Ella is Eight!

Last week Ella celebrated her 8th birthday like a boss!  We had our first ever swim party at the Parker Rec Center.  (Usually we party at home, but this year I was tired and thought I'd rather just party somewhere else.)  Everyone was  happy!  I didn't take pics at the pool, because there was a lot of people there and I didn't want to creep them out with my camera in there.  Plus it says no cameras allowed!  But we did get some shots in the party room afterwards, which was decorated so well by our friend Karina, who is a lifeguard at the pool, and so was also responsible for pulling some strings so we could even have the party.  Thank you Karina!

 

This is Ella and her friend Mei-Lin after eating the black-frosting zebra cake.  Everyone had some pretty interesting smiles!

The party was Friday night, and her birthday was Saturday, so we had more fun eating donuts and going for a bike ride.  We've had really mild weather for November, so we are trying to take advantage of it by going outside a lot!  Earlier in the week, we had fun when Rebecca and Anders stopped here on their trek out to their new home.  We walked to a playground right next to skate park that we had never been to.  Typically I see lots of scary looking teenagers their with the skateboard and bikes, and I have zero desire to bring the kids there.  But, on a nice Thursday morning, it was perfect for the kids, the little ones played on the playground and the older two could ride their bikes around the skate park.  They LOVED it.  So, that Saturday morning, Caleb insisted we go back to that skate park.  We tried to warn them it would be busy with big kids, but there was no stopping them.  We rode there, and sure enough, big kids everywhere, with more showing up as we watched.  So we took a disappointed Caleb and rode around to some trails where we got in some good riding on dirt hills.  Ella got to run around in the forest and play by the river, so everyone was happy.

That night, Caleb and Ella went to "ninja night" at his karate school, a fun extra thing where they learned stealthy moves for sneaking up on your enemy.  Ella loved it.  heehee.

Ella's big birthday present was getting a new room - we remade McKinley's room and moved McKinley in with Rachel, so now Ella is in her own room and loving it.

Ella is a very sweet and considerate 8 year old.  She always wants everyone to be happy, so sometimes she will give up a turn or a choice to someone else to make them happy.  Example: as we've planned her baptism this weekend, when I asked her what songs she wanted to have everyone sing, she said Caleb could pick one and Rachel could pick one. :)  She loves cats of all kinds, including large predators and especially leopards and tigers.  She likes ponies and imaginary games, and arts and crafts of ALL kinds.  She is almost always working on some kind of project, usually a gift for someone, like the poem she wrote for me earlier this week:

We think she is pretty "grat" too.  Happy Birthday Ella!