something to blog about....

Not to say that I haven't had countless things to blog about because of our "mini miller" but this one I am making the time to add to this special long neglected little space...

Dear Ellie-girl,

Last night as I was putting you to bed, I was struck in such an overwhelming humbling way of the precious gift which you are to me, that I have been given from our Heavenly Father above.

And as tears slipped silently, joyfully down my cheeks, I began to pray aloud. Little girl, you did not know I was praying, I mean how could you possibly really understand the words more than just thinking I was speaking aloud as you heard my voice. The example of prayer that we have given you so far has been at meal times, gathered around the table, hands held and heads bowed.

We sat in the dark, in the old green $4 chair from goodwill, wrapped cozily in your blanket, milk cup gripped in your hand as I expressed my deep gratitude to our Lord for your life and the gift, the privilege of being YOUR mother. I prayed for your years to come, that you would come to know the truest Love of all, that you would shine for Him.

And then sweet baby of mine.....you said one simple word......."AMEN!"

Dear one, you know! You knew! What an amazing gift of a moment last night, in that old green chair, written upon my heart, for always. Our God is so good!

Letters to my daughter: Month 17 & 18

Dear Ellie,

Today you are 18 months old!! A year and a half!! Wow!! And the only reason I am posting this on time is because I finally got smart and scheduled it ahead of time :) Not that it even matters.

Sweet girl, I think including pictures in these letters is a must do from now on because they tell the story of where we are at! Baby, I am in love with you! This has been the case from the moment I read that pregnancy test in May 2009 but my love grows EVERY single day!! You are my favorite tiny person! You always have me laughing :)

At this age, you are constantly amazing me and catching me off guard with the things you do and learn each day! Currently, you are OBESSED with rocks, sticks, dirt, bugs, did I say rocks?!?! It's cute! You are most definitely your daddy's daughter when it comes to rocks! He collects them too :) You LOVE to be outside, aren't at all afraid to get dirty, inspect bugs, hold lady bugs, dig in the dirt, and just explore! We love this about you :) That spot below in the picture on the walkway up to our house is your special spot, you know you are not allowed to go down the stairs there but you get to the very furthest part allowed and plant your self there to play!
This photo below I think so accurately sums up your sweet little personality when we're together. I do notice when you are around others you tend to be quieter and very observant but when you are with us or someone you know well, you are a funny little ham! This is one of my most favorite pictures of you! I also love those curls making their appearance!
Just this week, I decided to see what you would think of crayons and coloring and I'd say it's a hit! As long as I keep them out of your mouth, tiny taste tester!! I've discovered a few bite marks in a few!! I really do think you are going to be right handed, since you consistently color and hold a fork with your right, but I guess time will tell.
Speaking of your eating, you make us proud in that department. And thankful!! You are not picky at all and pretty much could eat all day! Sometimes you do!! Your favorites at this age are multigrain crackers, watermelon, grapes, berries, scrambled eggs, pasta, pickles, raw carrots, and olives to name a few. Pretty much everything is a favorite :) But I think you would eat a whole package of blueberries in one sitting if we let you! Also, anything you can eat with your fork you especially love! Even if it doesn't need a fork to be eaten :)

In the last 2 months we've gotten to make lots more summer memories: We had a fun fourth of july (that's the picture of you with your dad), we took a road trip to California and camped with your Grandma Lida, Great Grandparents, 2 Great Aunts, 3 cousins and 3 second cousins at a special lake campground I grew up going to, we also camped at the church family camp with your Miller Grandparents and cousin Garrett, we took another day trip to the beach to play in the sand!, we played at the splash pad with your buddy Carter, you got to meet Tristan and your "Auntie" Chare! and we have all around just enjoyed our days filling them with little joys and adventures!
Some other facts about you right now:

-You totally have a special bed time routine that goes like this when it's time: you give Daddy a kiss goodnight, then he asks you for a 2nd one! always!, then you will walk into your room followed by me, you shut the door and you push the button to turn on your white noise machine and then you climb into the rocking chair where I then pick you up and settle you on my lap to nurse for a few minutes and then when you are done, you pop your little head up and say "all done" and then point to your crib!! It is so cute! Melts my heart every time! My part of the routine, that you don't see is later on every night before I go to bed, I go into your room to turn on the monitor, adjust your blankets, and just watch you for a few minutes. It completes my day and I love love love to watch you sleep! (sometimes I re-adjust you when you feet are sticking straight out of your crib! you sure do find some funny sleeping positions sometimes)

-Your teeth count is at 12 with 3 more starting to poke through. You are a serious trooper when it comes to teething!

