Birthday for a Princess

Ellen Renee Ladwig turned 6 years old this year and boy was she excited about that. Her birthday was on a Tuesday this year so she was able to take a birthday snack to school, something I have to admit I was a little jealous of. Having a summer birthday I was never able to take a snack to school on my birthday. I decided I was living a little vicariously through her and she could take whatever snack she wanted. Her birthday was the first day back from Spring Break so she had been planning all Spring Break and decided that she wanted to take chocolate cupcakes with pink vanilla frosting and heart sprinkle decorations. She helped me make them and was very pleased with everyone’s reaction to her snack.

That evening we decided to play it cool since it was a school night and did a low key celebration at the house. Ella had chosen the meals for the whole day: pancakes for breakfast, eggs for lunch, and tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. We had leftover cupcakes for her birthday cake since I didn’t want to make two cakes in one week. The kids seemed happy enough. She got to open her presents from Mom and Dad and seemed happy enough with everything she got.
A Jewelry Box... Some Hidden Pictures books...

...and the movie Hairspray. This is Ellen's impression of Tracy being a "bad, bad girl who needs to be punished."

She was also able to open some gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. Yeah!!! New clothes!!!

We planned her big birthday party for the following Saturday. Since our house is small and we were trying to get it on the market we decided to do the party at our church building. We invited all of the aunts and uncles and cousins as well as the little girls from her primary class. Ellen wanted a Princess party this year. She has had her birthday parties planned out since she was three. This was the last one she had planned, so she is already starting to plan for next year. I am excited to see what we end up with when there is only a year’s notice.

For the party I asked Aunt Audra to help out with beautifying the girls. Audra brought all of her nail polish and did a mini-manicure on all of the girls. They each got to choose what color and she even sent them home with their very own nail files. Thanks Aunt Audra!

We also had balloons that the kids could play with.

Uncle Steve tied Maggie's balloon to her ponytail. It was really funny until she got the balloon stuck under a chair and it was tugging at her hair.

After the fingernail painting we played Pin the Crown on the Princess. Landon did a very nice job making a Princess and crown for us to use and the kids really seemed to have fun with it. We also had a piñata with all sorts of prizes and then cake and ice cream of course. She got some really great presents from her cousins and her friends and I think she enjoyed her Princess themed party.

Just a few things about my beautiful baby girl on her 6th birthday:

You are smart as a whip and you know it. You read at a 3rd grade level (last we had you tested) and you love learning.

You like to sleep in. A lot. In fact, you would love school, but you inform us regularly that you don’t like it because you can’t sleep in.

There is not a single fast bone in your body. Everything you do is done at your pace and no amount of frustration from Mom and Dad can change that.

You are a great big helper with your brothers. You like to be in charge of watching them for Mom when I have to get some work done outside or I take a shower.

Computer games, video games, and board games are your favorite things to do. You really don’t enjoy playing pretend a whole lot, but you can come up with some good games if you want to. But if you had your druthers, you’d be on the computer all day long.

Right now the most exciting thing in your life is that Mom is going to have a baby sister. You tell everyone you know. Although you usually like to make the adults guess why Mom is fat.

You consider yourself an author and illustrator and like to write your own books. You really don’t like that Mom and Dad stay up later than you, so you wrote us a book to help us go to sleep at the same time you do.

You love to sing and are actually really good at it. You also enjoy making up your own songs.

You are a joy and a love to be around and you truly are the princess of our family. Happy Birthday Ella! We love you!