Happy 9th Birthday, Ella!

On June 18th Ella had her 9th birthday party.  I know I say it every year, but I can’t believe she’s 9!  She’s such an awesome kid and so much fun to be around.

This year Ella decided that she wanted a Star Wars birthday party, and instead of activities, she wanted her friends to come over and watch Episode VII: The Force Awakens.  She picked out decorations and BB8 Birthday Invitations, and preparations were made.

The girls came over and we started the party with light saber building and a Padawan training class lead by Master Jedi Joe.  Even AJ joined in on the fun.  He was, by far, the most enthusiastic Padawan.

After their training class, the girls headed into the basement for food and the movie.  If I had to guess, they watched a total of 25 minutes of the movie before they decided to just play.  They played “mom and baby,” checked out all of the toys (which were mostly AJ’s since Ella’s big kid toys are in her room), and had a fashion show.  I just sat upstairs in the living room and listened to all of the activity.  It was hysterical!  And once again, I was beyond thankful for Ella’s friends.

The party ended with a giant birthday donut and presents.  This years party was simple and easy to plan, but the kids had a great time and Ella loved every minute of it.  She has decided that when she turns 10 it should be her last birthday party.  We’ll see how she feels about that decision as it gets closer.  In the meantime, I love having parties for her.  The parties remind me how far we’ve come and how, 9 years ago, we were told that we would be lucky to celebrate 1 birthday with her.

As a birthday bonus, our family friend, Ali, came to Ella’s school to read a special book to Ella’s class and talk about what it’s like to be an author.

Ali grew up in Casper.  She’s the same age as my brother.  In fact, she and my brother went to prom together.  After prom, Ali quickly became an honorary member of our family.  Ali has always been a fantastic singer and dancer, but recently she added author to her list of skills.  Ali is called The Story Lady and she often performs at birthday parties, local book stores and schools.  She tells stories, sings songs and gets the kids excited about reading.  Recently Ali wrote a very special book, “Butterflies Keep Flying.”  This book was inspired by Ella.  We are so honored that Ali wrote this book and are excited to share it with everyone.  If you’d like to order your own copy, you can get one here: Butterflies Keep Flying.

Ella’s birthday week ended on a high note with the beginning of summer vacation!  We’ve got our summer bucket list made and have started marking things off.  So far summer is off to a great start!