Ella's Sweet 16th & Golden Birthday!

Ella Grace is 16 years old and since she was born on February 16th it's also her Golden Birthday! 

Let's review what Ella has been up to this last year. 

Ella's best friend, Logan, came out for her birthday weekend to celebrate with her. Logan's Mom, Jen and I had been working on this whole thing in the background. However, this is when we found out that Ella really does not do well with surprises. She loves knowing what's coming and being able to process things in her own time. So no surprise parties for this girly! 

On top of celebrating Ella's birthday, Justine and her celebrated Valentine's Day since they weren't able to see each other on the actual day! 

While looking through all our pictures in order to make Owen's graduation slideshow I ended up finding this cute picture of Ella in her Christmas dress getting ready to sing in the kids church choir in Dec 2017. That's when I noticed that Justine is actually in the background of this picture. He's right above her head on the left side. They've known each other since Ella was almost 8 years old and he was 10 years old.  

Ella goes to the same hair dresser as I do...Miss Bridget. Ella's been going to her since she was 2 years old. This time Miss Bridget gave Ella layers. 

Ella's Birthday party last year was a birthday sleepover/luncheon. She had Anna, Addison and her friend June sleepover. Unfortunately June had to leave early so she wasn't there for the luncheon. She also had Aidry and Caitlynn come over for the luncheon. 

For lunch Ella wanted sandwiches and lots of fruits and veggies. It was quite the spread! 

 Ella put her hair up in this clip. It looked so pretty! But she very rarely wears her hair up though. 

Of course she got to open up the OJEZ box and she got $115! The kids always count to make sure the amount is correct since one time Pa put an extra dollar in. 

In March the youth group went on their winter retreat. It had to be rescheduled since a pipe bursts during the time they were originally going to go. Thankfully it all worked out and it even ended up snowing while they were there, but it melted pretty quickly. 

 

During one of our shopping trips looking for a new dress for Ella to wear for Easter, she ended up finding this cute dress. I bought it, but she hasn't gotten around to wearing it yet. It wasn't exactly an Easter dress, but it was sure cute especially with her sneakers! 

Fall of 2024 through Spring of 2025 we had a youth group community group at our house to watch The Chosen. We worked it out where we finished with the 4th season just in time to see the 5th season in the theater.We would all meet at our house, have lunch, pile in 2 or 3 vehicles, stop at the Dollar Tree for snacks and then head to the theater. 

Our Youth Pastor, Yeaab, came to the community group and even though he was leaving to go work at a church in California, he was able to come watch with us in the theater before he left. Side note...I haven't seen Ella wear those camo pants in awhile...they are so cute on her! 

Ella and Justine volunteered to help out with the Awesome Easter Adventure again last year. They wanted to run the same game they did the year before. 

For fun I did a side by side comparison of them from 2025 - 2024. They always do this thing where they switch nametags so Justine's says Ella and Ella's says Justine. 

These kids like to have "alone time" but they don't ever really truly get alone time. For a while their alone time was sitting on the floor in the dining room visiting and it changed to being on the recliners in the garage, but now that it's so cold their alone time is sitting on the stairs together. 

At Ga-Ga & Pa's for Easter! Celebrating the last holiday at their house in Orting before they moved closer to us.

 

On April 21st, we took these two out to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate their 1 year anniversary. 

We wanted to take them somewhere neither of them had been where it was a nice restaurant, but not too fancy. Since neither of them was working at this time we paid for dinner, but now moving forward since they've both had jobs so they can pay for their own dates. 

I just realized it was nice that we didn't take them someplace really nice because now if they want to make it a tradition to go here on the their anniversary it won't be super spendy.

Ella's anniversary present showed up a couple days after their anniversary.

It's this really pretty necklace with two hearts. Justine has actually gotten Ella at least 5 necklaces....she loves to where different necklaces! 

At the end of April, Ella, Justine and Jack attended the lifeguard training program for Wild Waves at The Federal Way Community Center. Jack and Ella ended up working as lifeguards for Wild Waves, but Justine decided to work as a swim instructor at the Tukwila Pool instead. 

Ga-Ga, Miss Ruth, Ella and I all attended the Ladies Tea at our church right before Mother's Day. 

The title of the event was Royal Tea which was a play on words about how we are seen as Royalty because we're daughters of the King of Kings. 

On Mother's Day, Ella volunteered with the youth group to stand at the doors and hand out little goodie bags to all the Mothers! 

Me and my beautiful girl! 

Since Ella got a job as a lifeguard at Wild Waves we had to get her prescription polarized sunglasses that she could wear at work. 

On Saturday, May 17th, Ella and Jack attended Orientation at Wild Waves. They look so cute in their uniforms! 

Ella plans to work at Wild Waves again this summer. Sadly this is going to be their last year since they're closing down. It's so unfortunate...Wild Waves definitely needs some help and I know that requires a lot of money. However, what I'm really sad about is that there really isn't another place like that for our kids to go and have fun during the summer that isn't hours away like Great Wolf Lodge or Silverwood. Sure there are a few smaller community pools, but nothing like Wild Waves with fun rides. The other part that's sad is they employ 800 temporary workers every summer. It's such a great first time job for so many teens and now that's gonna be gone. Jobs aren't easy to come by anymore for teens so it's just sad that this place that has been apart of our community for decades is going to be gone now.

