Ellie is 9!

Ellie's 9th birthday came- we had 2 parties like we always do.  A family party and a friends party.

Here was her family party birthday cake.  It was a money cake- remember those?  The kids wrapped up coins and we threw them in the cake batter. Darren was disturbed by the idea and insisted we did not do it for the friends birthday party fearing someone would choke.

Blowing out the candles

Ellie had some neighbor hood friends over for her friends party.  I had enough of the huge parties and inviting everyone, so I limited it to 12 kids.  It was much better not having 30 + kids.

 Ellie wanted the theme for her party to be Webkinz.  She wanted a cake that looked like her little Webkinz mouse, Whiskers.  This is what we came up with.  Her poor little mouse didn't get to come to the party because she lost Whiskers in Utah.

Cute kids

It's Whiskers!

I think we ended up having 12 kids come. It was perfect.

Opening presents in the living room.

After the food and cake, we headed over to the pool for some swimming.  This is my friend Kam and her cute little girl Alice.

Me and my friend (and next door neighbor) Ellison.

Me and my other friend Jane

Fun banner I made.