SOOO WICKED!!!

Last night I went and saw Wicked at the Pantages Theater in L.A. and absolutely fell in love with it!! It was truly AMAZING!! If you ever get the chance to go and see it, I highly recommend it!! Also, the music is fabulous--and I suggest listening to it before you go. Last night, after I got home at 1:45 am, I couldn't stop singing the songs in my head! Thanks dad and Nancy!! And thanks Mark!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Be mine, Valentine...

Hope you have a good V--day!!

Or... if you're not in to Valentine's Day, you are not alone...Maddy doesn't like it much either--(Check out her reaction below...)

Bah humbug to Valentine's day!!!

We sure know how to PARTY!!!

Ellie's 4th birthday party was today at our neighborhood park and let me tell you--it was perfect!! We had a giant pizza, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, a pretty cake, face painting, a Hello Kitty pinata, a fun park to play at, pleasant weather (76!), presents and tons and tons of people!!

Ellie's yummy cake--complete with Hello Kitty toppers

The GIANT pizza!

My good friend Kerry--she painted all the kids' faces with kitty whiskers and tattooed them all with Hello Kitty

Ellie and her Hello Kitty pinata--all the kids were chanting her name!

Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Matthew was the big winner!

Ellie and Grandpa Ed opening presents--lots of loot!

Grandma and Grandpa were able to come down for the party--Ellie was so excited!!

The theme was Hello Kitty and it was everything Ellie envisioned--truly a 4 year old's dream!! The only thing missing was all of you who couldn't make it! But thank you for all the calls and packages this week--Ellie has just been spoiled rotten!!

A Big Birthday Celebration--Ellie style!!

Yesterday was Ellie's 4th birthday!! She is so amazing--I can't believe she is already 4! She is such a smart, fun, loving and beautiful girl and I am so proud to be her mommy. Yesterday morning, she was presented with a list of about 20 activites to choose from to do on her special day and the following is what she chose...

Ellie started her birthday bash bright and early and opened some of her presents before daddy even left for work. She then followed the presents by a big, yummy birthday breakfast.

The first activity Ellie chose to do, was go to the movies to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Then she wanted to play by the fountain for awhile.

Next on her list was a visit to Chuck E. Cheese!! She had full run of the place and she had a blast!

Since we were so full from popcorn and soda, we skipped Rubios for lunch and headed home to meet daddy--who had taken work off early to be able to join in on the second half of the festivities. Next on the list, was to visit the Humane Society and possibly adopt a cat...

I'm not going to go in to details on that visit, but let's just say that we all left the Humane Society with different emotions. (Ellie--a bit disappointed about not getting a cat, Mark and I--very annoyed with the Humane Society and the way that handled the whole situation, Maddy--probably relieved to be out of that noisy and smelly place)

Our last visit was to the mall for Ellie's choice of fine dining--Red Robin. After her dinner, ice cream sundae and song, we headed down the mall to play at the playground and to visit the pet store. We ended up falling in love with the cutest little mini daschund puppy and played with him for a bit. But at $1400, we decided not to take him home with us. yet....

All in all, I think Ellie had a great birthday!! And it's not over yet! The celebration will continue this weekend with a birthday party with friends!! More pictures to come...