the ballernia & a donut

if you know anything about ellington it's that she LOVES donuts!!! gets that from me, for sure. just before beckett was born josh started taking her out on various saturday mornings for donut dates with daddy. a fun memory i have with my own dad. she loves the one on one time and of course loves the donut!! she's evolved from the usually kiddie donut with sprinkles to now loving "fritters", yep the biggest donut there possibly is in the case. {that is not always the one she gets, but would definitely like to always have that one}. so of course for her birthday she wanted to have a donut date with daddy.

josh got her up early before he had to be work and took her to the grocery store for their donut date, well they ended up back at home due to a scary "life size" caribou dressed worker. she's NOT a fan of those characters. so instead of having their one on one time there, they came home and we sang to her and she got to open one of her presents from mommy and daddy. beckett slept through it all.

happy birthday to our donut loving little girl

yeah! a fancy nancy dress-up game. fancy nancy is a favorite, ellington loves hearing the fancy words for things and what they mean.

during the morning i took the kids to the children's museum in town. elle decided that was the day to do the full tiger face painting. we played for a while, grabbed lunch on the way home and then had a surprise dessert visit from the thomas family. garrent, ethan and sydney baked, frosted and decorated cupcakes just for elle. love having a good friends to celebrate with. ellington's birthday party was a girly party, so i think the boys wanted to be able to celebrate with her.

earlier in the week, lindsay, our awesome middle school babysitter came for a visit and brought elle an awesome birthday gift...minni mouse bubble tea set.

and, it actually works! it's the cutest thing. you pour the bubble mixture out of the teapot into your teacup and then pick it up and blow...and out pops the bubbles! so adorable and girly

*the ballerina and donut party*

ellington's birthday party invites

the table scape with craft #1: fruit loop necklaces

our brunch treats: cinnamon rolls, muffins and mini donuts

stuffed play donuts for the girls - thank you to pinterest for the idea!

mini muffins & mini donuts

getting help from grammie {candy}

more help from grammie {marcy}

our fancy breakfast necklaces

grammie and grampie with the birthday girl

unfortunately, this is the only group shot i got with the birthday girl and family {including the parents...oops, to busy partying i guess}

all our {girl}friends...love all of these girls.

game time: hot potato with the princesses

present time

ellington got some fun girly gifts...princess fishing game, my little ponies, candyland, jewelry box, sticker books, dr. set, pop beads, new sleds, dance slippers, highlight magazine, hello kitty sheets, and gymnastic class from mommy and daddy.

cake time

the "donut" birthday cake!

forgot to snap a picture of it before we cut into it. i think i missed a lot of detail pictures this party time, like the fun gift bags for the girls...oh well.

mommy and the birthday girl

we love you ellington and loved having a ballerina donut party. you love to dance, twirl, be a girl and enjoy your donuts!!! thank you to all of our family and friends who came to celebrate with us. we love you all

happy 3rd birthday, ellington

ellington "hedgie" virginia white

you are 3 years old today...how can that be? 3 years ago you made us parents, what a blessing and privilege it has been.

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 this is our prayer for you as you continue to grow in God's love and grace. we pray that you learn to know him as your personal Savior and trust Him to help you through out your life.

you have always been a "lover", wanting to snuggle, cuddling and spend one on one time with either mommy or daddy

you LOVE your puppy and he LOVES you {especially when you have treats}

you're such a good helper taking care of him for us {first born girl thing...i think} you let him in and out, put him away when it's time to leave and feed him his breakfast and dinner.

you always have a smile on your face, ready to play, be silly and simply love life!

water babe...you LOVE the water. you are fearless! you have learned to swim on your own, float and go under the water. this summer...it's time to take on the diving board!

mommy's little helper

i love your thoughtfulness and willingness to help when needed. you love to help during dinner time and even cleaning up the house. you'll put your own clothes away and know just where things go. your brother is starting to follow your lead, so thank you!

you're mommy's test photo and usually don't mind taking the spotlight. you like to think of cute pictures and then see how they turn out.

you have conquered many things outside this year... your bike, scooter, trampoline, swing (pumping on your own) and teaching tackle how to chase and catch. you LOVE to be outside, doesn't matter if it's sunny, raining or even snowing.

you are a quick learner and want to know about everything. at 3 years old you know your...

