First Day of School!

This is one of my favorite traditions that Bob does with the girls! He takes them to get their nails done the night before school starts. Best part is that he joins in on the spa fun too! They have yet to talk him into an actual color but I have no doubt one day he will walk out with matching zebra print on his nails:)

Ella reading The Night Before Kindergarten to sweet McKenna.

I can't believe I have two full time students this year! McKenna is starting Kindergarten and Ella Second grade. I love these sisters so so much! 

Since they missed the first two days being at family camp, we rocked the 3rd day of school just like it was the first! The traditional first day of school apple and caramel dip treat. Super easy and so yummy! Mix 10oz of caramel with 8oz of cream cheese. Put it in a mason jar, top with a layer of plain caramel and then sprinkle it with toffee bits. 

First day of school breakfast. The girls requested pink chocolate chip pancakes, sausage rolls and their favorite cereal. The first day is about the only day of the year that we all wake up to our alarm clocks the first go around. It's downhill from there. 

Both girls had a great first day and love their new teachers! 

Sweet McKenna did have an accident on her first day and it just broke my heart. (and made me laugh to the point of tears.) I'm that mom that giggles in moments where laughter probably isn't the best response. 

When I went to pick her up the office pulled me aside to let me know that she had peed in her pants. I was shocked because McKenna has never really had an accident. They said that she was at her desk and didn't say anything but the teacher saw and took care of it without the class all knowing. The sweet receptionist took McKenna to the nurse to get her a change of clothes. McKenna is so tiny that her uniform skirts have to be altered. They didn't have any skirts that fit her, all they had was a pair of boy uniform shorts that were a 3T. They told me that McKenna looked at them and just shook her head no. She was not going to wear them. They found a pair of princess panties that somehow made her ok with the boy shorts so she put them on. She rocked them! She looked absolutely adorable in them! I wasn't sure how she was going to be when I picked her up but the very first thing she said to me was "well...I had an accident today!" She had the best attitude about it and didn't let it get her down. I was so proud of her and like to think that my occasional pee in my pants from laughing so hard has prepared her for moments like this in life. 

So proud of my girls and so excited for this school year!

Ella's March Madness Party!

Ella is such a baller.

We rented out the gym at a YMCA for Ella's March Madness Party and it was so much fun!

We played all kinds of basketball games and had the jock jams playing. 

We ate pizza and basketball cake balls. Ella wanted the mascot to be the porcupines like from Liv and Maddie. I made the table covers look like a gym with the logo in the middle. 

I made the scoreboard using her birthday as the time. 3-14-08. 

Everyone went home a winner with a trophy and their very own basketball.

It was a slam-dunk party for sure! 

Happy Birthday Ella!

Today my baby Ella is 8 years old! 

I love a birthday morning donut cake!

She got some sweet Jordan hightops that she broke in immediately and we surprised her with a new big girl bike! 

She picked Dave and Busters to celebrate her real bday. (March Madness Party coming soon!)

Ella is always bummed that her actual bday falls on Spring Break so she is never at school. This year I surprised her with an early school bday treat and wrapped everything in her lunch like a present. She flipped out and loved it so much!

I can't believe Ella is 8 years old. Some days she still seems like my baby Ella. She is such a light and I am so amazed at the beautiful and brave girl she is growing into. She has a quiet spirit and I am starting to see the areas she really embraces and opens up in. She's shy. Not rude, just shy. Just like her mama was/is. I have learned to be patient and let her get comfortable and open up at her own pace. I have recently noticed that Ella is drawn to little kids and it makes my heart swell. She is my mini me. Still, I would pick sitting at the kids table over the adults table. Ella has the kindest heart and puts others before herself. She pours herself into whatever it is she is into. She gives it her all and tries her hardest. She is a fighter. She has had so many struggles in school with dsylexia and she has overcome so many challenges that her teacher is blown away. She has a love to grow closer to God and to serve him in how she treats people. She sees people hurting and wants to find a solution. She always talks about how there should be more free houses so no one would have to live on the streets. She always wants to help the homeless guy on the side of the road. She has a heart to serve and I pray God uses her to do big big things. You are the love of my life Ella Reese and I can't wait to see what this year holds for you! 

Ella's Camping Sleepover!

