Sunday evening was our family party and WOW is all I can say. Have you ever had a party where every person you invited actually showed up? Well, on Sunday we pretty much did. There were very few people in our group of close family and friends who didn’t come. Our house was filled to capacity and it became very hard to visit with everyone. Fortunately, everyone mingled all over the place and really enjoyed themselves despite the limited seating.
THIS is our birthday cake. Can you say wow? A friend from high school made it and delivered it for us and did a fabulous job. We knew we wanted something fancy and sent her a picture of what we wanted. She pretty much made exactly what we asked for and everyone was amazed to look and taste it. Ella LOVED it, which made her mommy very happy. Not only was the cake gorgeous, but it was delicious. I had so many compliments on how great it tasted.
Once again, we opened up presents first. It was hard for everyone to see at the same time, but we did the best we could. I sat Ella in the arch between our living and dining rooms and everyone crowded around as best they could. The first present was the best. We had ordered Ella a sweet “Big Sister” t-shirt and framed a little sonogram picture for her room. There were so many people talking, gasping and laughing that it was hard to explain it all to Ella in the moment, but it was a great surprise and she was just as happy when we told her again 15 minutes later. Nobody in our family knew except for mom and she had only known a few days. We did an excellent job of keeping a deep, dark secret for five long weeks!
Here we are singing Happy Birthday and blowing out candles. We had quite the audience!
This might have been the best party I’ve ever been to. Josh and I sat around afterwards talking about how great it was that everybody came and nobody seemed embarrassed to dress up and get silly. It was so fun to see everyone participate and it really made Ella’s day. Check back tomorrow for the family photo strips — they are hilarious!
