Happy 2nd Birthday, Elenora Mae!

when i went into elenora's bedroom this morning i sang "happy birthday to you" and when i finished she said "today is your birthday!"

after a pancake breakfast, ella opened 3 presents, including a music box with a ballerina who spins and plays the nutcracker suite, a matryoshka doll from russia, and a cd of mr. rogers' music. she was so busy playing with them that when j. and i urged her to open another present she said "want to not open any more presents now?"

you can see how engaged she is with the russian doll in this video:

i took elenora outside while j. got ready for the day. she wanted to wear this hat that momby got for her for dress-up.

when j. came out i snapped these:

we took ella to russell orchard to go apple picking. she was pretty excited to have both of us on an outdoor adventure with her.

there's not much better than a crisp apple straight from the tree.

after apple picking we took her out for lunch.

when she got up from her nap i changed her outfit to get ready for an afternoon trip to the playground with aurora. while we waited for aurora to arrive, ella dug all of her jewelry out of her new jewelry box. she's such a girly girl.

it was a lovely day. i'm so happy i could make her second birthday so special for her.

after ella went to bed, h. came over to babysit and j. and i walked downtown to a pizzeria to relax after such a busy day.