Ellie turns 1!

So... I'm only a month and a few days behind :)  But, really - Ellie turned 1 and it was a wonderful party and week-long celebration!  Because her birthday this year fell on Good Friday - we celebrated with immediate family the weekend before Easter. We had a fabulous day with everyone - and I was so happy with the decor (why do I stress about that silly stuff) but mostly that she was happy, healthy, and enjoyed the day!

After a wonderful 1st birthday (we kicked off Easter weekend by taking the day off work to celebrate Ellie's birthday)  We packed up and headed up to NE for the weekend.  My Mom was especially craving the kids after a LONG tax season and not seeing them much at all (shout out to Mom though for making it down for Gwynnie and Ellie's bdays during tax season)  Anyway, we had such a sweet Easter.  (I must say, Easter mass was a tough one for E, as she did NOT want to sit still, so we took turns in the back of church with her.... sorry for all those sitting behind us and all our distractions - I can only imagine what that was like)  :)  Here are a few sweet pictures from Easter and a blessed holiday.  Thankful for the time to visit with my Grandpa Mack who was in the hospital.  He had had a really rough day/night the night before, and wasn't sure he wanted to keep fighting.  God heard our prayers though and he woke up feeling much, much better on Sunday, and I'm so glad Amy and I got to see him on Sunday after church.  I think it did all of our hearts good.  We drove up to see all the Mack's at my Uncle Jim's house, and got the Mack Attack.  Love, love the time we get with my wonderful family.  Have I said yet how blessed I am??

I did mention in my last post that Ellie would start in her big girl room at St. Luke's.  Luckily, they ripped the band-aid off for me, and one day just told me she would be spending the entire day in the Bunny room.  I'm like, oh gosh, this is all so different.  Kids are sitting in chairs at a little table, they go outside, no Miss Leita, what are we going to do?? Of course, she did wonderful - and we heard that from so many teachers, staff, etc.  That really does make you feel good about it - and I have just really enjoyed her new teacher Miss Veda.  She is very warm, comforting, and said she likes when parents ask a lot of questions!! I said, oh good, we will definitely get along.  Today was her first official day as a Bunny.

The weekend following Easter, we did Ellie's 1st birthday pics with ME Photography.  I didn't want to stress myself and plan on outdoor pictures, so we started indoors and she was so wonderful and let us go outside for more, b/c it was such a gorgeous day!! I'm so glad she did that, b/c those are definitely my favorite pictures from the day.  Here is just a sampling:

What a fun time - I just LOVE the toddling, drunken sailor walking.  And she is walking all over the place!! So fun to see how excited she is too to be up and moving - and how she will try to go so fast to keep up with her brother, and she'll take a little tumble and get right back up and going.  Her other favorite activity as of late is READING!! She will grab a book, plop down in our lap, and when we open the book, she will giggle with delight, and will only let us open maybe one other page, before she gets bored and gets another book, and cycle repeats :)  I just love it - and hope she continues her love of books!!

Happy May  - April was such a fun month, great weather, and counting our blessings each and everyday.  God bless each one of you!