Ella's Ice Cream Shoppe

Welcome to Ella's Ice Cream Shoppe! Saturday was our big birthday celebration with Ella's friends. The weather was perfect, especially after I spent days thinking it was going to rain and we would all have to be inside. Instead, we spread out through the back yard to play for the first half of the party, and then moved to the front for ice cream and gifts.

Ella and I had a lot of fun planning her party. Yes, I dealt with most of the actual work, but she helped me plan the details of what to eat and what we should do at the party. Play on the swing set? Okay! And that became one of the main events of the party. The photos tell a great story of Miss Ella's celebration. Thanks to my brother, Jake, for grabbing my camera for a while and taking some great pictures.

Pete found a little root beer keg!

Ella's cousin, Maira

Ella's cousin, Malena, making an ice cream party hat

Pete gave the kids Jeep rides around the block. That's better than renting a pony!

We were so happy to have so many of our friends and Ella's friends join us for her party. This was one of my favorite birthday celebrations!

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After the party, we did a little cleaning up, but some things just ended up in the kitchen for later. It's amazing how much energy it takes to have a party! I love planning and putting them on, but it's always lovely to relax afterward. So that's what we did. We stacked things in the kitchen and popped in a movie.

Pete left at midnight Saturday night to begin a 24-hour shift delivering babies. We're quite used to this, so I got the kids ready for church in the morning and planned to head out for the service at 9am. A little after 8, I plopped Sam in the middle of the living room floor with a few toys and took Ella up to pick out something to wear. On the way back down to Sam, Ella was ahead of me. As she turned in and saw him, she let out an exasperated, "Sam! Noooooo!" I looked in to find this.

One happy little boy shoveling blue sugar sprinkles into his mouth as fast as he could. Apparently, Ella had swiped a cup of sprinkles from the kitchen and was eating them in the living room before I took her upstairs. She left the cup on the floor, much to Sammy's delight. As soon as we left the room, he rolled his way over to her brightly colored cup and helped himself.

All I could do by that point was pop him in the bathtub in the hopes that his blue-stained hands and face would fade with a good soak.

 So much for making it to the nine o'clock service. After playtime in the water and a cuddle in his monkey towel, all was fresh again.

And, two hours later, we actually did make it to church. Thankful for that eleven o'clock service with a nice cup of coffee.

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Happy 4th of July! We're going to head to Pequot Lakes for a couple days to celebrate with my parents. Pete will be working, so I'll just be going with the kids. I love parades, fireworks, and picnics. What will you be doing to celebrate? I love hearing from readers. The community that I feel when writing and sharing so much with each of you and then hearing back is exciting! Feel free to leave a comment below!