Happy 6th Birthday Ella!

She did it.  She turned 6.  My baby is not so little anymore.  sniff.  sniff. 

Ella celebrated her birthday last weekend on February 9.

She is now a 6 year old that:
*has to pick out what she wears each day (my coordinated choices aren't good enough anymore... her choices are rarely coordinated)
*has an extremely stubborn side and can hold her own in arguments with her brother, sister or any neighbor friend (which is great because she doesn't let others run all over her and is not so great because it is not fun or productive to argue with said stubborn child)
*likes school but often says it is borin' and all they do is sing songs
*loves to do homework but doesn't "need" any help
*always plays outside... in the dirt (or mud if she adds water without me seeing)
*adores her fluffy and sucking her thumb when she is tired
*begs you to "nuggle" with her at any time:)
*used to be deathly afraid of ANY dog, but now is attached to Molly and they play together like best buds

She is definitely teaching us a thing or two and the future should be pretty eventful with her :)  Please pray for us now.


We began her birthday celebration by filling her room with balloons while she was sleeping.  She woke me up in the morning and asked if I "got" all the balloons in her room?!

Papa then surprised her with yummy donut holes for breakfast.  Thanks, Papa!

When I asked Ella what kind of birthday she wanted, she said rainbow!  I decided rainbow cupcakes would be perfect.  I started with a white cake mix.

With Ella's help, we added food coloring gel to get the bright rainbow colors we needed.

I then layered each color in the muffin tins starting with purple and working my way up to red.  I was very careful to begin with but soon realized these are supposed to be fun, colorful cupcakes and just spooned each color on.

You will  have to read on to see how they turned out...

Gramma found rainbow wrapping paper for her gifts and I made the flower banner.  Please note how many flowers are on the banner.  Go ahead and count.  I will wait.

Six flowers!  Pretty smart of me, huh!  The ribbon holding the banner together is from the dollar bin at Target.  Do not buy it.  Each color is a super small section.  I tied each section of ribbon together to make a long ribbon and it worked.  I am so smart, it hurts.

We let Ella decide how she wanted to spend her day.  She chose Dave & Busters!

Someone at the table made this straw out of four straws.  I will let you guess who made it... it was not Caleb or Chad.  The kids went crazy and wanted it, but since it was Ella's birthday she got to drink from it :)

Ella's first game and she won 100 tickets!

The girls slicing some fruit like little ninjas.

I stayed with the girls so I could get some pictures of the birthday girl playing games.  Caleb would just buzz by with a smile on his face every so often.  I quietly hoped that Chad or Papa were watching him.

Whew - Papa was!

This picture sure makes a Mommy proud.  All three kids gambling away.  And Papa teaching them the proper timing to drop their coins to earn even more tickets.

The moment you have all been waiting for!

Not yet!  Presents first...

Ella got Barbies, Barbies and more Barbies.  She loves Barbies!  She also got a makeup box filled with sparkly makeup, a La Dee Da doll, and a Disney princess art kit.

Finally, time to eat cupcakes!  I found candles that had flames that burned the color of the candle =  rainbow!

Good job on the shirt choice, Olivia!  She is showing Gramma the inside of her cupcake.

And here it is.  A rainbow cupcake!

Ella also wanted to take rainbow cupcakes to school to share with her class.  These treats must be store bought.  I asked the bakery to frost the cupcakes with rainbow frosting.  Ask and you shall receive.

Gramma will be happy to know that Ella got her chocolate cupcake:)

Happy 6th Birthday Ella!  I hope you had a great day.  We love you very much!