Ellie's Birthday Week

As you know, in the Foelsche-McDonald family, we celebrate birth-weeks, not just birth-days. The subsequent celebrations can span weeks, or at least multiple days and cupcakes.  Ellie's birth-week got off to a nice start with a celebration at Ba and Opa's on Memorial Day.  The girls were amazed with Opa's decorating skills and wanted to take all the balloons home. 

Ellie hamming it up and showing appreciation for her new hat like only she knows how. 

Mastering the "coy" look...

Blowing out her candles in her ice cream cake... 

... and especially enjoying the blue frosting. 

On her birthday, Mommy took off work that day to take Ellie on several adventures, including the trampoline park, McDonald's, and to see Home in the theatre (we had the whole theatre to ourselves!)  It was a delightful day before everyone joined us for a special spaghetti dinner and another round of gifts from the family. Ellie was especially delighted with the Lily Bobtail bunny given to her by her sister - now Peter will have a close friend! 

She also loved the Izzy the Ice Cream Fairy book Evie had picked out...

...and actually wanted to stop opening gifts to start reading her presents.  That's our Ellie!

Her final gift was a pony dubbed Maximus, of course, and Pascal, another buddy to join the sleeping friends. 

Then it was time to blow out her candles and make a wish!  What a birth-week this was, and it's not even quite over yet!

Ellie's frou-frou Gallery Opening

The family was delighted to attend Ellie's big art show at MHCP last Thursday.  Ellie poses by her masterpiece (center) - everyone was impressed at how she stayed within the lines of the overlapping circles. 

But the biggest surprise was Ellie's portrait of her hero, Daddy. We think the hairstyle was inspired by Riker on Dancing with the Stars, but certainly she captured Daddy's playful character with his winking eye.  She also shared that she "loves it when Daddy gives her screen time in the morning." 

Mommy, Evie and Ellie get ready to blast off in space in the rocket designed by her class.  Then the family headed over to North Old Town for a fancy French dinner at A la lucia. 

Not to be outdone, Evie also had a great start to her week when she graduated to the next level of her swim class (with 10 bobs!) and got to ring the bell.  What a big smile!

Cousin Birthday Celebration!

It was celebration time in Jersey this weekend as the McDonalds gathered to celebrate JJ's 7th, Stan's 6th, and Ellie's 4th birthdays.  The cousins had fun playing ball outside before we headed out to the Point Pleasant boardwalk for more excitement! 

The girls take a moment before the gates open to smile for the cameras. 

First stop: the spinning dragon!  Uncle Dave knew how to make that dragon spin like a tornado. 

Yippee!  Ellie was the only brave soul to take on the Tornado rollercoaster with mom! 

Daddy, Ellie and Evie take flight on a spinning balloon. 

Stan revs up his motorcycle engine! 

Ellie blows out her cupcake candle!  

Aunt Dellie and Ellie read one of her favorites! 

Mother's Day Joy

What a wonderful week of surprises for Mom. Earlier in the week she got to attend Ellie's surprise serenade at MHCP...

and then on Mother's Day taste the delicious chocolate chip cookies made for Mom - that spelled out Mom.  The girls had also made delightful cards and Daddy lead them through making beautiful heart thumbprint necklaces. Evie also made a gorgeous painting in art class that looked like a Matisse!

Ellie proudly reads the inscription in the book she gave Ba that she dictated to Mom.  It was quite poetic, making the present even more of a treasure!

Three generations of smiles!  The moms are modeling the dashing corsages made by Ellie in her preschool class.  

The girls show of their footwork, ur artwork that they created for Ba. 

Enjoying a beautiful day - thank you to Daddy, Evie and Ellie, Ba and Opa for making this Mom the happiest of mothers! 

Blooming Blossom Time!

We had a lovely weekend enjoying the spring blooms. We met up with Kelly and Abigail at Green Spring Gardens for a picnic outside before heading inside for Cherry Blossom crafts, including painting lanterns, origami, creating a Japanese headband, and a cherry blossom silk painting.  Evie was also fantastic at the chopstick challenge, giving Daddy a run for his money.  Speaking of running, the girls had a great time making Dad play tag with the additional twist of having his eyes closed, which he found a tad bit challenging. 

After a scavenger hunt that allowed the girls to race around the park, they posed for some spring pictures.  Ellie has this new thing of doing some vogue poses which can sometimes make for difficult pictures as she is always on the move. 

She has also patented her "Walk like an Egyptian" move. 

At last, a simple smile without any hair blowing in her face! 

The next morning the girls woke up so early, we decided to take our chances with the cherry blossom traffic and go early into the city to experience the beauty around the Tidal Basin.  We amazingly found a parking spot and it was just a short walk to enjoy the beautiful blooms. 

Ellie and her demure look...

The girls and Mommy pose in front of the beautiful view!  We think this is the first time we've seen the blossoms at peak! 

There were a lot of distractions, as Ellie points towards either an airplane or a dog... 

Evie and her model pose with Mommy.  

We always like stopping by the George Mason Memorial on the way out.  Ellie models her relaxing pose as she settles in for a conversation with the man himself. 

Daddy and his girls... everyone is getting hungry for donuts by this point. 

Evie takes hold of the camera to take some shots of the family.  What a lovely morning!

And finally, Easter back home...

On Sunday we hopped over to Ba and Opa's for another Easter celebration. The house and garden looked beautiful with the many daffodils and bunny rabbits here and there. 

There are plenty of great hiding spots for the bunny along Ba's garden. Ellie had an eagle eye. 

She was excited every time she found a new treasure! 

Evie goes in low for the grab!

Ellie is amazed by one of her Easter gifts! 

The girls modeled their new spring hats and special dolls - Ellie has already named her "Violet," of course. 

Picture time with the such sweet princesses. 

Hey, how did Peter Rabbit get in this family picture with Ba and Opa?!? Guard your carrots! 

Then again, who could resist this sweet face?!? 

To end the celebration, Ellie and Evie tested out the backseat of Opa's new toy - his first Mercedes convertible.  Wow, Ba and Opa sure know how to treat the family like royalty! Thanks for a lovely Easter, Ba and Opa.