Birthdays and Recitals and Dentists

This picture of Ella was taken just 6 short years ago.   She's has this laugh that lights up my world.  She's snuggly and thoughtful and tender-hearted.  She's always the first one to say "hi" and makes new friends where ever she goes.  She's spontaneous and full of surprises.  She's true blue.  She tells you like it is, whether she loves it or doesn't.  She's imaginative and creative.  Her plate of food or her drink always has a little extra flair and she asks LOTS of questions.  She leaves a trail wherever she's been.  Now she's 7.   

Unfortunately, this is what I was doing the day of her birthday.  And I was in no mood to party.

So instead we celebrated by doing something special each day for several days leading up to her birthday.  Grammy made her a special Sunday dinner and Ella got to chose the menu.  Shrimp and bacon-wrapped steak!  Yum!
 
 And a special confetti cake, Ella's request :)

 Abby's first violin recital was the day before Ella's birthday.  Here is Abby with her violin teacher, Mrs. Collins.  Abby loves violin and did a great job on Twinkle Variation by Suzuki.

while Ella was in school that day I decorated the dining room.  Paper chains made from 

construction paper we had and

tissue paper rainbow made from this tutorial

grand total?  One Dollar!

then cake mix and food coloring

and pretty dishes

and a stack of colors

and frosting

and then, her smile when she walked in the door...

the reason

I do
 
what

I do :)

a certain 3rd grader informed me the rainbow colors were not in Roy G. Biv order

Ella didn't seem to mind


as usual, each gift was her "favorite"

and she even got a visit from her Grandma!

Mother's Day Flowers

We love going to our local library. I started taking Caleb to their weekly storytime when he was just a few years old. We have made crafts, seen puppet shows, kids concerts, won a prize in their paper-airplane making competition, watched snow white ballet, magic shows and even sat in a helicopter that landed there at the library! Caleb and Abby were working with Carl Saturday, so the rest of us headed off to the library.

First, they picked out their flower "pot"

 

Then they chose

their decorations

picked out a flower

and planted it for their Mommy :)

Tiger Trot 5k

Abby and I ran the Tiger Trot 5k in Loveland yesterday afternoon. She had told me about it a week ago and wanted to run together. I told her she would need to train. So we did. Twice. And I kept having to tell her to Slow Down, and Pace Herself.


The starting line! There were a lot of die-hard runners running with their kids. The guy beside me in the yellow shirt just ran the Boston Marathon and had already ran 8 miles on his lunch break! We had the option to compete separately or combine our times as parent/child, which is what we did.
sd

Carl brought the other kids along to cheer for us and take pictures :) I don't have my official time back yet, but I know I beat my race time from my first 5k :) And I know that Abby beat me!  3.1 miles later, here is Abby crossing the finish and me coming along in the background. She did AWESOME! It was fun running a race with my favorite 9 yr. old over Mother's Day weekend!


and finally, a little motivation...

 and my favorite...