Ellie's 3rd Birthday Party

Ellie's party was Saturday, October 18th at North Run Farm. The weather was cool and sunny, actually, a perfect day for a farm party! We fed the pigs, ate cake and snacks (and avoided the bees), played in the hay and corn 'sand'box, and took a hay ride. It was fun for everyone!

I will apologize now, these photos are in reverse order... oops!

Playing the drums on the pumpkins.
Thank you Evie for coming!
Sophie, Leigh, and MB
Grant... laid back!
Ellie and Ellie perched up on the hay pales.
Ellie feeding the pigs a split pumpkin.
Ellie and Joelle ran up ahead of the group to the pigs and fed the pigs a handful of their own snacks! Too cute!
Running along the top of the hay maze.
Ellie is 3!! (or 'E' in this case!)
Ellie's farm cake.
Here comes another tractor on the hay ride!
Joelle on the hayride.
Evie seems to be having a great time too!
Sophie was all smiles and bouncing along for the entire ride!
Ellie and Ellie sitting in the back of the tractor trailer.
Ellie and I waiting for our turn on the hay ride just outside of the corn maze.
Happy Birthday Big Girl!!
Ellie, Ellie, Joelle, and Evie waiting patiently!
Sophie and Leigh on the farm.
Joelle, Ellie, and Ellie running around... is that like Larry, Daryl, and Daryl? Hmm...
Here they are, the three stooges, perched up on a tall hay bale. Joelle, Ellie, and Ellie.
Papoo, Angie, and Louie watching Evie and Grant play in the tractor tire corn box.
Sophie in the hay maze.
Ellie in the corn box. Dressed in pink from head to toe and here she is rolling in the hay and dirt... that's my girl!
On our way to the party... someone looks excited!
Ellie and her new birthday tiara... Thanks Mike and Jess!

Ellie on her scooter... She is one mean scooterin' dude! Dressed to kill... helmet and rain boots, that is to intimidate the other kids!
Watch her go...

My Thirty-something BirthdayOut with the girls that night... Christy, Lisa, Julie, MB, Maggie, Maureen, and Beth. A wonderful night to be in Fells Point.
That day Ellie and I went to Bloom's Broom Dairy Farm for lunch and homemade ice cream. Yum!!
Of course, Ellie had pink ice cream. Would you even think it would be any other way??
Running through the field.
Where is my lunch?!?
Breakfast that morning... We went to the diner and Ellie asked for pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. No pancakes but the waffle worked just fine instead. When this came out you can only imagine the look on her face. Actually, a little girl two tables over said that she wanted this instead of her breakfast.

The first weekend of October...

October 3-5th, 2008 Sleepy time.

The Parade for the Gold

A parade in Towson to welcome home all of the Olympians from the area.

Here is the start of the parade. Papoo staked out some great space for us to sit and enjoy the parade!

One of the many signs people were holding.

The JHU Asian dragons.

Ellie is completely fascinated with the parade!

The Boumi Temple band on the bus and camel with 8 gold medals... clever, huh?
The Special Olympians
Katie Hoff
The THS marching band and cheerleaders followed by...
Michael Phelps!
Ellie and I after the parade.
Girls night... Whitney, Summer, Erin, and Katie

Ellie's 3 year old portraits

No need for captions for all of these... enjoy!

Tall Tales

The other day a friend of mine was telling me that she had asked her son what he wanted to be when he grew up. He answered, "A penny."
When I got home that day I decided to ask Ellie the same question...
"Ell, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
"What Mommy?"
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Without skipping a beat... "Taller."

Port Discovery on a rainy day
Today we went downtown to Port Discovery Children's Museum, what better way is there to spend a rainy, rainy Saturday? We didn't know what to expect but we both had a ton of fun!!In the center there is a "up only" rope climbing set up that goes to all three levels, what I wasn't expecting was having to climb up it too to keep up with Ellie.
Next time I am wearing sneakers and bringing quarters to rent a locker!!
Banging on the drum, drum, drum...
Child labor... learning to run the assembly line? Do you really think it too early? Maybe we should wait till she is 4 or get her a step stool.
Playing in the ball pit.
She loved the Water Works exhibit. They thought of everything... they had nylon windbreakers in lots of sizes to keep the kids clothes dry and tons of crocs for their feet... Brilliant!
Going down one of the tunnels from the center climbing structure. FYI... Definately an adventure!!
Learning how to build cars.
Matching people with the products they make.
In the crazy kitchen in the mystery house.
The crazy bathroom in the mystery house.
Worn out and ready to go home!

Free Manicures and PedicuresWell all I can say is that we have to work on "staying in the lines" before she can start charging for her services!

Fall is on the way This is one of Ellie's pictures from school. It is a picture of Schatzie (on the left with the face and black, blue, yellow, and purple stripes) and PD (drawn on the right, the three large circles).

Sidewalk chalk after school.
Playing hopscotch.
1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9... 10!
Talking on the phone.
Ellie, Schatzie, and I on a mini road trip... always an adventure!
Running circles after church.
Cheese!!!