Turning 7 can be In-Tents so that's exactly what we did and it was SO much fun! I can't believe how great our first sleepover went. Way better than I ever could have imagined. Ella's group of friends are just the sweetest and they made the party so fun and easy going. (makes me get a little teary eyed thinking about her moving away from them soon)

My awesome husband helped me turn our living room into The Great Indoors! We moved the furniture into the garage a couple of days before the party and then began to make the night sky.  I bought two rolls of navy plastic table cloths. I cut them into strips and Bob used a staple gun to attach them to the walls. It took us a while but it was so worth it. The room was dark and felt so cozy under the stars. I loved it!
I painted the trees on white butcher paper. I used an overhead projector to help me with my lack of art skills.

Campers arrived at 6pm. It was so fun to see each girl's excitement walking in and setting up their tents.

Everybody went straight to the bounce house so we jumped a little bit before eating. Right before we ate all the girls got a big surprise. Ella's teacher walked in and it was like Taylor Swift stopped by. I wish I had gotten a picture of them all running up to her and hugging her. Every girl at the party either had her as a teacher last year or is in her class now so it was so special.  She brought silly string, nail polish and lip gloss for the girls! Best. Teacher. Ever. 

The weather was beautiful so we did the pillow decorating outside after pizza. I ordered some pillow cases from Amazon and had the girls decorate them with fabric markers. They loved it!

Camp Counselor Jackie (and Andy) were so amazing and helped us out so much during the party.
 

After that we all went inside and played Camp Bingo. I had a bunch of candy and glow sticks so when they got a bingo, they got to pick out their candy for the movie later on. 

Anytime Bob wanted to get the campers attention to make an announcement he would yell, "Camp Ella can you hear me?!" and they would all yell back, "Yes crazy Bob!" It was awesome.

Once the sun went down we went outside to make s'mores!

I put on the movie Parent Trap around 8:30 and everyone loved watching it. Well everyone but Crazy K. McKenna was hilarious and will defiantly be that kid at slumber parties that is the last one asleep and will have your socks frozen in the freezer when you wake up. Did y'all ever pull that prank? I sure did. You take peoples socks when they are sleeping, get them wet and then stick them in the freezer. Classic.
McKenna would go from tent to tent pretending to ring the door bell and would sit with each girl for a little bit. They were all so sweet to her! At one point McKenna went around and asked each girl if they had anything that needed to be washed. I didn't realize she was actually collecting their dirty clothes and putting them in the laundry room until later on and I was cracking up! That girl never sat still.
Everyone was asleep by 11 which I thought was a huge success!

Andy and Jackie stayed over till midnight playing Rummikub with Bob and I so it was a dream night. I pulled a mattress in the room with all the girls and slept with them just in case anyone woke up in the middle of the night. Everyone slept all night and we started the morning off bright and early at 6:30. Everyone ate donuts while Ella opened her presents and then we sang since we never got around to the cake the night before. It worked out perfect since Saturday was her actual birthday anyway.
The giant s'mores cake is something I saw on Pinterest forever ago. I think it might have been my very first pin actually. I thought it was just so cute. I'm not much of a baker but decided to give it a try. The giant graham crackers were from this recipe and they were surprising easy and even tasted great. The middle of the cake is just white cake. I had made everything the night before her party and started putting it all together a couple hours before the party started. Everything was going great until I attempted to layer two white round cakes. They didn't come out of the pan evenly on the bottoms so when I stacked them and iced them, they just cracked and crumbled everywhere! I baked another cake real fast and just stuck with one layer the second time. It worked so much better and turned out so cute!



Instead of trying to cut it into pieces I just let the girls break off pieces of each layer and make a s'more. They just laughed and had so much fun with it. Cake success!




I ordered these cute All About Camp pages from Oriental Trading Company. It was a great morning activity for the girls to do. They colored them and filled out all their favorite parts about Camp Ella.

Each girl got to take their tent home with them and some popcorn that my awesome neighbor Andy brought over. His mom has a popcorn business in Round Rock and it is amazing! Did I mention that Jackie also made Ella the Camp Ella banner that hung on the fireplace?! I mean, best neighbors of all time.



Happy 7th Birthday my sweet Ella! I love seeing your heart grow each year. I love seeing your enthusiasm for the simple things in life and your loyalty towards those you love. You have such a kind heart and we are all so blessed by you each day. We love your sense of style and eye for creativity. You always strive for what is right and your determination is something I admire so much about you. You are one special kid. I love you Ella Reese!