We celebrated her birthday with a special trip to Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America. Kids can ride free on their birthdays so she got a ride wristband for no cost. Instead of a friend party this year, we agreed that she could bring her BFF (her words, not mine!) Tori along so that she'd have someone special to enjoy it all with her.
This was her first experience with rides and it was so fun to watch her while on the rides! My favorite was the ride that goes straight-up and then drops down fast. I had no problem figuring out which scream was Ellie's! And her face after a drop was priceless! Of course, fantastic mother that I am, I forgot the camera at home.
We followed up the rides with lunch at Panda Express in the mall. Ellie loves Chinese. Before heading for home, we had to stop at Justice, the "it" store for all things tween. Yes, this store specifically caters to girls ages 7-14, also known as tweens. The store was having a 40% off everything sale, so Ellie was able to pick out her presents from us and I didn't have to break her heart and put the kibosh on all her selections. She settled on a tank top, shorts, and flip flops.
We had a special dinner for her birthday. Baked potatoes, corn, and hot dogs. Ellie is a meat-fanatic and we were going to make ribs, which is one of her favorites. Unfortunately, someone (and by someone, I mean me. I accept full blame for this mistake.) placed the ribs in the freezer yesterday and never took them out to thaw. When Jake went to put them on the grill at 6:30, he discovered they were rock-hard. So Ellie gets ribs tomorrow and we quick grilled up some hot dogs for tonight. She grudgingly ate her hot dog tonight! We'll do her cake and family party in a couple weeks when Holly and Joel are here to visit.
I still can't believe little Ellie is 8 years old! I don't even want to start thinking about the fact that in just two weeks, she'll officially be a third grader! How did my little peanut grow up so fast?! The only consolation I have is that at the rate she grows, she'll finally outgrow the booster seat at 15. I can pretend she's a little girl for a few more years at least!
Happy Birthday Ellie Mae! We love you to pieces!
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