Ella is ELEVEN!!!

This weekend Ella turned 11! I can't believe how fast time has flown by. We celebrated last weekend with my family since my brother has the same birthday as Ella.

On her actual birthday we had birthday breakfast donuts and then her aunt Daphne came to surprise her for lunch!

We brought her Culvers and cookies for her class.

After school we had cookie cake and opened her presents. 

She got a tower for her beanie boos, an Ipod, a fidget spinner, a Boogie board, legos, lots of different art supplies, a cd, and several other things. 

Her Grandma Speers, Natalie, Daphne and the kids and I celebrated as Grandpa and Ragnar were both unavailable. 

After cake and presents, we left the younger two kids with a babysitter and went to Olive Garden for dinner. Then, we went to the Toyota Center for the playoff game of the Rockets vs. Spurs. What are the odds that your son and daughter would both have a game scheduled on their birthdays. So, we wanted to be with dad as much as we could! Ella really likes to go to the games as well. She was excited as I let her get icecream.

Dad came and watched the last quarter with us!

She was SUPER excited to be with her aunt Daphne. We were so grateful that she took the time to come to town. Sadly the Rockets did not win :(

Saturday we went out to ride bikes and then came to the pool for the first visit of the season.

When we got back, we had dinner and then Daphne had a great idea to try out the projector and watch a movie outside since the weather was beautiful!

It took a little bit of work getting it going, but we had a fun evening! We love Ella and we are so glad she is our oldest child. She is a great example to her siblings. She is very intelligent and loves to learn. She is very good at school and loves to be the best she can there. She also is still always reading. When she doesn't have a book, she is listening to music. She is very brave and tried out for several parts at school this year and got a couple of them. She will be performing as the wicked witch in her school play, and in her talent show in the next couple weeks. I am proud of her for looking to increase her talents. We love who she is becoming!!