We woke Ellie up and sang Happy Birthday to her. Her dad made a little hat for her for breakfast. Later she went on a bike ride around town with her dad.
While they were on their bike ride, I worked on the cake. One of the girls from next door helped me decorate it. She actually had the idea of using pomegranate seeds and pomelo. I hadn't baked a cake in a long time... especially from scratch... and I have never made my own icing, so I was a bit nervous. When I asked Franklin what he'd give me for the cake on a scale of 1 to 10, he said 20. I think he was being a bit generous, but I won't be as nervous about making a cake next time.
Does this picture remind you of any other pictures on my blog? I took what I learned from the family we stay with and used it for Ellie's birthday party because it was an Iftar party. :) I didn't cook the food myself, though... I had done a "practice run" the night before, and Franklin gave me much lower than a 20... so low that we had someone help with the cooking. :) Give me a year or two... then I'll do better.
And, we sang to her... by the end of the day, I had sung Happy Birthday to her so much, she had figured out it meant she was special.
And she is special... we have been SO blessed to have Eliana as an addition to our family. She gives us a million reasons to smile everyday... and when she's not making us smile, she's probably helping us work on becoming better people. I love my Ellie... my one year old.
I walked into the living room the other day to find that Ellie had climbed onto her friend's tricycle all by herself, but she had climbed on backwards. With a little bit of help from her ever faithful mother/rescuer, she was able to get herself situated properly on the trike.
Our friendly Ellie made a friend on a recent bus trip. I don't know if Ellie really liked the guy or if she just liked his sunglasses. :)
We recently went away with some coworkers for meetings. While there Ellie enjoyed her bucket bath with the super cool shower head. She also enjoyed eating apples...she not only eats apples, but she says the word, too.
We travelled by train. Above Ellie is overlooking the busyness of the train station. Below, she sleeps during the train ride.... perhaps she got exhausted by all the hustle and bustle at the train station.
We woke Ellie up and sang Happy Birthday to her. Her dad made a little hat for her for breakfast. Later she went on a bike ride around town with her dad.
While they were on their bike ride, I worked on the cake. One of the girls from next door helped me decorate it. She actually had the idea of using pomegranate seeds and pomelo. I hadn't baked a cake in a long time... especially from scratch... and I have never made my own icing, so I was a bit nervous. When I asked Franklin what he'd give me for the cake on a scale of 1 to 10, he said 20. I think he was being a bit generous, but I won't be as nervous about making a cake next time.
Does this picture remind you of any other pictures on my blog? I took what I learned from the family we stay with and used it for Ellie's birthday party because it was an Iftar party. :) I didn't cook the food myself, though... I had done a "practice run" the night before, and Franklin gave me much lower than a 20... so low that we had someone help with the cooking. :) Give me a year or two... then I'll do better.
And, we sang to her... by the end of the day, I had sung Happy Birthday to her so much, she had figured out it meant she was special.
And she is special... we have been SO blessed to have Eliana as an addition to our family. She gives us a million reasons to smile everyday... and when she's not making us smile, she's probably helping us work on becoming better people. I love my Ellie... my one year old.
