Ella Turns One!

Today we visited our friends Jillian & Christian who are expecting a baby in March, and Jill was showing me all her preparations for the baby. She opened the diaper drawer, and I caught a glimpse of the newborn-sized diapers. I couldn't believe that it was a year ago that Ella fit into diapers that SMALL. But yes, it was just over a week ago that Ella turned ONE.

Ella officially turned one on January 26th but we planned a 1st Birthday Party for her on the 28th. In the days leading up to the party, I stayed up late at night trying desperately to START and FINISH her scrapbook. Not an easy task...and not one that I actually accomplished. But, boy did I get close. I got almost all of the photos into the book but I still have journaling and embellishments to add. But, at least our guests got to look at the photos and see how much she's grown.

Yes, we realize that a 1st Birthday Party is really more for the parents and extended family than the birthday kid, but we couldn't resist. It was great to see so many friends and family. Ella does have friends at 12 months of age...but they are all BOYS. What can I say, she will have her choice of suitors in the future. Her friends Caleb and Josh from Home Group came to join the celebration. It was great to see the three of them cruising around the living room with helium-filled balloons attached to their backs. They seemed to enjoy the balloons too!


Of course, no 1st Birthday would be complete without the cake. She got her very own 8-inch cake to dig into (well, we eventually served the untouched half to people who wanted chocolate cake). Go figure...when I want her to be neat and tidy when she eats, she isn't....when I want her to get crazy and dig in, she daintily eats the frosting off the top of the cake. It took several minutes for her to realize that yes, Mommy & Daddy were letting her eat as much of the super-sweet goodie as she wanted. She eventually got the hang of it and got good and messy as every birthday girl should.