-You hair is getting longer and has some curl!! and you will actually request us to put it in a pony or 2 pigtails! I LOVE this!! Can't wait until you have even more for me to play with :)

-New words are: Diaper (diapuh!), Ellie, Carter, blueberry, ladybug, and as of yesterday, your Grandma Miller has taught you to say purple and blue! We are proud of you girlie!

-Still very into reading! Especially books with flaps to lift and turn! Also you are really good at pointing to a lot of things we ask you to find in the books :)

Well, sweet girl, I think that is it for now. Let me just tell you that you have made my life rich! You bless me each and every day! Even in the hard and frustrating moments of parenting (and trust me, they are there!) I still am overwhelmed by the joy and honor I have of being your mama. I love you with all my heart and soul! I am so thankful God has given me the privilege to be your mom. It amazes me and so do you!

love,

mama

letters to my daughter: Month 15 & 16

Dear "Little Stink",

Sorry baby, that's your nickname of the moment the days! Mostly I call you it when you do something like what's in the picture below :) But don't worry it's said in love! I also realize I should probably stop calling you baby as much as I do, I am sure you're not even going to know your name is Ellie at this rate!! We seem to call you anything other than that most of the time :)

I decided to go against my "rule" of not having photos in your monthly letter posts, seriously why I worry about them all "looking the same" is beyond me! It doesn't matter and these photos I chose really capture your last 2 months of life and where we are at now. Girl, you are BUSY!! And very inquisitive these days, also independent, and keen on figuring out how things work! Also, it doesn't take much to keep you entertained and we've been having fun "makin' do" (see below for the proof! Tupperware+water+sunshine+turkey baster=FUN!)

A few things about you these days:

-You love to be outside! you have mastered the slide at the park and could care less about the swings anymore!

-I've learned not to ask you if you wan't to go bye-bye unless we are ready to walk out the door! (If shoes aren't on, bag isn't grabbed, etc. etc. I've just teased you and you think it won't happen in the 3 more minutes between saying it and actually leaving! *cue crying!)

-That said, you LOVE to go bye-bye!! :)

-We've been putting lots of "ponies" in your hair to contain the mullet and too long, not really bang pieces, that I will NOT cut yet!

-At story time you always crack me up and I love to watch you because you never just sit there with me and do the songs or listen to the book, instead you wander ALL over the room, getting all up in the other parents space, face, laps, using them as a stairwell to hang on to up and down the stairs, etc. etc. You charm them all though silly girl!! You are quite the adventurer!

-You might be developing a "lovey"? You've been sleeping with one of your soft baby dolls that you go for your birthday and it's so cute to see you curl your little arm around her and tuck her under your chin when I lay you down for bed.

-If we tell you to throw something away, you walk over to garbage, wait for us to open it and then will throw it in and clap for yourself! Also, you help put the dishes away from the dishwasher (the tupperware ones!) and if we tell you to wipe you nose, you go get a burprag and will wipe it! It's so funny to see you do all these things!

-You are obsessed with the bathroom and being in the bathroom and if I can't find something like a sippy cup, I can usually find it in the tub, along with a ball, some random tupperware, etc!

-You say "bye-bye, banana, "nuh" (nose), mama, dada, and a bunch of other babbly stuff, I am pretty sure you are trying really hard to say "sock" and I can tell when you are, and you also have a word for when you want milk but I can't even try to spell it the way you say it, but I know what you mean! It's sooo neat to be able to understand your little baby language!

