In The Hartland: An Early 4th Birthday for Ella!

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

An Early 4th Birthday for Ella!

Just like with Easter this year, we decided to celebrate Ella's 4th birthday four days early so that my mom could be in attendance. I mean, what's a birthday party without grandma being there?! So, we decided about a week ago to tell Ella that her birthday was today and even got Logan and Lia on board with the entire thing. Since she is still young enough, Ella had no idea that we switched days and seemed thoroughly pleased with all of her birthday celebrations yesterday and today. So, hopefully, we can call her 4th birthday a wrap before it even comes! Here is a break down of what we did for Ella's birthday.

I baked cupcakes for Ella's little, preschool co-op using princess cupcake holders and red frosting that she picked out. She was so excited to bring them to preschool yesterday to share with all of her friends during snack time. Here she is about to head into Jace's house proudly carrying her plate full of cupcakes.

We started off this morning with our traditional waffles with whipped cream and strawberries for breakfast.

After Logan and Lia helped me sing "Happy Birthday" to Ella, she blew out all four of her candles before enjoying waffles with the rest of the us in the dining room.

Ella then had a playdate with her friend, Amelia, from church in the morning before we headed off to ballet at 12:30. Ella then played quietly during the afternoon while I decorated her Elsa cake and worked on the birthday dinner. Here is the finished product. I made this same cake three years ago for Lia's 7th birthday party.

After Ron and my parents arrived around 5:30 p.m., we gathered back in the dining room for Ella's birthday dinner. I made pot roast, rosemary, roasted potatoes, sauteed asparagus, rolls, and Caesar salad with Martinelli's sparkling cider. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the dinner except for the birthday girl who only drank her sparkling cider and ate her roll. Oh dear. We let her off the hook since it was her birthday.

After dinner, Ella got to open her presents. Here is my favorite picture of the entire evening--our darling, almost-four-year-old posing in front of her pretty, pink presents!

Ella getting ready to open up her special birthday gift...

An American Girl Doll Wellie Wisher!

I know that this picture is a little bit blurry, but I had to include it. When Ella realized what was inside this gift, she jumped up and started screaming. It was so cute! I just love how this picture captures the look on Ella's face.

Ella happily showing off her new Willa doll.

Along with the Willa doll, Ella got several other items from the Wellie Wisher collection. Here she is showing off her the snow sled and snow shoe set.

Mama helping Ella read her birthday card from Lola.

After having to ask permission for many months to play with Lia's and Logan's Lego sets, Ella finally got her own Cinderella Lego set. She was so excited and so am I as she finally can play with these darling toys without being bothered and bossed around by her older siblings. Since Logan is the resident, Lego expert in our family, he immediately had to rush in to inspect Ella's new set. Here is one of the adorable pictures I managed to get of these two carefully examining the pictures on the outside of the box.

All three of the kiddos surrounding the Legos. Apparently, this was a big deal in the Hartland for the youngest child to finally get her own Legos!

After gift opening, we went back to the dining room to eat the Elsa cake. Here is our sweet Ella holding her new Wellie Wisher stuffed bunny (that she carried around with her nonstop for the rest of the evening) getting ready to blow out her candles.