colors, count 1-12, count one to one, a few letters, E is for Elle, Elizabeth, Emily & Ellery, B is for Beckett, Uncle Bryan, A is for apple, D is for Daddy, name spelling {sort of...elel is your version}, shapes, address/city, full name, birthdate

how to...use an ipad, iphone, & camera

you make us smile and laugh each day sweet girl. you have the sweetest laugh and voice. you get so excited about the littlest things.

dear ellington,

we love you very much..."to the moon and back". each day we fall more and more in love with the little girl God has made you to be. we enjoying teaching you about Him and His love for you. you have such a curious spirit, wanting to know about everything around you, your questions amaze us and show us just how much you are thinking. we are so thankful for the joy you have for life and how you have grown to be the big sister who is willing to teach, play and have fun with your little brother. a second little mommy for sure! it is our hope that you continue to find the joy in life each day, love others for who they are, and share God's love with everyone around. what a blessing you are in our life and family. we couldn't imagine it any other way. you make us think, laugh, and love more. happy 3rd birthday sweet ellington!

we love you..xoxo,

mommy & daddy

CKM..one of our favs!

CKM..aka Curious Kids Museum is one of our favorite places right now, especially since it is FINALLY winter in michigan and we need an indoor place to play. beckett is no longer taking a morning nap so we've been enjoying the freedom to get out of the house for a few hours.

*volcano slide*

disclaimer to parents should be posted on this one...this slide must be greased with crisco because they come *flying* down! beckett thinks it's the greatest thing in the world. he's already laughing as he is climbing up the stairs, anticipating the flying feeling! love his smile and laugh as he come whipping down it. elle has quickly learned how to slow herself {feet down}

another slide...of course beckett has found it! this one not soo fast. CKM has a great little toddler room that is gated in so they {beckett} can play and not escape

auntie paulette joined us for a visit over the holidays. notice elle's face paint, that is favorite thing to do there. first it was asking me to draw something for her and now it's all about her doing it herself...which usually ends in a nice firework of colors on both cheeks.

grocery shopping...to be young again and love grocery shopping!

animal clinic. vet ellington checking out the dog and then giving it a bath. this is such a cute exhibit for kids. it's exhibits like these that make me want to join the CKM board and design new exhibits for kids.

beckett hitting on the girls with his killer smile:)

future career...new reporter??

this next picture doesn't really belong, but wanted to share a first for ellington. she has graduated from the nursery at church to the preschool classroom!!! she was so excited to join the big kids. one of our good friends {heather ring} was her first day's teacher. thanks heather for making her feel so welcomed and comfortable on her first day with the big kids.

family traditions

finally, elle is old enough to participate in some of the family traditions. it's so fun to share these fond memories of our childhood with our kids.

josh's family has been making peanut butter balls for years, long before josh or anna. they are absolutely amazing and all of their close friends anticipate them each christmas {as do the family members!}. elle helped grammie and papa carefully mix the ingredients and then roll them into balls. papa is the pro at dipping so we left that to him.

helping get the pans ready

vogel christmas morning tradition: homemade cinnamon rolls

my mom would make the best homemade cinnamon rolls for christmas morning. so this year elle and i decided to try it for ourself since we'd home on christmas morning. we started it kind of late in the day so by the time it got to rolling out the dough and sprinkling in the good stuff, we were already in our pjs. she was a great helper! the recipe we used made 7 batches of cinnamon rolls. so we froze a few, ate a few and gave a few away.

i LOVE family traditions, creating new ones and continuing old ones.

more parties...

what else do you do with kids that aren't in school yet....plan kid parties!

we had another fun morning with some great church friends and neighbors. ellington and beckett are blessed to have LOTS of kids their age and i'm blessed to have their moms at home!

craft #1 : reindeer food

sydney enjoying a story with her mama

craft #2: snow globes

cookie decorating

{pretty sure there was more frosting eaten than cookies}

love this girl! she's the oldest in the group, but is such a great older helper and is one of elle's favorites.

deeelish!

game time: christmas freeze dance

{love sydney's pig tails!}

& lunch time

sweet little maggie

{possible future date for beckett}

love having so many fun friends for ellington & beckett to play with. now onto planning for the next kids' party...valentine's day!!! love partying and planning :)