Happy Birthday, Ellie!

Ellie turned 5!  Our baby is a whole handful of fingers.  How is that even possible?  She came into the world with a bang, and continues to bring light wherever she goes.  She is spirited and talkative.  She is cuddly and reserved.  She is a book lover and a baker.  She adores her big sister and can’t wait for her to come home each day.  (Although while Ellie talked to one of Jeremy’s cousins this Christmas, the conversation went something like this, “Ellie said she misses Madison when she is at school, but when Madison comes home, she regrets missing her.”  Oh, the love of sisters!)   Ellie is a PBS-aholic and a candy eater.  She is a special gift from God.  One of her favorite things to say is, “I love you, Mommy, but I love God more!”  Well, I’ll take it, and hope it continues to be the trend for her life. 

She and Madison celebrated their birthdays with a joint birthday party.  While I posted pictures in my birthday post for Madison, I left out the ones of Ellie, so I will put them here.  She chose to have a Doc McStuffins cake.  I cannot draw a person on a cake, so we found a picture of a doctor’s coat that would suffice.  Even that proved to be a challenge.  She helped me by watching and placing on the hearts and candles.

Again, we enjoyed all the family that we had in our house.  Every time I get together with family (either side), I am thankful for the way we talk and laugh together. We ate (coney dogs, cheesy bow ties, baked beans, bulgar salad, veggies, chips)

    

sang “Happy Birthday” with more successful blowing out of the candles this year!,

      

opened presents,

    

and enjoyed the night together. 

      

Unfortunately for Ellie, the sickness continued to filter through our family.  While she was on the upswing on her birthday, Jeremy had just went down in flames!  So, instead of getting to go eat out and pulling her cake out of the freezer for birthday #2, she and I just went on a stroller walk (in January, can you believe it!?!) to Quince to pick out a donut.  She picked out chocolate on chocolate.  I think it looked better than it tasted.  It was a cake donut, and I don’t think she is used to eating those.  She was pretty happy with it anyways.

She was eagerly awaiting her on saved birthday gift from us to open ON her birthday.  It was a mermaid tail blanket, just like Madison got.  (Thanks to a wonderful woman in our church who offered to make a second one after I bought the first one at the Thanksgiving day sale!) 

They are two peas in a pod, and while they usually get along, they do have they disagreements.  Ellie doesn’t always indulge Madison when she wants to read her books, but I caught them at it today.  It just warms my heart. 

Happy Birthday, Madison!

Our little dancing sunshine celebrated her birthday on December 31st.  Madison is a gift from God, and she is our learning curve on how to parent.  Sometimes I feel like I am hard on her, and easier on Ellie.  I think that is the burden of being the oldest.  She is a perfectionist.  She is creative and artistic.  She enjoys performing and trying new things… with a little encouragement!  She has a tender heart and wants others to be happy.  We are proud of the way she works hard, is learning to read, and encourages others.  We are amazed at the way she and Ellie are such good friends, and we can only hope this friendship carries them through all life’s ups and downs. 

On her birthday, she chose to eat out at Bob Evan’s.  But first, we cashed in their chore reward – ice skating!  It was so fun.  Ellie was very tentative to start, clinging to the wall and my hand – refusing to try out the walkers.  Madison picked up a walker and started on the ice with Jeremy by her side.  Both of them made improvements as the two hours flew by.  Ellie was coerced by Jeremy and I to try the walker.  Jeremy convinced her just to help her take it to the exit area to put it away.  By the time they got there, she refused to give it up!  Success.  Madison transitioned from a walker to a hand holder to no hands and no wall.  It was pretty incredible to watch her confidence grow.  They were both pretty proud of themselves. 

        

Grandma Yoh came to cheer them on and joined us for a late lunch at Bob Evan’s.  There was a mix of lunch and breakfast foods at the table.  Madison picked piggy pancakes.  And was surprised by an ice cream sundae and a Happy Birthday song from the wait staff.  We headed home to gather some food to go party with Grandpa Ediger for supper.  Grandpa is recovering from back surgery on the 19th, and Grandma DeeDee was in Oklahoma to be with her dad as he went home to Jesus (more on in another post).  Madison requested Grilled cheese and tomato soup with strawberry cupcakes for dessert.  It was a perfect meal to end the day. 

This past weekend, we had a joint birthday party for the girls.  While this is maybe not ideal (to share a party), it is convenient.  To make up for sharing the day, they each get their own cake and own “Happy Birthday” song.  I will post pictures of Madison’s time at the party and do Ellie’s in a different post.  Maidson helped to decorate the butterfly cake that I made.  She had fun with the elaborate candy display on top. 

There were almost all of our family on the Ediger side in attendance.  Then, Grandma Yoh and David, Marianne, and Erin Bricker.  It was a full and fun house.  We ate,

    

sang, dished out cake,

  

and then opened presents. 

    

By the end of the night the girls were tired, but happy.  It was a good night.

       

As a side note: We held this party after Madison had been throwing up.  She got sick early Thursday morning, but had been symptom free for 48 hours.  It was a tough call on whether to have the party, but figured she was clear.  And she was.  Unfortunately, in the wee morning hours the day after the party, Ellie threw up.  I am still hoping that are party-goers will stay healthy.  You just feel badly about exposing people to that stuff, except we didn’t really know Ellie was sick.  To be fair, the attenders knew that there was sickness in the house.  Perhaps in future years, we would just choose to put it off a week to be safe.  Live and learn.