man marked her ears (and re-marked one that I thought was off-center). Then, the first earring went in. I think Ellie was shocked at how much it hurt! She immediately reached up to her pierced ear, with tears in her eyes. Then she quickly grabbed her other earlobe protectively. She did NOT want the other one pierced. She kept saying, "Wait, I'm not ready; I'm not ready!" She never cried; she was just very adamant that she was not ready to get the other ear pierced. I tried to convince her that she couldn't walk out with just one ear pierced. I told her that the next one would be just as quick, and then we'd be done for good. But no amount of words would help her change her mind. It wasn't until the piercing man pulled out a lollipop that she consented to getting the other ear pierced. And then, it was done. She gazed admiringly at herself in the mirror for a while.



I think she was proud of herself for her choices on how to spend her birthday money



It was a fun afternoon! Tomorrow her birthday week culminates with a trip to see "How to Train Your Dragon" with Daddy. And maybe a trip to Cold Stone :)

Colorful Carnival

Ellie is five years old!!! I can hardly believe it. Our first-born has already passed through infancy, babyhood, toddlerdom, preschool, and is entering school-age. I'm so glad there are a few years until pre-teen!

Of course Ellie was the first one awake this morning. She was very patient though and waited until everyone was awake before opening presents.



Rowan and Ellie love her new keyboard! Now she can join cousin Bryson's rock band :)



Rowan and I went to Trader Joe's for some party supplies while Jason took Ellie for a walk. After a lot of preparation, it was finally party time! Ellie went inside to change into her beautiful dress she insisted on wearing.



Jason and I brought out the colorful food (fruit, veggies, tortilla chips and salsa).



Then the activities begun! We had face painting,



games of twister,



hyper dash (until it broke),



and personal pinatas that each child decorated and then destroyed to find the goodies inside.



Except to break open his pinata, Rowan didn't stray far from the food.





Especially when Ellie's rainbow cake came out!





We all sang happy birthday to Ellie and she tried to blow out the candles :)






I was relieved to see that the cake looked awesome when we cut into it.




With our wonderful friends and neighbors, the party was a big success. Parents were helping every chance they could, which made everything work so well. Thank you everyone for coming and making Ellie's day so special!!