Happy Birthday, Ellie!

We have been “waiting” for Ellie’s birthday since the day of the party.  Our waiting included talking about it every day, leaving the Happy Birthday banner and streamers up, and practicing how old she would be.  I am pretty sure she thought she was three every day over and over again. 

The day finally came.  And I don’t think she even realized it was different than any other day.  But then we went to church.  Her name was in the bulletin as a birthday notice, and people began wishing her happy birthday.  Then, at children’s story, they even sang Happy Birthday to her.  (They don’t always do this, but her birthday is the same day as the pastor’s, so a little special treatment was given.)  She stood beside Pastor Kevin and listened.  And most importantly – didn’t cry!

We came home and had pancakes for lunch.  We stuck a candle in her pancake and sang to her to make it a little more special.  After lunch, she went to bed for her nap. 

After nap was when the party started!  We decided to take her bowling.  Madison had had fun about a year or so ago going with Jeremy, so we figured Ellie would have fun, too.  We invited people to join at the last minute.  The grandparents were able to make it, and that was all we needed to call it a celebration.  The bowling line-up was Ellie, Madison, Grandma DeeDee, Mommy, Jeremy.  All others were watchers, encouragers, and party attenders!

Getting ready

Here is Ellie’s first bowl:

      

Then, Madison went:

        

Then, Grandpa DeeDee gave some help to each of the them:

         

Some other shots:

   

Of course, you know the saying, “The family that bowls together, stays together.”  (Oh, I know it is “prays together” which we do, too, so I guess we will definitely stay together!)

We finished off the night with some East of Chicago pizza and breadsticks.  Ellie must have worked up an appetite because I am pretty sure she had a breadstick and three pieces of pizza!  (We decided if we had been bowling with a bowling ball 1/6th of our weight, our appetites would have increased tenfold as well.) 

Ellie is my second and, potentially, my last.  She is my snuggler.  My hold me tight bug.  She is my sunshine.  She is my look-a-like, my mini-me.  Except she is a little more introverted and likes to stick close in new situations.  She is my clown.  She adores her big sister.  She is the little mother to all the babies in the house.  According to her, she has “long hair” and is “so big” now.  And I think, you are big.  You are growing up into legs and arms that dance and shoot the ball and run and skip and jump.  You have fingers that love to write and color. You paint with focus until then paints are gone, and then you want more.  You even sit and read books until the pile of discarded books grows as big as you.  You are big.  But you’re supposed to stay little, aren’t you? 

She is so proud to be going to Sunday school, and that makes my heart happy.  (We are still working on actually tithing the money I send.  I am pretty sure she has not had an empty coin purse for about 3 weeks now.…)  She loves to pray at the table.  It almost always starts, “Dear God, Help me to be brave and thank you for this food.”  But it always ends with one unique thing – thankfulness for someone eating with us, for an activity that she did that day, for something that will happen that night.  It is neat to hear what touches her heart at that moment.  We hope that Ellie will continue to grow in her walk with God, and that we will be able to provide fertile ground for that to happen. 

Happy 3rd Birthday, Ellie!!!