Ellie's 9th Birthday Celebration began the day before her birthday when the little boys and I brought treats to school for her to share with her class. Pink, sprinkled cupcakes and juice boxes. We also brought in a crown for her to wear that said, "It's my 9th Birthday!" The crown was a surprise for her, and Trevor decided he'd wear it when she came into the office. He made a regal, little princess.
Ellie's actual Birthday began with presents right off, since it was a busy day and so Daddy Rob could exercise while Mom made Ellie's birthday breakfast.
HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY, ELLIE!
She was so excited!
Trevor gave her scented nail polish, in bright bold colors.
Ryan gave her one of her favorite movies, "Barbie and the Three Musketeers."
She loved her gifts from her Grandparents, thank you!
They know Ellie well, a fashion design book and new, cute fonts for the computer.
Sterling wanted me to take his picture, I love this cozy guy in his jammies.
Fun, fun! She was most excited about her ICarly camera. If you visit us you may want to perma-grin around the house, Ellie loves to catch people off guard with a funny picture of themselves. :)
Ellie picked Crepes for her birthday breakfast, the French Diva that she is.
They were a good choice, super tasty!
The rest of the day was busier than we had originally planned, because a Holiday Party for the Podiatry department at Kaiser had been rescheduled for Ellie's birthday (it was suppose to be the Saturday before). Rob was the one who suggested spouses and significant others get invited to the lunch party so I could have a chance to meet everyone, and I really wanted to go. We had already sent out invites for
Ellie's Cafe lunch party at the
American Girl Place
at the Grove in LA
which overlapped the Holiday Party for Rob's work. The only way we were able to make it all happen was my friend, Liana, whose daughter, Hannah, was coming to the party, picked up the girls and then picked me up at the Holiday party on our way to LA. There were a few bumps in the plan (a car accident on the freeway that made us late to the Holiday Party, me missing a text, and us taking a wrong turn) we made it to the American Girl Cafe 20 minutes late, and they gave away our table just 5 minutes before! We had to wait 2 hours to be seated, which was fine as we had a craft and touring the store to do, but the girls were starving! I felt so bad about that! They were good sports anyway, and we had fun looking at the store.
Ellie and I had fun designing her invites a week and half before her party.
The girls each brought their favorite doll. Ellie's doll had really ratted hair, so we gave her a hair cut a few days before the party so she looked just like Ellie!
The decorations were as adorable as cute can be.
Ellie wants to decorate her room in pink, black and white someday and have a French theme. Surprised?
The store is set up like a Museum, and we had fun looking at all the dolls while we waited...and waited to be fed.
We found a doll that looked just like each of the girls.
My favorite section was the Historical dolls. Ellie and I have read a bunch of their books together, and it was fun to remember them.
We also liked looking at the "Girl's of the Year" displays.
9 Years old!
I'm amazed.
The waitress who sat us at our table on the balcony told us that all the American Girl Dolls are 9 years old! I hadn't thought of it, but they are all 9 in their books, so it was the perfect year to year to have an American Girl Party!
We're thinking we might be back in another nine years when baby Pumpkin turns 9.
Each of the girls had a little high chair hooked on to the table for their dolls. The waiter, Kevin, served the dolls as well as the girls throughout the meal. :) They loved it! We had some great music playing, and we watched the sun go down and all the lights at the outdoor mall come on as we ate...now dinner (it was suppose to be a late lunch). There were questions in a pink box for the girls to ask each other, and we had a great time chatting, laughing, and feasting together.
Everyone was SO hungry, but we soon had too much food to eat and we took a bunch home with us.
They brought Ellie out a beautiful birthday cake and we all sang to her.
I hope her wish comes true!
I had Ellie take a picture of me with my friend, too. I so often get home without pictures of my friends and tons of pictures of the kids with their friends. Liana is an amazing guitarist and vocalist (among other things), and we were able to sing a duet in Sacrament meeting, and also with a band at the Ward Christmas Party together. I love her! She was so great to help out with the party, and it was fun to have time to catch up with her.
Here's the girls with their goodie bags (a bunch of doll stuff) ready to go.
Right when we walked out of the store a big, white Limo pulled up. I said, "Girl's your ride is here!" and snapped a picture. They sure look ready for the red carpet!
After the bad timing of the afternoon, we were walking to the car when Ellie walked up to a small quiet fountain, and it started singing to her! It was perfect! A fountain show started, and the music blasted the song, "Celebration." It was so fun. The girls danced and enjoyed the water show. It was the perfect ending to the night.
The girls watched, "Barbie Princess Charm School" on the hour and half drive home, and we got home in time to share the leftover cake with Rob Dad and the brothers before they went to bed.
Ellie is definitely one,
All American Girl.