-You sign please, thank you, all done, more, eat, and milk. When I tell you to say "I love you" you blow kisses/sign thank you but I know that is your way of saying it!

-You still LOVE to give kisses to me, even when I don't even ask for them! This is the best thing!

-We've been working on animal sounds and the one you have nailed is definitely the cow! lots of "mmmmmmmmm" going on around our house

-You are really into books and sitting on our lap to have them read to you right now.

-You know where your ears, nose, belly button, hair, teeth/mouth, and eyes are! I think eyes are my favorite because instead of pointing to them your squinch them shut and make the cutest face! Then you poke me in mine to show me where mine are! ha!

-You are still eating most everything and sleeping good too! New favorite foods include green beans (but only the canned ones?), tomatoes, strawberries and scrambles eggs are high on the list! You also blow on all your food a lot even if it's not hot food! so cute!

-Still nursing at 16 months and I don't know/don't care when you will stop, I know you'll let me know when the time is right. I'm trusting our instincts on it and not anyone else's opinions there.

-Hmmm, what else! I need to start writing things down on paper in between these letters so I don't leave anything out.....

-Oh yes, tantrums have arrived, (i think that's what I'd call them!) Sometimes when you don't get your way or we won't let you do something, etc, etc you for sure let us know you are not happy about it. You're dad and I have been talking quite a lot about how we want to handle this kind of behavior and we are still figuring it out. So far we are ignoring it, walking a few steps away, or trying to redirect you with what your options ARE, instead of what we don't want you to do.....Seriously waking up in the middle of the night with a newborn was EASY compared to this part of parenting for me. I constantly second guess myself in what is best for you when it comes to discipline but one thing I will say is we are not afraid to be firm and follow through even if it's hard in the moment. We really do in fact do it because we love you! (Wow, our own parents were right when they said the same things to us!!)

On Father's day I put you in the outfit shown above, I have been waiting so long for you to wear that shirt from your Auntie Noel! Love it! It is so neat to watch your dad be your daddy!! It makes me fall in love with him all over again all the time seeing how he is with you! You are the highlight of his day when he walks through the door in the evening. Sometimes lately he has come home after you have gone to bed and it makes him sad that he doesn't get to spend that little bit of time with you. He loves you sooooo much sweet girl! We both do!

You bring such a joy and sweetness into my life Ellie girl!! I am so thankful for my cheerio spillin' & cheerio eatin' litttle babe! I love you with all my heart!

love,

mama

mama-made!!

I was able to make Ellie a few new things

to add to her wardrobe this weekend!

I love a cute "mama made" outfit!! (I mean top!)

&

Taking photos of an almost 15 mo. old = BLURRY!!! :)

this girl is on the go!

I found a small scrap of this blue calico print fabric at goodwill

knowing I could at least make something Ellie sized out of it!

I didn't have a pattern so I just winged it (wung it???),

figuring out what it would become as I went.

(She's not upset in the above pic, just cheesin' it up for the camera!)

I decided on a simple top with some fun ties over the shoulders!

Pair it with a matching cloth diaper and you've got a summer outfit!

It doubles as a skirt actually

if you untie the straps and tuck them in!

Don't worry, we'll put a shirt with it when we're out in public :)

I also made a pinafore using a pattern from my friend's etsy shop!

Check her out to get your own pinafore pattern or other great stuff!!

She's got cute stuff for your littles to wear!

I love how the straps cross in the back

and that Ellie can wear it in

warm weather with even just a diaper or shorts

or even cooler weather

if I layer it over long sleeves and leggings!

Plus! It's REVERSIBLE!! :)

I think I'll be making several more!

It might become her summer "uniform"!!

Where did those chubby legs go? :(

And her arm roll creases are almost gone too!

Welcome to toddler hood, sweet girl!!

What's in my bag? Diaper Bag edition!

I've seen "what's in my bag" posts all over the blog world and thought it would be fun to do a diaper bag edition! I don't use the bag as much as I did the first 6 months or so of Ellie's life, mostly we just take it to church on Sundays for her, but it's still fun to take a look inside!

