How is she 6????

I can't even explain what it feels like to have a 6 year old. Ellie started talking about her birthday party months before it came. She planned it with me and we had an absolute blast making it happen. She is my bud. I just love hanging out with her during the day and I love that she gets as excited about birthdays as I do. It's just so weird that it's now here and gone...she's 6. I just want to freeze time. And I can't imagine what I'll be saying or how I'll be feeling when she's entering her senior year of high school. It's just a blink. We have so little time to influence, shape, model, teach, show mercy and grace, talk about Jesus...and the world is SO fighting for her attention too. I see it in Emma, even. She is the biggest girly girl and love loves loves matching her clothes, brushing her hair, and smiling at herself in the mirror. Ha! So cute, but I'm in for it...

Here are a few pics of Ellie's sledding birthday party. It was FREEZING that day but the kids still enjoyed sledding in our backyard for over 45 minutes! They came in, warmed up with some pizza and snacks, and then the girls decorated their own Valentine's Day boxes. We then opened presents and finished with each girl decorating her own snowman cake. Super fun winter party!!

Snowman cake decorating...serious business for El

And then this was our little family birthday party a few days later...more cake of course

Now those are some cute kids...even though Griffin looks like a deer caught in headlights.

Valentines Day cookies!!!

Day 4

Our chilliest day, but still memorable. :)

Took the kids, mom and dad to Bonita Springs for lunch. Found a local hot spot on yelp.com and hit a homerun. We had amazing sandwiches and a great brunch with the kiddos. They had their own little table in this cute little "hole in the wall." Loved it.
We also celebrated mom's birthday because Ellie was SO bummed that she was not going to be with her on the actual day. Kely Lime Pie from Publix and a few candles made Ellie feel like she was in the loop.



By 4 PM the sun came back out and the temps went up. The view from our condo was incredible, which allowed for some amazing sunsets. We walked out on the beach to watch it go down tonight. It's tradition for everyone to clap once it goes down, and a neighbor always blows a foghorn. The kids thought that was pretty fun. :)

Day 3

BEST DAY YET.

Perfect weather (75 and sunny until 4 PM), tons of fun outside, a boat ride on the Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean, anywhere from 10-30 dolphins ALL AROUND US within feet of our boat (incredible), a fun evening walk on the beach and a date night with my hubby to finish it off. Good times.

Fun walk with the fam after dinner. It started raining and we all had to sprint back to the condo---I felt like we were in a movie running down the beach, laughing our heads off.