Elly's Birthday

This weekend we had Elly's birthday party. She turns 4 on Wednesday. I can't believe how old my kids are getting. I don't feel like I am old enough to have kids as old as I do, but I am. Of course when I say that my mom likes to remind me that she doesn't think she is old enough to have a kid that is 30 (obviously me). That just always seems to make me feel so much better (not really). So, anyway, Elly is such a girly girl. She picked out strawberry cake, strawberry icing, and cherry chocolate chip ice cream. Her favorite color is actually purple, but she just couldn't seem to find a purple cake at the commissary last week. She was pretty excited about her birthday. She decided she wanted to go to the zoo. It seemed like a great idea at the time considering that it was 65 degrees that day. Of course when we actually went it was more like 40 and overcast. It really doesn't matter, there are so many indoor exhibits at this zoo, that we found plenty to do. Elly also got to touch a monkey, though I'm pretty sure she wasn't supposed to, but I guess that is what happens when monkey's roam freely and there is a 4 year old near by. She absolutely loves monkey's, and was so excited to actually get to touch a real one. Elly was just happy that her Grandma Ellura came to visit her. Of course Grandma, she now thinks that you are going to come to her birthday every year now, so keep that in mind. We had lots of fun with my mom visiting though. Not only did we go to the zoo, but we took her to the range and taught her how to shoot. After the first shot I thought she was just going to hand me the gun back (preferably pointed down range), but she shot off two clips and hit the target all but two or three times. She did have a ginormous target. I'm still not entirely sure what made us decide that taking an almost blind lady shooting was a good idea, but she did better than I did my first time. I know she loves this picture, she deleted it off of her computer, but since it was taken on Glen's camera, I still have a copy of it. We also took her to see the Missouri river, since it is like 4 miles away. Out of all the times that she has come to visit, this is the first time she has actually made it to the river. Its a fairly decent size river. Not the best picture ever, but pretty good considering that it was cold and windy. The girls were extremely excited. Grandma let them each pick out a cookie recipe and than helped each girl make it. Elly got to make hers while the kids were in school, and Ashleigh got to make hers Saturday night. They definitely picked out kid cookies, so the adults also got to pick out a cookie. I should let the kids help cook more often, they absolutely love it, but I just hate cleaning up the mess, plus it takes so much more time, because they just aren't fast (because I never let them help), so I just get frustrated and tell them no. I'm just a mean Mom I guess. I don't like them to clean the house either (except their rooms). It is just more work for me, trying to explain to them, why even though the middle of the room is clean, the room isn't actually clean. I'd rather just do it myself and have it done right without all the extra drama. The conclusion I have drawn is that I am just lazy. Oh well, I guess that is what happens when you have 5 kids. I always have so many cute pictures and never really that much to say. We had our first tornado of the year this week, and than of course tomorrow it is supposed to snow. You just have to love Spring in Nebraska. I can tell that my kids are used to living in places with tornado's. They hear the sirens going off, and what ever time, day or night, they all pile into the hall (that is our only inside room). They used to get really scared and not be able to go back to sleep, but now it is nothing exciting. Well that is about it for our week.

In Grandma Schaaf fashion, a picture of the 3 Ellura's.