Happy 3rd Birthday Ellia!

so the 5th Christmas wasn't exactly the last of our celebrating! three years ago on Christmas morning, I went into labor and the next morning I had a beautiful & sweet little girl. So yesterday, the day after Christmas wasn't a day for resting or clean-up... it was a day to celebrate Ellia - her 3rd birthday! We promised her we'd take her to see the zoo lights again because its what she reallllly wanted to do. We opted out of any sort of party this year and decided to have our own little celebration. With little preparation because of all the Christmas craziness, I just made-do with whatever I could find around the house. I tried setting up the room like a party and making it special for her. Instead of a cake, I made a huge chocolate chip cookie pizza and decorated it with little to no tools on hand :/ When the girls got up from their naps I showed Ellia her little party and all the work was worth that little smiling excited face.
We realized yet another reason you make things a surprise for kids and don't promise things too much in advance: It was 25 degrees with a wind chill around 10 - YIKES. not the best stroll-around-the-zoo weather. but we had committed...so we BUNDLED and BUNDLED and went off to the zoo. As we pulled in the lot we realized we left the double stroller in our garage - DOUBLE YIKES! now what??? I mean you are talkin Parents-of-the-Year-award here. So peter held remae and I slathered blankets all over them, and I carried Ellia. We made a run for it - stopping at the first store inside the gate to warm up, then running to the reptiles (trying to point out all the lights on the way there), then running back to the car. Fun. Relaxing. Comfortable. But let me just say - she LOVED it. She had so much fun AND couldn't wait to get back home to her "party."
Anyway, we made it a pizza party! picked up pizza for dinner then had a cookie pizza for dessert. Then present time. By this time Remae was already in bed so it was just the three of us - it was a special time to just be with her.
So I certainly didn't "have it all together" for this one - BUT she was none the wiser and no less thrilled so I guess I'd dub it a success!
















Ellia, I couldn’t love you more. Although you weren’t planned by mommy and daddy, God knew your days before time. He has a PERFECT plan for you and I am so thankful you are here with us and we can watch that plan unfold.
I love your cautious Spirit and pray it stays with you as you age.
I pray your incredible memory and smarts will be used for HIS glory someday.
I pray your gentle independence will be an opportunity for you to stand for Truth.
I pray that someday your unbelievable beauty would be nothing compared to the beauty of your heart.
And that smile and laugh are a contagious joy. I LOVE being with you and I LOVE being your mommy. Thank you Jesus for the wonderful blessing of my 3 year old little Ellia.