Ellie is 3!

Ellie turned three in July.

What can I say about this little girl?

She is such a little imp.  And so cute, but of course I'm biased (as every mother should be!).

She loves to make us laugh....

Constantly!

Always dancing..

 Opening presents....

My parents always call and sing "Happy Birthday" over the phone to us:

Her cake with strawberries on top:

We took the kids to SeaWorld the weekend before for Ellie's birthday:

Ellie wore her new "3" shirt:

They even got to meet Shamu, which they still talk about:

Ellie is such a huge blessing in our family.  She makes us laugh, makes us crazy, and can scream like you wouldn't believe (while we were in PA, my grandpa commented that her shriek [happy or sad] sounds just like one of those loud, high-pitched whistles.  Spot on!).

Ellie is still doing great in her swimming.  She's come a LONG way since those early days right out of swimming lessons.  She can swim pretty far now, and just today she randomly started doing a back stroke (I don't think she knew what she was doing, but it was pretty cute to see).  She and Abby have so much fun playing games in the pool, jumping in together, and diving for toys at the bottom.

Ellie says the funniest things sometimes.  A few weeks ago I was going through some pictures on the computer and came across pictures from when she was born.  She saw a picture of my mom holding her as a newborn and she has talked about it ever since.  She randomly says excitedly, "I was born!!  And grandma was holding me!!"  The other day I told her that Abby held her too when she was first born, and she just said simply, "Thank you, Abby.  Thank you for holding me when I was born."

Ellie and I have a little game that we play... sometimes when I want her to do something, I'll just say to her in a teasing voice, "You'll never... {insert act}!"  My favorite is to say, "You'll never kiss me!!" Then I hide my face a little bit from her.  So, she'll essentially tackle me and kiss my cheeks over and over again.  Who wouldn't love that??  

Three things we love about Ellie:

1. She is so funny, and she loves to make people laugh.  She makes funny faces, says hilarious things, and just generally tries to make people happy.

2. Ellie loves to dress up and dance.  I'm not joking or exaggerating when I say that Ellie changes her outfit at least 5 times a day.  Church dress, leotard, tutu, bathing suit, back to church dress, back to bathing suit, etc.... it never ends!  You never know what she'll be wearing next time you see her.  She is also a great dancer.  Her face is always so serious while she dances, it really cracks us up.

3. Ellie is pretty stubborn and she knows what she wants.  While it makes parenting a bit difficult sometimes, I really like this about her.  She won't let anyone deter her from what she wants to do and she'll put up quite a fight.  In fact, Garrett and I have both tried to take things away from her (toys, for example), and she has such a good grip that she actually lifts off the floor as we try to lift the toy out of her reach.  Frustrating, yes.  But also kind of funny.

And can I do a fourth thing, to grow on?  Ellie is very grateful.  Like I said above, she thanked Abby for holding her when she was born.  She says "Thank you" very often, even for little things like when I hand her something, when I kiss her, or when I lift her up to wash her hands.  She just says it very simply and it's become second nature to her to say "Thank you".  I love it.

We love you, Ellie, and are so happy that you are in our family!