Ella’s 10th Birthday Party

Ella celebrated her 10th birthday with several friends at a karaoke birthday party at the end of March.  Turning 10 is a big deal, of course, so we had to make the day truly special.  February and March were particularly crazy-busy times, so I thought I’d completely dropped the ball on Ella’s birthday, but fortunately all of the friends Ella wanted to invite for the sleepover could make it to a last-minute date and my amazingly talented friend Dao stepped in to help with the details to send the party over the top.  Ella received a karaoke machine (it is what she had asked for as a present—thank you Amazon Prime!) so we decided that would be a fun theme for the party.  We took the girls to a nail salon for manis and pedis (some rock star treatment) and then let them play, sing, and dance the night away in the playroom where we had set up a stage area with Ella’s karaoke machine.  Dao created incredible microphone cake pop cupcakes that were the hit of the party and even came over late the night before the party to help create the stage backdrop and colorful dipped pretzels and marshmallows to decorate the dessert table.  I’m so thankful to Dao for the help in pulling it all off—she even coordinated with her sister-in-law for the girls to go to her salon.  Ella felt incredibly special and loved every minute of her party.  I’m so glad we were able to make it happen in our incredible time crunch because sweet Ella deserves as much. 

I set up a semi-successful photobooth in the stage area for Ella’s party.  We got some cute images, but I know for the future that I need to figure out how to change my settings for autofocus—I’m just so used to manually selecting my focal point that I don’t even think about it when I hand my camera to someone else, or put it on a tripod.  Regardless, looks like they had a fun time!  Happy birthday, Ella!

Jack’s Field Trip

Near the end of March, Jack’s 2nd grade class went on a field trip to an old part of Charlotte.  They walked through neighborhoods and talked about the history and architecture there.  I wasn’t chosen as a chaperone so when Jack asked for disposable camera to take with him on the field trip, I thought that sounded like a fun idea.

{love that he took a picture of a house with a gator flag.}

Ella is 10!

Ella turned 10 on March 21st!  She’s officially a “double-digit midget” as I remember my dad calling me on my 10th birthday.  What an amazing girl our Ella is.  She’s funny, confident, artistic, athletic, smart, and lovely.  The list could go on, we’re so very proud of and amazed by her.  This year, however, the traits in Ella that have demonstrated just how mature she has become are her compassion and empathy.  She was so strong and caring during Jonathan’s surgery and hospital stay in December.  While he was in the hospital and when he came home she took great care of him, such an attentive and patient little caretaker.  And, while I was in Atlanta the first week my sister was in the hospital, I was there for 9 straight days.  I barely spoke with Ella and Jack because I just broke down too easily when I talked about my sister.  It was 5 days in before I felt comfortable talking to them live.  When she finally got me on the phone, Ella amazed me.  Her questions and comments about her Aunt Tracy were so insightful and strong and full of empathy.  She told me I was right where I needed to be and to stay as long as I felt necessary.  She understood what was happening and she was calm and prayerful and positive.  She was exactly what I needed her to be—so I guess it was such a huge moment for me in recognizing how much she growing up that, in my moment of need, she was there for me.  I wasn’t on the phone with her to take care of her, she was caring for me. 

I do hope that time stops for a while and Ella doesn’t become a young woman any time soon, but we’ve definitely gotten a glimpse of that this year.  And boy does she shine.  I am amazed by her, and feel so fortunate to be her mom.  Ella is ecstatic, to say the least, to be 10…and I am reeling—that was fast.

On Ella’s actual birthday we celebrated with some ‘1’ and ‘0’ sparklers (didn’t photograph quite how I expected—don’t know what made me think the entire number would be lit up) and ice cream cake. 

Jonathan and I also brought in donuts in to school to celebrate Ella’s birthday with her class.

Happy 10th, Ella!

Instagrammin’ in May

May was marked by some gorgeous weather, memory making, and the start of summer activities.

out for a run. | well fargo championship—phil and vijay. | beautiful day a the golf tournament with ivy. | checking out the fun activities in store for them at camp this summer. #campharrisonopenhouse | jonathan had a little much fun taking down kid after kid. #campharrisonopenhouse | 8-minute mile on a hot day calls for popsicle double-fisting it. | oh, these knees.  why do they hurt so? | national bike to school day. | got my first aid/cpr/aed certification today. | first knights game in uptown with some special visitors! | jonathan and ivy enjoying some baseball. | cousins! and cousins of cousins! | papa is a great babysitter for his girls. | a very special mother’s day. | love this girl. | love this boy. | girl scout swaps for encampment DONE. | loved, probably my last, muffins with moms in jack’s class. | jack’s heart map—right in the middle is “my pet dog”. #metoo #welovegator | swim team season is here! | jack got his wolf badge. | ella was up bright and early for a weekend of girl scouts encampment. | soccer tournament weekend for jack…first game didn’t go so well. | hat trick in the second game. #breakawayforthegoal | looks like ella’s having a great time at encampment—she has a wonderful juniors troop. | weekend o’ sports for jack—lacrosse goals and a lacrosse trophy. | more soccer on sunday. #anotherhattrick | ella had such a fun time at encampment. | bevy of issues with my knees and nothing they can do about it. #norunslongerthan4milesallowed | ella helped jack warm up for his soccer team tryouts.#hemadetheteam! | cutest patriotic performance by the 2nd grade. | we’re ready for the ‘lace up son’ family 5k to benefit the steve smith foundation. | jonathan won the 5k for his age group and received his medal from none other than steve smith. | hangin’ with steve. #vips | so proud of this guy. | she’s losing teeth in her sleep. #oldpro | such a beauty. | they came, they warmed up, they ate.  #thundercancellation #justtimetrials #theyreonlythereforthefoodanyways | finding frogs on the soccer field.



And, a video from Instagram of the kids catching frogs on the soccer field.  We got a huge kick—and laughed over and over again—at Ella’s high-speed talking vs. Jack’s slow-mo turtle talk.

Atlanta Visit

While my sister was still in the hospital in early March, we all made a trip down to Atlanta to visit her and the whole family.  I was actually down there Thursday through Monday (the day she got out of the hospital) to help out in any way I could and Jonathan brought the kids down for the weekend.  Saturday morning we visited Tracy in the hospital, taking her outside in a wheelchair (she was walking just fine at that point, but she hadn’t been “cleared” yet to walk on her own), and were just amazed by her progress in just the few days we’d been gone.  Ella and Jack loved giving their Aunt Tracy hugs and seeing for themselves that she was every bit the Aunt Tracy they knew and loved.  We knew by the end of our visit with her in the hospital that, by that point, there was really no reason for her to be in the hospital any longer.  And sure enough, once the workweek started on Monday, her evaluation and paperwork were completed and she was home by noon.

While Jonathan, Jack, and Ella were in town over the weekend, though, we thought some quality time with the cousins was in order so went on a fun outing with Zane and Drew (Jake was at a Boy Scout event) to the Chattahoochee Nature Center.  We had a gorgeous day and really enjoyed exploring the nature center, seeing the many animals (raptors mostly) and just taking in the beautiful day. 

And some more pictures from the weekend visit, fishing from Tracy and Ken’s dock: