The Friend Party

Ella's party with her friends was CRAZY! I was planning on about 9 girls but we ended up having 17 kids! All of the siblings and neighbor kids saw what we were doing and wanted to join so we just kept adding more and more kids. We had a giant water slide which was the main attraction....kids of all ages have fun on this thing! We also had our little pool set up to swim, the trampoline with the sprinkler on it, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and a treasure hunt. It was pretty much chaos but lots of fun. Luckily my mom, Whitney and Liddy, and Nikki came for the weekend so I had lots of helpers. With the heat from being outside and the stress of 17 kids yelling at me for drinks, towels, toys, etc, I guess I got a little stressed out and ended up breaking out in fever blisters all over my lips! But other than that it was a success. After everyone left the only thing Matt said was, "I think we are going to have friend parties every other year."

Ella is SO excited to finally be 5. She is the youngest so being the only 4 year old has taken its toll! Now she says, "But mom, Lily is 5 1/2!" Ahhh I just can't win.

Warming up in the sun with Ella Kate.

London and Megan blowing bubbles.

Sidewalk chalk was great for a break from the water.

Lining up for the treasure hunt. Matt hid a TON of rocks in the sandbox. They loved this part and got to take home their bag of rocks.

Evie came outside to check out the action.Opening presents

Ella loves flowers so we made these flower pots for dessert.

Singing happy birthday

Blowing out her candle. I can't believe this little girl is 5 and will be going to kindergarten. She is small for her age and will be one of the youngest in her class so it just seems like she is too little to go to school! She is really excited about it though. She is very smart and very curious and I think she will do great. We love you Elle Belle.