Thursday, June 10

celebrating the one year old princess



Ella Rose, my sweet'ems.
This baby had such a happy birthday.
Her special day was much like the others,
just doin' our thing.
But their was extra sparkle
and beauty to it.

But first,
a celebration with the family & friends
over the weekend.


A picnic out back,
homemade ice cream,
a water balloon & candy launch,
sparklers.....
awesomeness.





Ella's cake - whole wheat zucchini bread
with a wee bit of frosting.
What?!!! She is ONE, people.
She loved it.




But then there was her
b-day breakfast.
A chocolate donut!
The picture doesn't express it right.
She LOVED it.


Gadding about the park
with our dear friends.


Ella loves:
to swing,
be outside,
eat EVERYthing she finds,
especially loves"nanas" (bananas),
her paci & blankie,
to steal Wyatt's glasses,
play patty cake,
her dada,
and lots of attention.




An enchanting 5 minute dinner outside.
Mosquitos!
Makes a great picture, though.




Flashlights, sparklers, what's the diff?
Sparklers burn out fast, that's what.
Try it.
Slow shutter speed, tripod, easy.
But sparklers look way cooler.

I just cannot even tell you how fun & wonderful it has been to watch our sweet'ems grow & discover & learn. After having a child with so many delays and issues, it has been a healing balm to my heart to have Ella in our family. What JOY we've experienced just seeing her smile at us, pick up a cheerio, play patty cake, say "ba" (ball), and lay on our shoulder. To see the interaction between Ella & her siblings is sweet, SWEET treasure. I love her. I love birthdays. I love life. And cake. Especially banana cake with maple frosting. 'Cause the babe loves "nanas."

19 comments:

  1. That looked like an awesome day. Couple of questions, can you post your recipe for homemade ice cream, not fond of the one I have. Also the shutter speed, is that an added to your camera, I have a canon like yours not sure how to do that. or did you buy somthing to make it slow down?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awww, what a great birthday! Happy birthday little Ella - I hope your next year is even more amazing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I SO wish we lived close to you! Ella and Ashton would have a ball together. I mean a "ba" together. And nana cake with maple frosting? Sounds like something I DEFINITELY need the recipe for.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Magical day! You should post my banana bar recipe. Delish, I tell ya!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Those sparkler pictures are amazing!

    How wonderful to have your sweet girl to help you guys heal.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @amy benore ... shutter speed can be adjusted in certain modes on your camera. You might not be able to adjust it on a point-n-shoot camera, but you will definitely be able to adjust it on a dSLR.

    The easiest method is to put the camera in Shutter Priority mode, which should be labeled "Tv" on your Canon camera. In this mode you can change the shutter speed, and the camera will automatically adjust everything else for you. For these sparkler shots, we set the shutter speed at 5" which represents 5 seconds. Just play with the different speeds and you can have all kinds of fun.

    For action shots, choose a really fast shutter speed (like 1/2000 for example), and this will stop the action without blurring everything. Just make sure to have lots of light for these action shots to turn out well.

    FYI, I got started by just reading this blog: http://photomom101.blogspot.com/. It is a great place to start.

    Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Also, Happy Birthday to my Ellabow Delicious Super-Nutritious itty-bitty bum-bum girl! So beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so glad I found your blog. I don't know if you remember me, it has been awhile. It is so fun to see how you make everyday exciting and fun. You have a beautiful family and I love all the pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love the special things you do for your family! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What great pictures. You are right. Your dinner outside looked magical. What a great day. Oh, and I agree. Banana cake with maple frosting is delish!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy 1, adorable girl! It looks like one fun celebration - love the crown! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love the crown! And home-made ice cream, yum! My all-time favorite summer treat!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Happy Birthday Ella Rooski! She looks so cute in her new summer dress.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Another beautiful post, birthday's at your house are so much fun!!!! I agree having a happy, healthy one warms your heart and ease any lingering feelings after watching a precious child struggle. My Taylor has done that for me it's so fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You do know how to celebrate. Such a beautiful post.

    I love the sparkler and flashlight photos! Amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You make birthdays (and every other day for that matter) look so magical! Those lucky ducky kids of yours!

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a perfect day for your little princess! Love the summer fun- ice cream, sparklers... I'm looking forward to being together!!!:)

    ReplyDelete
  18. What a perfect day for your little princess! Love the summer fun- ice cream, sparklers... xo

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks Brian for the camera info. I am excite to try it out now.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for going the extra mile to leave a note. xoxo