Birthday parties

Ellie had such a good time at the birthday parties yesterday, which was good because she talked about nothing else all morning beforehand! The first party was at our friends, the H's, house. They have four kids, two of whom happened to be born on the same day and those two were celebrating their 4th and 7th birthdays yesterday. Because there were lots of kids that Ellie didn't know and most were older than her, she was pretty shy and stuck by us most of the time. She loved the snow cones though!

The second party was for a friend of hers, P, from school. Ellie was so excited to see her teachers and her best friend, A, there. She had a great time and didn't want to leave! It was fun to see her there with her friends. She usually only sees them at school so we rarely get the opportunity to see how she interacts with her friends without paying attention to us or one of us being involved. She ran all over the back yard with A while they took turns telling each other what to do!

Ellie and A waiting in line for the pony rides. Ellie didn't know that there were going to be ponies there - we thought it would be more fun as a surprise. She was so excited!

After the rides were over, the ponies' caregivers taught the kids how to brush their hair.

Ellie and A playing all over the backyard...

They finished out the afternoon in the pool. We made Ellie get out to sing Happy Birthday to P, but once she got back in after that, there was no way she was getting out again for cake! She and her friends just spent the whole time splashing each other.

It was such a nice afternoon and made me wish that Ellie's birthday was in the summer! Hmmmm, maybe I'll have to figure out a way to have a November beach party...