If you are a mama and wanna do your own post of "what's in you diaper bag?" post the link in the comments! Or even if you're not a mama and wanna do a "what's in my purse" post, still tell me about it!

Here's what I discovered in my bag today:

(From top and clockwise)

1 change of clothes (onesie and leggings, not necessarily matching which is pretty typical!)

1 FuzziBunz cloth diaper

2 "wipe containers" a.k.a random tupperware! (I'm ghetto like that!)

2 pairs of Target dollar section sunglasses which I refer to as the "elton" pair or the "hipster" pair

1 small tube of Burts Bees diaper rash cream that never gets used

1 travel size tube of California Baby sunscreen

1 tube of California Baby diaper rash cream (the absolute best and worth every single penny!)

Point and Shoot Canon digital camera

Tissues for runny noses (I'm a wiper! not a" let-it-run"-er! just.can't.do.it)

Wet-bag for used cloth diaper

1 random hair clip

1 pen

1 spoon

2 packages of free sample lanishoh wipes (are these supposed to be for me or ellie??)

1 set of keys that don't even belong to me!

2 pairs of socks......I was surprised there were only 2, it seems like their are usually 5-6 pairs in there! That bag breeds socks I swear!

Well, that was fun wasn't it!! To all you readers...... PARTICIPATE!! and join in! :)

Oh and the bag is from Target by Skip Hop, it definitely fulfills the polka dot obsession I maybe might have!!

A perfect day...

Back on Good Friday, Matt had the day off work and since the weather was nice we decided to plan a family day at the beach! We went back to do a hike that Matt and I done a few years ago at Cape Lookout about 15 minutes north of Pacific City. It's about a 5 mile hike out and back and it was the perfect day for it!

It is one of our goals to be an active family and do lots of hiking and other outdoor activities that get us moving! It's never too early to start! We just strap the babe on us and go!! Note to self: next time take more snacks though or just any at all! Thankfully the girl is still nursing :)

I'm not usually one to take scenery pictures but it was too gorgeous not to! Wow!! (and high!!)

The cutest hiking companions a girl could ask for!

We made it!! Not the best family pic but getting the 3 of us in one is kinda rare :)

My turn to carry her! Phew!! What a good work out!!

We celebrated our survival :) with the Pelican Brew Pub

and then it was time to hit the sand!

This was only the 2nd time Ellie had been to the beach

and it was quite different from the chilly November day before.

This time called for cute yellow sunhats and bare feet!!

Matt and I both LOVE this picture above.

It needs to be BIG somewhere in our house very soon!

and I love love love this one of my two favorites!

And a day like that ends perfectly with a nap for the whole drive home!

Mother's Day 2011

being Ellie's mama is my greatest honor!

i am incredibly blessed!

letters to my daughter: Month 14

Dear "Boogs",

Yes, that is the nickname of choice right now! Sorry girly :) Another month, another letter, and late as usual. I just need to accept it! I know you won't care one day when you read these that they were sometimes a little late!

I thought it would be fun to write about a typical day with you right now. It will be neat to do this from time to time and see how it changes. So here goes:

You wake up about 7:00-7:30.....sometimes a little earlier but as long as you aren't crying or really upset, I don't go into to your room and get you until at least 7:00. I am always greated by jumping up and down in your crib! It's super cute to see your excitement. We go straight to the couch to catch up with Matt & Meredith while you nurse for a little bit. When you finish you always sign to eat. I put you in your highchair and cut up 1/2 a banana for you to eat while I "cook" the rest of your breakfast, which currently is a Bob's Red Mill 10 grain hot cereal that the other half of the banana goes into. After breakfast it's a diaper change and then dressed for the day.

I usually leave the each nights dishes until the morning and I do these next while you play in the tupperware drawer or lug around your current "purse" (which could really be anything that has a handle or strap you can hook on your shoulder). You love to put things in and take them out of your "purse" over and over again. You also like to pull my apron down from where it hangs, carry shoes around the house, and check your high chair for crumbs to scavenge during this time!

