happy birthday, ella!

My lovely little niece Ella Jean (and she is little, since she only weighs 18 pounds--my puppy is already that big!) turns one today. Maybe I'm biased, but she is one of the most adorable little girls alive. She was so happy at her birthday party on Saturday, running and playing and totally into opening her presents, but not so much into getting messy eating her cake (she got over that quickly, though). Dad, Beth, Jamie, Trent, Lilah, and I were our family's representatives at her birthday party. Then there were Rachel's family (along with the numerous children her cousin has--six or something like that) and a few of their family friends. It was a wonderful gathering in honor of a wonderful little girl.

Ella worked at opening her own presents and paid sufficient attention to all of them: the thousands of weebles and their various villages/farms/circuses/etc., the hand puppets with their own stage, etc. She paid attention to one card (mine!) that said "Peek a boo!" and especially loved three gifts (including ours!): a dancing, talking Elmo (from her Aunt Heather), a little princess "car" that she can ride or push and that plays music (from me and Al), and a slide (from dad). Oh, she loved that slide once Ryan had her sliding down it. She got mad that the other kids kept going down it since she wanted to do it over and over again. She even tried climbing up it (she had Ryan's help, of course) and will love having it in their basement along with the little playhouse she got (from Grampa Steve and Grandma Laura, I think).

When it came time for her own little personal cake, Ella stared at the candle, watched Ryan blow it out, watched them relight it, and then--instead of trying to blow it out--tried to grab it. Mom (Rachel) was fast, though, and had it out of her reach before she got to it. Then Ella daintily started nibbling on the cake. I hear she's a lot like I was when I was a kid, not liking to get dirty, and she demonstrated that Saturday by barely touching the cake at first. But Ella loves food, and she really loves things like cake and chocolate. Once her mom smushed her hand right into the cake and got her a big hunk of it, she must have decided the mess was worth the taste and dug right in. Still, she didn't get as messy as those pics you see of kids with frosting in their hair and all over the walls; just a little around her mouth, on her bib, and on her hand. I'll post pics later (once again, I'm posting at school instead of at home and don't have my camera with me).

Anyway. Today is Ella's actual birthday, so I'll say "Happy Birthday" once more. Next year, little girl, you'll have two cousins (one boy, one unknown) and a little sister to help you celebrate. Enjoy the solitude while you can!