Ellery Turns 11!

How can it even be that my sweet baby girl Ellery is 11 years old?  She is turning into the most beautiful young woman, and we had so much fun celebrating out wonderful daughter's birthday.

Christmas afternoon and evening we were in Birthday Mode.  Sam took Elle and Bennett to see the new Hobbit movie, while I made Elle's requested birthday cake and birthday dinner.  She wanted Fettucine Alfredo again this year, much to Bennett's disappointment!  When they got home from the movie, we sat down for dinner.  Then Elle excitedly opened her presents.

An Underarmour sweatshirt from the Allens

Hot Chocolate picked out by Sam!

Scarves and headwraps -- two of Elle's favorite things right now.

We framed Elle's print of "The Girl with the Pearl Earring"

And now she has this darling pillow to add to her room decor also!

Then we did cake and ice cream.  Elle looks so beautiful and grown up to me in these pictures.  Can't believe this sweet girl is 11.

We had Elle's birthday party on January 3rd.  She wanted to invite a lot of people this year, and I wanted to have a party at our house, so I came up with a plan to do stations and rotate the large group of girls through.  I think it went well and that everyone had a good time.

When the girls arrived at 6:00 we ate dinner first -- pizza and pop.

 Once everyone had arrived and eaten, Grandma led the girls in group charades while I got the stations all set up.  It was wild and crazy with that many girls, but everyone had a great time.

Then we gave each of the girls a card with their schedule for the stations rotations.  There were five stations, and we had 4 girls at each station each rotation.  But we wanted the girls to have opportunities to mix and mingle, so we set up a schedule where the girls were with different girls each rotation.  It worked out well, and was a lot of fun.

Station #1 was Just Dance in the movie room:

Station #2 was Photobooth/Video Star

Station #3 was the Craft in the Dining Room:

Station #4 was Ice Cream Sundaes in the Kitchen:

And Station #5 was playing Tensies in the Living Room:

It ended up working out really well and being calm and a lot of fun.  Sam ran the photobooth and Reagan did Video Star, Bennett and Cal ran Just Dance, Grandpa helped with the Ice Cream Sundaes, Grandma ran the game, and I did the craft.  We needed everyone's help, and we were so grateful to have the grandparents here to help out.

Sam got some fun photobooth shots, even though the lighting was poor:

Here are some pictures from the other stations:

Such a cute group of girls, and such a fun night!

Next we opened presents.  This is the first part of the evening where things felt crazy/out of control.  It was just a lot of girls to have in one room, and opening the presents took a while.  But Elle seemed to have fun and got some cute things.

Then we did cake.  Elle asked for a cookie cake, which I made.  It worked out all right, not my best cake ever, but she seemed pleased with it.

And then everyone ate their cake and went home.  Elle was so happy afterwards -- I think she had some doubts about my plan for the evening, but after she was so grateful and complimentary.  It was much better than she anticipated apparently!  Love this girl so very much.

Ellery is:

1. Smart

2. Spirited

3. Inquisitive

4.  Principled

5.  Helpful

6.  Kindhearted

7.  Concerned

8.  Loving

9.  Creative

10.  Determined

11.  Accomplished

She is one-in-a-million, the apple of our eyes, and such a blessing to our family.  Happy Birthday, Ellery Yarn!