Then we are either off to run an errand, meet up and play with a friend, go for a walk, or to story time at the library. Some days we just stay home and find new places to play in the house, recently it was the space between the closet and the bed in our room! Anything and anywhere can be fun with you girly!

By 9:30ish most days you are ready for a snack, sometimes a string cheese, sometime some raisins or a piece of mama's homemade bread. I've learned not to leave the house with out rations!

You always seem to be ready for lunch at about 11:15, I think I could even set my watch by you on that one. A little whining and I ask you if you wanna eat? and I always am answered with the eat sign and you walking to your highchair.

At 11:30 your Grandma Miller shows up to watch you. Somedays when I say "bye-bye" I get blown kisses, somedays I get tears and arms reaching for me! I know it's hard but have also found it's best if I just leave quickly and wave back to you when I am out the door. Your Grandma tells me you are always done crying by the time I start the car, so I know you're fine. Besides, I know you always have so much fun with your Grandma! You and I are both so blessed she takes care of you each day!

I know you play a lot while I am gone! I hear about your new tricks all the time! Most recently climbing up onto the shelf of the tv cabinet that holds your toys. I've seen it too and you are always soooo proud of yourself to be up in there. Your Grandma tells me you also are pretty consistently ready for your nap at 1:00. I am not sure how long you sleep to be honest and I think it varies from day to day.

Your dad gets home about 4:45 and spends some one on one time with you until I get there. Somedays when I get home you greet me at the door with a huge smiles and shrieks of delight! Let me tell you that is the best homecoming welcome ever! Other times, I walk in to find you playing next to your dad and just watch you for a second or two before you turn around and realize I am there, but when you do, I get the same response as if you were at the door! It is the best sweet girl!!

By then it's about 5:15 and you are ready for dinner! I put you in your chair and get you started with some food, while I make dinner for your dad and I. You eat most of your dinner while I am cooking ours since you are ready by that time. Sometimes you hang out in your highchair while I finish up cooking or sometimes you get out and play some more but when your dad and I sit down, we always put you back in your chair and pull you up to the table with us. You always want some of what we're eating as well. In fact, tonight you ate almost 1/2 of my dinner!

After dinner, we usually strip off some of your clothes or just let you run around in your diaper for a bit until it's time for jammies. By 6:45 or 7:00, we can tell your tired and it's time to get ready for bed. One of us will change you, double up your cloth diaper and put your jams on.

Then I get to do one of the most special parts of my day, a time when I just really feel like a mama, I soak it up. We plug in your night light, layout your soft fuzzy blanket in your crib that you like to lay on top of, turn on the white noise and I settle us in the chair in your room. You nurse and we rock. I rub your back, you stare into my eyes, and it is nothing but you and I in that moment. It's quiet and full of so much. Our nighttime routine only lasts about 10 minutes but I love every second of it. Once you are done nursing, you snuggle on my chest for just a minute and then I lift you into your crib. I lay you down and you always turn your head towards the wall and position you hand a certain way and I cover you with your baby blanket and my own baby blanket from when I was a baby too. It is the perfect ending to each of our days.

And there's just one last thing I do each and every night before I finally go to bed, which is creep back into your room, turn on your monitor, re-adjust your blankets if I can with out waking you!, and just get one last look of my sleeping Ellie girl. I love to watch you sleep. I love watching you awake and on the go too, but watching your child sleep peacefully is just one of the neatest things and greatest blessings. I can't wait to talk to you about it one day after your experience this as a mother for yourself.

Ellie, my days with you are amazing! Sometimes there're hard, sometimes there's tears but what outweighs all of that is the richness that they add to my life in every way. I am beyond blessed and so privledged to be your mother!

A little bit more about you at 14 months:

-You have been walking for about 1 months now! It is so much fun!

-As of today's discovery, you apparently have 10 teeth! I thought there were only 8 but we discovered 2 more coming through on top halfway back. They do look a little "fang-ish" and I am pretty sure you will need braces one day knowing both your dad and my dental history! We'll see :)

-Your hair is growing so much! Yes, you have a little bit of a mullet but I just can't cut it yet!

