Ella's Birthday

 Adelaide and I were up for about an hour before everyone else got up.  Just try to keep a one-year-old out of a pile of presents!!!!

 Hard to see in the picture but they girls are looking at the computer and skyping with family.  Skypes with family in America is always a big part of the girls birthdays!

 

 Ella was very specific about how she wanted the cakes to look (and thanks to Ben and Ashley we had the frosting colors that we needed!).  She also put M&Ms on top and wanted 3 candles on one cake and 1 candle on the other.  In the end I think the kids had a lot of fun choosing whether they wanted red or green icinng.

  

It was like Christmas opening all of the amazing presents from grandparents, aunts and uncles!

 

 Arranging the flowers

 Making the frosting

 After attending her cousins' birthday parties Ella decided she needed lots of balloons at party too!  She even mentioned at one point, "I think Gavin and Nia would really like all of these balloons."

 

 

When I told Adelaide that it was time to change into her party dress (I had chosen a different one), she immediately ran to the closet and pointed at this one!  I love my fancy girls!  They are also both wearing their new ballet shoes!

 

 

Ella has been looking forward and planning her birthday party for months and thankfully I think it was exactly what she was hoping for.  So thankful for all of the friends who joined us today to love on our four-year-old!  I'll have more pictures to post later because one of my good friends who is an amazing photographer also brought her camera!  Thanks so much Jill!

Look How She's Grown!

 

Gramma and Uncle Phil

 

 This morning Adelaide got her pony tail holder and took it to Uncle Phil.  He did a great job!

 

Grace upon grace upon grace that my brother and mom could come visit us while L is on another business trip (he'll be gone for 8 days).  We are so thankful for the provision of them coming and are having such a good time with them.

BLOCKS!

 

These blocks were L's when he was a little boy...made by his Pepa and dad!  The girls are having such a fun time with them...I don't think they have played with much else since we pulled these out of the suitcase two days ago.  So special to now have these with us here.

Fourth of July

 

 

 This ballet class (we go to a friend's house and the teacher meets us there) is definitely a highlight of my week.  I think our little dance company must be one of the most adorable in all the world!  The three bigger girls stick with the teacher for the whole hour and the two little girls (Adelaide and a friend that is only one month younger than her) come and go but I've been surprised with how much they participate.  There is also one more member but she is only 3-months-old so she mainly just cheers the big girls on with her melt-your-heart baby smiles.  Ella had been asking me to teach her to dance for awhile (Yikes!  Me teach someone to dance????) so I'm also thankful that she is able to take some real lessons.   
  
The mom and I get a chance to talk while the girls dance and I also really look forward to that each week.  She's an incredibly encouraging person to spend time with and I also enjoy talking homeschool with her (and looking through all the curriculum she already has for her oldest.). 

 

 

 Decorating cookies with red, white and blue icing after dance class!  You can see that Addy is wearing her tutu.

 

 4th of July firework straws, plates and napkins from my mom!

BBQ chicken sandwiches and potato salad for dinner! 

Buttons

We have an incredibly special button collection (these are from Ella's great-great grandmother).  Ella LOVES when we get the buttons out and now that Adelaide is (for the most part!) not intent on putting them in her mouth we are getting them out a lot more often.

Addy's First Band-aid

On this particular day Ella "needed" a band-aid for a cut on her finger so then of course Adelaide needed one as well.  Ella gave Adelaide a huge hug and said, "This is your first band-aid, you sweetie."  It was adorable.

Playing Outside

 

 

 

FIAR: The Glorious Flight

 One of the activities we did for The Glorious Flight (about the first flight over the English Channel) was to fly paper airplanes.

 When Adelaide saw what was going on she got some paper and proceeded to make her own paper airplanes. 

 L flying them off our balcony!

 

 Watching the planes fly down

 

 After finding all our airplanes the girls found a little patch of dandelions.