Jay, Sara & Ella

Dance Recital!

Ella's dance recital this year had a Legends and Divas theme. Overall, the music wasn't as upbeat as in year's past, but she still had a GREAT time and looking forward to it again next year.

Ella's tap dance was to "It's In His Kiss"

(Ella is center, front)

Ballet dance was to "Thank Heaven for Little Girls"

Ella is on the left of the middle group shown in this photo....

Her facial expressions during the dances are my very favorite. She always smiles and knows to keep it plastered on her sweet little face the entire dance! Back in the days of dance line, this was KEY and constantly drilled into our heads by the coach, so I am always reminding Ella to smile big and enjoy herself!

Pictures with those who were able to attend a show!

P.S. The air conditioning system at the high school was not working properly or something - it was so HOT both days for recital. Made it tough for those in the audience, but even worse for the dancers who had multiple routines - the stage was roasting!

7th Bday Party - Frozen

We held off on having Ella's family birthday celebration until dance recital weekend, which was this past weekend. It was 90+ degrees out both Friday and Saturday, so it was HOT!

I had a great time finding items fit for the Frozen party. We had a ton of Frozen stuff at home already, so I just picked up a few additional things to tie it all together.

I found lots of cute ideas on Pinterest and some printables from both online blogs and Etsy....

Pin the nose on Olaf! More pics later...

I had to cut out A LOT of stuff, including some photo props, but it was fine!

Obviously Ella and I had to try them out before the big event!

There was a cool banner that I placed above the fireplace with the Arrendale castle motifs and other Frozen-esque decor, but I forgot to snap a picture!! Shoot. In case you want to print one of your own (ours is going to now decorate the toy room) here is a link.

I put together "Do you want to build a snowman" kits for favors using a tag I modified...

And before the party started, Chase and Ella tried it out....ta da!

Grandma had to help with getting frosting to hold it all together, but they had a good time!

Olaf with the noses...

More party decorations...

And we did water balloons with a sign I found online with Olaf saying "Watch Out for my Butt!" (HA!)

Party food! We served sandwiches (build your own) with all the fixings, carrots and dip (a/k/a Olaf's noses), pretzels (a/k/a Sven's antlers), chips and macaroni salad for lunch (forgot to snap a picture!)

Dessert Table

We ordered a DQ ice cream cake, which turned out cute, but I was hoping for a bit more decoration

I made snowflake sugar cookies which we decorated with colored sugars in the party color scheme

and I also made Queen Elsa popcorn (popped popcorn drizzled in Wilton Candy Melts with added white and blue sprinkles!)

Pictures with the birthday girl!

We had a smaller than usual crowd this year because of work schedules and other events, but we still had a great time! Ella got some fun gifts and did a great job reading her own cards this year!

Papa Gary made her a chest to store things in, which is engraved on the lid. Pretty sweet!

p.s. you can sort of see that banner I made in these pictures!!

And then we were able to get outside and splash some water balloons!

FUN!

You say it's your Birthday! (And End of the Year Wrap-Up)

Well, well, well....Summer has arrived and we are SO ready for some fun in the sun! And no homework!! And no spelling words! Hip hip hurray!

All of the end of the school year papers came home and I found this treasure in there. It's a bit hard to read, but it says (fill in the blank):

One of my talents is _____ and Ella wrote "I am good at helping people."

I will use that talent when I become a "doctor"

I just thought that was so sweet that she wrote she is good at helping people. She is such a kindhearted little girl and so sweet (most of the time!!) HA!

End of the school year also meant the Meadowview Elementary Track Meet! Ella was NOT thrilled to have to participate after her fall a week before the big day, but she did so great, and I think she ended up having a so-so fun time. Jay and I were both able to leave work early to attend. It was on her birthday of all days!