-Besides saying mama and dada and babbling ALL.DAY.LONG :) you also say Banana!! It is so cute, and I think we are considering this your official first word since mama and dada are kind of a given.

-You are back to hating bath time, we can't really figure that one out.

-You love to bring us books and sit in our lap and look at them, you don't really sit long enough for us to read them to you, but I also find you "reading" on your own quite a bit.

-You love to give kisses and are getting the hang of closed mouth kisses now though sometimes I still get a big wet one in the mornings :)

-Like I said before, you are all about anything that can be a purse as well as necklaces right now.

-Your personality just comes out more and more each day and it is sooo sweet. You can been serious too and are very observant of people in public and most of the time they have to work for your smiles, but when you give them they always love it and say how cute you are! duh! :)

Baby girl, I love you with all my heart! You are and will always be one of my most favorite favorite things! I love you Ellie June.

love,

mama

Sharing is Caring

one for me....

one for you!

I loved that I captured this! I didn't tell her to do it either.

I was just snapping pictures of her carrying around her baby doll

and she discovered the lid to a sippy and this was what she did next.

Such a good little mama taking care of her baby ;)

Finally a SUNNY day!!

Last week, we FINALLY had a beautiful spring day!

A couple of them actually!!

I knew it was time to put together this little slide

and take advantage of the gorgeous weather!

Ellie loves this thing :)

I am continually so thankful for all the great things people have shared with us,

this slide being another one on the long list of them.

She can't quite get up in the back her self

but with a little help from mama,

she does it and then slides down all on her own.

Melts my heart!

It was so bright that sunglasses were a must!

I was surprised she kept them on the entire time we were outside.

What a cutie :)

Notice the pursed lips in the below picture!

She does this everytime

she's really concentrating on doing something.

Kills me with cuteness everytime!

Cherry Blossom Tradition

Last year we took Ellie to the cherry blossoms!

And we decided then and there it would be an annual tradition.....

here's a reminder of what our girl looked like last year:

And just look at her now!

Walking for about a month and on the go, go, go!

Ah! Face plant! Thankfully in the soft grass!

No tears shed :)

(mama may have laughed a little, it was actually kind of cute!)

(the bruise is from a previous run-in

involving a very willing-to-share little friend

and a fire truck....a toy one!)

This girl has stolen my heart!

letters to my daughter: Month 13

Dear Ellie,

A few days ago your turned 13 months old! Looks like your mama is back to being a little bit late with your monthly letters! A part of me wondered if I should have let your 12 month letter be the last one for a little while and possibly make them yearly letters, but I can't not write to you. I actually hope to write to you more! More often than just waiting for your monthly "birthday". Why do I need it to be a certain date of the month to write to you, I need to just do it anytime I feel like it. So hopefully, that means you'll have even more of these to come sweet girl. They may also just get written in the journal I have for you instead. We'll see. Either way, you'll have them.

13 months!! This last month has been quite interesting and I will be honest here, actually more frustrating and mind boggling and mama guilt feeling than the ENTIRE first 12 months of you life!

Thankfully, after a hard few weeks, I am happy to say you are 100% back to that sweet, happy girl you had previously been. Unfortunately, it all seemed to start following your 1 year immunizations (cue more mama guilt!) After a lot of talking with a trusted mama friend, we are pretty sure that your shots threw off your digestion quite a bit and made you temporarily allergic to cows milk!

This was resulting in lots of diarrhea, massive blowouts, multiple daily and middle of the night entire bedding changes, not wanting to eat pretty much any solid food we offered and most importantly a sad, poor little babe that just wasn't herself. Seeing you not be yourself was what had me all over the place emotionally, especially when we didn't know why at first!

Another change in you was you wanted to nurse like a newborn (every 2-3 hours!) and I will be honest and say that was hard on me too! Knowing that I didn't really have the supply for that (which is why you continually asked-since you weren't getting full!) also struggling mentally on if it was the "right thing" since you were only nursing like twice a day in the month prior. I was torn! And because you had learned to sign for milk I wanted to give you what you were actually now asking for using your signs!

