Happy Birthday, Ellie!

After a day filled with fun and princesses on ice.. the *big* day finally arrived.

As Annie, Susie, and I got the house cleaned and set up for Ellie's party.. the birthday girl was like a top -- spinning around the house with energy that seemingly didn't ever diminish. I'm shocked she was able to take a nap before party time, but she did.

After waking up Ellie put on her "pretty princess Ellie dress" and eagerly awaited her friends' arrival. We had eight toddlers and their parents over, but between the main floor and our basement there was plenty of room for playing, mingling, and just plain goofiness from the kids. But, they, that's what parties are for.

This year Ellie had a bug-themed party. Not really by choice, but she happens to be very into the "Ladybug Girl" books and enjoys wearing a pair of ladybug wings and antennae around the house which she got from Grandma & Grandpa Harrer for Christmas.. so the idea seemed to fit. It also didn't hurt that Ann has a little cake pan with bug shapes in it -- which made for some great-looking desserts. She and Susie also did an awesome job decorating cupcakes and cookies for everybody.
The "main course" of sorts had people bugging out, too. Ann made some little, ladybug-shaped pizzas.. complete with black olive eyes. They were gobbled right up.


Ann also came up with an excellent idea for a group activity / craft. We found some little clay flower pots from a nearby craft store and set out some markers and a variety of little bug foamy stickers for the kids to use to decorate their pots. They were a big hit -- and hopefully got some people in a Springy mood. (Not like we've had anywhere close to a bad Winter.)

All the kids were very well-behaved and got along with each other swimmingly. They enjoyed singing "Happy Birthday" to Ellie as she blew out her candles.. and then they all shared chocolate cupcakes (or bug cakes, which were vanilla) together.

It was a great time -- and really good to see some friends who have moved out of town. Thanks to everybody for coming!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELLIE!
WE LOVE YOU!

"Princesses Ice Skating!"

We all had a blast this past weekend celebrating Ellie's third birthday.

It all began Saturday when we were treated by Ellie's Aunt Susie to a Disney on Ice show called "Dare to Dream" at the TD Garden here in Boston. It just happened to feature some of Ellie's favorite Disney princesses. She had been talking about seeing it for weeks and was giddy the day finally came.

Cinderella made an appearance -- this is right after "the mean ladies broke her dress and the Fairy Godmother does bippity-boppity-boo."

Rapunzel from "Tangled" was in the show, too -- and she even did some flying!

There were three main stories to the show -- The Princess and the Frog featuring Princess Tiana, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. But, when the grand finale rolled around, all the other Disney princesses made appearances, as well. Ellie was especially excited to see Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Belle, and Ariel.


Ellie got so excited that she asked to come down off our laps so she could dance in the aisle along with the princesses on the ice.

Pretty great birthday present, Aunt SuSu. Ellie says "Thanks!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ellie not only got to do lots of arts and crafts for this holiday (including the festive hat she is wearing in the photo above), but she received lots of Valentines and treats from her friends at school. According to Ellie, the teachers helped them pass out their Valentine's to their friends and the practiced saying "thank you".

Chocolate Buffet

We took Ellie to the famous chocolate buffet!!  Now, this was a special treat as it is her birthday week and Valentine's Day week...it was only appropriate. Nick and I have been to the chocolate buffet 5 times already, the most memorable being the day after I took the P.E. exam. And Ellie even had her first visit when she was really too young to enjoy it.  However, this time was special. Ellie was old enough to eat all the treats, enjoy herself, and know that this was something special. And it wasn't just special because she and I both wore "pretty dresses", although that added to the fun.

There was sharing and eating of chocolate covered strawberries...

A design-you-own cupcake bar...although she was totally excited by the cupcakes, this was not the most exciting thing of the day.

Ellie had messy hands and a messy face.

This was the most exciting thing...diping your food into chocolate. She was fascinated by this, but it only got better.

There was pink chocolate! Just a soon-to-be three year old girl's dream! We dipped strawberries and marshmallows.

 The marshmallows were the best, according to Ellie.

Ellie had a lot of fun, and we did too. She was very well behaved, telling us what she wanted, not touching or grabbing at anything. She sat and ate while we sat and ate. We were able to enjoy the buffet ourselves. There was also a DJ which was playing/spinning some music. By the end of the meal Ellie starting making up excuses to get up and go dance. We had a little dance party which the DJ thought was pretty cute.

Chocolate and dancing. Awesome.

Thanks Grandma Pam and Papa!

At the end of January, we all headed out to California. Ann had to work, but Nick and Ellie were on vacation from the cold (it was unseasonably warm while we were gone, but still colder than sunny SoCal).

After spending the weekend in Santa Barbara together, Ann headed down to Los Angeles to work at a job for the week. Nick and Ellie spent the first couple days up in Santa Barbara, but then Nick also headed down to Los Angeles. Grandma Pam and Papa took care of Ellie while we got some time together down in Los Angeles. Nick spend his days exploring Los Angeles and doing all the touristy things he hadn't yet done. At night we got to spend relaxing dinners together and even go see a movie!

We were only told that Ellie was well behaved, mostly listened to her grandparents words, and that they all had a lot of fun up in Santa Barbara. Ellie made some new friends, spend a lot of time at playgrounds, entertained a knitting group, and went grocery shopping a couple times. She also got to spend a lot of time with her great grandparents. She also realized how important sungalsses are in California.

Worth the wait...

So we kept forgetting our camera or having too much fun to take it out while we were spending time during the holidays in Chicagoland. Fortunately Nick's parents always have at least one camera and are always snapping photos! We recently received a CD of photos from our time in Chicagoland, including when Ellie met Tristan for the first time. Priceless.

The following photos are from our Christmas celebration at Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mike's house.

Great-Grandma Kost was there!

 Tristan woke up and Ellie got to meet him for the first time (Tristan is approximately 2 months old here). Ellie was instantly in love with her baby cousin Tristan!

There was some funny stuff...

Like beeing goofy with Grandpa Harrer

And playing foosball

And of course...deep dish pizza!

 We got a great portrait of the cousins with their parents.





 However, the portrait of Ellie and her grandparents didn't go as smoothly...

Thanks for sending us the photos!