April

I swore (and I do sometimes) I was going to do an April post before May came around and then it happened. It came. And there was no April post. But now a month after (which is becoming a habit) is an April post.

Ellie is getting so grown up. She wants to make all of her own decisions and do what she feels like doing. And yet, she still wants to hold my hand when we walk (this is absolutely my favorite thing in life,) sleep in my bed at night, and suck her thumb. It's a fun mix but I prefer the younger side of Ellie still.

One Sunday in early April we had game and Easter crafts at grandma's house. We made Twinkie chicks and foam bunnies. The bunnies were supposed to be door hangers, but I decided I wanted to put mine on the fridge so I didn't add the hanger. When we got home my bunny kept falling off the fridge and Ellie said, "Mom, that is why they are door hangers."

My mom had a teenage girl, MaKayla staying at her house the same day. A friend of my brothers came to visit him and told me I had beautiful daughters. We laughed and told Ellie she now had a sister. Ellie has referred to her "sister" MaKayla several times over the month. She really wants a sibling. Garred should get on that. :)





Ellie and I took a short trip to Grover, Utah to enjoy the peace and quiet of nothing at "The Ranch." Ellie and her friends Sage and Taj enjoyed being free outside to roam and play. They had fun with an outside treasure hunt. Ellie asked me why we don't have a cabin. I ask myself the same question all the time. I would LOVE a cabin in the hills or a ranch house in beautiful Capital Reef. On the beautiful ride there we passed a section of land that had a lot of large, dark brown rocks on the ground (I assume lava) - Ellie and I were looking out the windows and enjoying the scenery when Ellie said that she thought it was probably giraffe poop. Disco.



Of course we had Easter in April....Easter eggs, Easter egg hunts, Easter family parties, Easter dresses, Easter stories. Ellie did every egg decoration she could. We had gone shopping for an Easter dress, and finally found one that didn't itch but we forgot the tights. The Easter Bunny put some in Ellie's basket and she was in awe that he would know to bring her some. That's one smart bunny. Ellie was excited about the Easter bunny this year, looked beautiful in her dress, and had fun with hunts and baskets, but also knew the reason for the holiday. I was talking about someone dying one day around Easter and she said, "But mom, everyone lives again."




April had more birthdays. Ellie went to her cousin Kamri's 5th birthday party where they had a dance-off. She also went to Bailey's 4th birthday party. Ellie and I threw Kevin a surprise birthday party. We filled the house with balloons and birthday signs, set up a treasure hunt of presents for him, and baked him a cake. It was fun to do this with Ellie, she was so excited to surprise Kevin. And we were both amazed we fit 33 balloons in my car. Ellie had to hold onto them as they were flying out the back of the car on our way home.



Ellie's friend Savannah was in town for a week and started the trend of tea parties. There were several in April with lemonade, treats, and dress up.


I have been trying to come up with new things to do with Ellie, so we went to Color Me Mine. It was fun to watch Ellie paint and create. We had to wait 5 days to pick up the finished product and Ellie counted down each day.


I'm excited for summer when we can hopefully do more outside. Too bad mom has a job and no sabbatical like last summer. I'm sure we'll still find a way to make the summer months fun.