A Princess Party

Three years ago yesterday, I woke up and thought to myself "This would be a good day to have a baby."  I didn't actually think that I would have her, because when do things actually happen exactly when/how you want them to?  Little did I know that a mere 12 hours after I had that thought I'd be shakily holding my sweet Ella Jane.
This entire summer has been...interesting to say the least.  There's a pretty good chance I overcompensated for Ella's bummer of a summer but I would be lying if I said I regretted it.  I let Ella out of her room with a "Happy Birthday 3 year old!" and a birthday crown.  She of course said "I three?  I open presents now?"  So I told her we'd have to wait for the grandparents to come.  While she was slightly unhappy she was very excited about the visitors she would be getting.
Our day started with us girls (daddy was hunting) going out for breakfast at Ella's favorite restaurant, Village Inn. Seriously, the girl LOVES the place.  Any other restaurant she will NOT eat but Village Inn she will down as much as she can.  On our way out the door we found another birthday crown on the on the back porch.  Ella was so excited because she KNEW that Santa Claus left it there because for her birthday.  I let her think that.  Sorry if you wanted credit Tera but your present to her was awesome enough.  So I figured she could think Santa just loves her THAT much that he had to give her a present on her Birthday too.  She had silly face pancakes and was SO excited.  Normally she just gets daddy's pancakes from his skillet.  She was so proud of herself for eating her silly face's hair (scrambled eggs)  She spent most of breakfast giggling about what she was eating.  His eyes (blueberries) his mouth (bacon) and his head (the actual pancake.)
We then headed home to bathe and get ready for the day.  Once we were all done with that and daddy was home we were able to open the first present.  Ella's birthday dress/halloween costume.  Ella has been watching make her Rapunzel costume for weeks now and was SO excited to finally get to wear it.  I will need to alter it a little still.  It fits but if she moves her arms it comes unvelcroed.  Anyway, she danced and danced all morning in her new dress until nap time.  And even then, getting her down for a nap was only a possible by telling her that grammy and bompa (my parents) would be here when she woke up.
Sure enough, shortly after she woke from her nap grammy and bompa arrived and played with the girls while Andrew and I made dinner.  I'm not exactly sure what was going on in the other room but Ella was definitely enjoying herself.  For dinner we had noodles and orange chicken.  We tried to imitate Panda Express (Ella's next favorite restaurant.)  It was...not great but ah well.
Then, the boys went to priesthood (Andrew, his dad and brother) and the rest of us watched Tangled.  Once they got back it was time for candles, cake, and presents.
Ella was so cute opening her gifts.  We did "heavy heavy hangover" which she loved.  She would say "WOW!" After each present and then, if it was packaged she would then say "Open it please!"  She was ready to play.  We did make her finish unwrapping first and the girl made quite the haul.  Mommy's fault...I just love getting presents for others and I figured she deserved a bit extra since this summer has been so beastly.  She loved every single one.  There was a lot of princess stuff.  A lot of pink.
After everyone left we let her stay up a little and play.  She chose to have a tea party with her new tea set.  She was very excited about eating her cake of her "weal tiny plate."  She then slept with her pretend lipstick (came with her play hair care kit) under her pillow.  While singing our lullaby's she asked me "You want some makeup?"  Then reached under her pillow and spent the rest of singing time  rubbing her plastic lipstick all over my mouth.
 First thing she said this morning was "Mommy, I need some tea."  AKA water.  She has been riding her toy hobby horse (made by me, thank you very much) doing my hair, dancing with Mickey Mouse (given to her by Randi, thanks!) listening to mommy's "heart beep" with her new dr's kit, she also says she's Kylie's (our heart friend currently waiting for a new heart at PCMC) dr and is going to make her heart feel all better.  Currently she is playing artist with her new art easel (thank you Tera!)  This is one spoiled, but happy girl.
Ella is so excited to be "fwee."  She's been singing "Happy Bufday to me!"  constantly with an occasional "happy bufday mommy" thrown in there.  What an excellent birthday present this girl is.  Always making me laugh.  Always making sure that I know she loves me.  She's got so much sass but is also so sweet.
Here are a few silly things Ella has been doing lately.
Today, when I opened Ella's door after naps she was sitting in bed still.  She looks up at me, smiles and says/sings "dun na na BATMAN!"
Lately Ella has this very odd new thing where her excuse is "Because I love you." She was crying in her room one day, for now apparent reason.  When asked why she was crying she just stated "Because I love you."  Ever since then, that's her excuse for anytime she's sad.
Another example of how sweet this girl is.  One day, she came up to me and said "Mommy, I sad."  I of course asked why and she said "I love daddy and he's gone to work."  Needless to say, Andrew really wanted to come home after I texted him about that.
Ella has made some imaginary friends lately too.  Her best imaginary friend would be Kylie.  She's seen pictures of our heart friend Kylie and REALLY wants Kylie's heart to get better so they can play.  Until then, she walks around the house playing with the pretend Kylie.  She also calls her Ky.
One day, I actually hooked Liv up to her oxygen and us girls went for a walk.  Ella rode her trike.  We went about a block and then turned around.  Ella was getting slower and slower.  I finally turned around and told her I was going to leave her if she didn't hurry.  She then yells back "Mommy!  My bike ran out of gas!"  A little while later after making it almost the rest of the way home I asked her if she was sleepy.  She looks up at me and says "No mommy.  I just so so tired!"

Each day is filled with moments like these.  I had been writing them down but unfortunately I haven't been as diligent lately and have forgotten some.  I'm really kickin' myself for that.  Ah well.  This girl amazes me.  I still struggle with the fact that she's not a baby anymore.  Heck, she's not even a toddler.  Can you believe I have a preschooler?  Not in preschool yet, in case you wondering if you missed something.  Andrew and I know we were given her first for a reason.  She's been so good with everything thats gone on. She's so stinkin' smart which has helped her in our situation.  She's certainly had her struggles but she has never said anything negative about Olivia or having a baby sister.  She's so helpful and so sweet.  I sure love my baby...I mean big girl.