BUT, I can now happily say we made it through those tough weeks and figured out what worked best for us, what we needed to do for you and we are finding our groove again. Sometimes a parent just has to freak out a little bit :)

Don't worry Ellie babe, that is certainly NOT all that made up your 12th to 13th month of life! You are also signing for EAT and we are working on "more" and "please". You love to babble and especially love giving kisses!! I will never turn down that sloppy open mouthed love fest of sweetness you offer me every morning! It is the cutest thing ever! I catch you leaning in towards other kids so sweetly and I know it's because you want to offer them a kiss too! Makes me giggle every time.

You are walking consistently more and more, taking on further lengths every day! You make me a proud mama. We've been going to the library for story time the last few weeks on Wednesday and you are starting to get the hang of the silly song motions and adding in your own dance moves too.

You now have a couple of baby dolls that you like to snuggle up in a hug and also give them kisses. But I would say your current favorite toy is a play school "Little People" house that you like to put all the little people into and take out of and for some reason carry all the furniture that goes in it around the house with you. It's the perfect size to hold.

The days are getting nicer and spring is "officially here" and I truly can not wait for some warmer weather so we can spend even more time outside. Thanks to our trusty clear jogger cover we don't let the rain stop us from walks at least a few times a week, but it will be fun to go to parks and actually get out of the stroller! Also to get to let you walk around and explore. And of course, the photo opportunities are so much better than just another of the same shot in our living room or kitchen. I'm already pining away for taking you to the tulip fields soon!

Ellie, you have blessed my life in immeasurable ways! You bring so much joy in my life, so many chances to learn and become better, so many opportunities to love and grow. You are beautiful sweet daughter! I love you so much!

love, mama

Ellie's 1st Birthday PARTY!!

What a great day! Ellie's 1st Bithday Party went perfectly!

We had a happy, sweet girl the entire time!

Her party theme was "tiny"!!

With the help of my sister's computer skills,

we made "tiny" invititations about the size of a business card

that I then put inside 3 different envelopes to mail!

I also used shades of pink and orange as theme colors and

used the penant style bunting (the triangles!) as a theme too!

You'll see it in all the decor :)

A table of "tiny" treats!

Mini sodas, mini water bottles, little juices for the other kids there!

A tiny cake just for Ellie, tiny cupcakes, tiny chocolate chip cookies!

Baby pickles, baby carrots and celery, tiny bite size chips and salsa!

&

tiny carmel apples!!

(which deserve a whole blog post in themselves!!

they may have caused a few choice words to come out of my mouth!)

I used the same tape from the invitations and made fun cupcake toppers!

The cake and the cupcakes were made

by a nice talented lady from our church,

because this mama is not a baker!

(the carmel apple blog will prove this!)

I wanted a few special touches for party

as a way to really celebrate our girl!

I made a slideshow that went chronologically through her 1st year

as well as a time capsule.

Read the note to see how long she has to wait to open it!!

Present time!!! She was interested for about 2 presents

and then wanted to sit in her Grandma Miller's lap

for most of the present opening!

Good thing we had her cousin Garrett and 2nd cousin Jayda to help!!

Ellie didn't mind mostly watching :)

Cute girl hamming it up for the camera!!

Showing off her number "1" shirt!! Also made by her Auntie Noel!

Grandma Miller is hiding from the camera back there!

Her face while we sang "Happy Birthday!"

She wasn't quite sure what was going on!

"Hmmmm? What is this thing!?!?!"

"Here Dad, you try it first!"

(she's all about feeding us lately!!)

"Ok, my turn!!"

She pretty much just took frosting!

She did like it but also didn't know quite what to think!

She did take several finger swipes and licks of frosting

one right after another that we got on video!

And then she was just kinda over it :)

That's ok, cause with never having sugar yet,

I was a little curious what she'd be like with it.

So not too much was good I think!

The "aftermath"!!!

Daddy finished it all the next day......

FOR DINNER :)

Family photo!! This is something I hope to get EVERY year on her birthday!

I still can't believe my baby is ONE!!!

We love our Ellie June!!