  

In April after our Youth Pastor moved to California, Pastor Tim took over as interim Youth Pastor. Michael and I also came on as Youth Leaders. It's been fun getting to be an active part of the youth group. At first Ella was not in anyway happy about it, but I asked her what she needed from me and she said that she needed me to pretend she wasn't my daughter. So that's just what I do at youth group...I basically pretend she's not there and I hang out and talk with the other kids and it's worked out really well. I mean there are times that I have to address her when were playing a game or something, but honestly it really is organic because I try to focus more on the other kids since I see my kids all the time. 

Early in Ella and Justine's relationship I was monitoring their texts, but last year I started to feel like it was an invasion of their privacy. I had been reading their texts for over a year and they had never given me any reason to not trust them. Sometimes there would be things that would come up that we'd talk through, but nothing concerning. We've talk about what is appropriate and not appropriate and so I felt like it was time to trust them and just let it be. Of course her phone is still technically ours so if she gave us a reason we would look into it, but there hasn't been any issue that's come up to make us feel like we need to. We still have parental controls on it so her phone does have a time limit and it does go into downtime at a certain time each day. For the most part though if she asks me for extra time I'll give it to her as long as she's done with everything she needs to do. 

Ella likes rice...like really likes rice! So we bought a 50lb bag at Costco and it didn't even last us until the end of the year. 

Ella still sleeps with her stuffies...it could be Bunny, Pikachu, Snuggles, Spotty, or Honey Bear. 

Thursday, June 12th was Ella's official first day of work at Wild Waves. 

Our hope last year was that Jack and her could work the same schedule to make commuting easier, but that only lasted for about the first two weeks and then it got screwy. Jack did ask a couple times if they they could work the same shifts and the scheduler would say that they could do that, but then the schedule would come out and no they weren't. Most of the time Jack could take Ella into work, but then her shift would finish before his so I'd have to come pick her up. It wasn't the end of the world though. This year Ella will have her drivers license so she'll be able to drive herself...if she wants to. 

 

Couch snuggles is probably how these two spend 60% of there time when they're together. They love to watch a show together on one of their phones. They even share a pair of earbuds. 

Picking my girl up from work. Working was such a great experience for Ella. It really gave her a lot of confidence. She took great pride in doing her job and doing it well. 

Chatting with the grandparents. Ella gets to see Papa every Tuesday since he comes over to give her and Jack guitar lessons. It's been fun for them to have that special time together. 

Ella got to hang out with a couple of her girlfriends after work on July 1st. We had dinner with the Storer's and then the girls went in the hot tub! 

There were quite a few times where Ella and Jack would go into work for in-service training in the morning before the park opened and then Jack's shift would immediately start, but hers wouldn't. A couple times she called me because she forgot her hairbrush or something else so I'd take it up to her and then we'd go Costco shopping or out to lunch and then I'd take her back to work for her shift. I didn't really mind it at all...I love anytime that my girl actually wants to spend with me. 

When we were at Silverwood, Ella was very vocal about how the lifeguards there weren't doing things correctly. They weren't scanning or there were blind spots where the lifeguards couldn't see. It really bothered her....like I said she really takes pride in her work! 

Ella and Logan roomed together when we were over in Eastern Washington for our Silverwood trip.

They had a lot of fun on the ATV's together. Even when Ella almost drove off the hill. Thankfully Ed rescued them and it wasn't as bad as it looked....she got right back on the ATV and after that she got the hang of it! 

Love these girls! 

Logan is coming over the weekend of February 21st and Ella knows all about it. Logan is gonna stay at our house for a couple days. I love that Logan has doctor appointments over here so the girls can have a chance to see each other all through the year and not just in the summertime. 

Ella Bean and Logie Bear! 

They are both so gorgeous! 

Another first for these two was getting to go to a Mariner's Game. It wasn't something they loved, but it was fun to experience. 

This was all of Ella's 8th grade work. She actually finished all her 8th grade work in April 2025. This was me finally getting around to organizing all the kids' work. 

Sitting in her bunk at Summer Camp. 

Ella absolutely loved having her Senior Pastor be her Youth Pastor. Pastor Tim is so awesome with the students. We recently got a new Youth Pastor....Pastor Christian, who is actually Pastor Tim's son! Ella was a bit bummed that Pastor Tim wasn't going to be the Youth Pastor anymore because she loves him so much, but I reminded her that he's still her Pastor and his door is always open if and when she needs to talk to him. 

Playing Trash with the girls! 

Ella was a really good shot at the BB Guns! 

Nurse Anne was such a blessing to Ella....I sure hope we get to see her again this summer, but I hope it's not because Ella is sick! 

I wasn't sure how my girl would be with me going to camp, but she did great. I had 10 girls that I was responsible for and I say that lightly....these students are old enough to be responsible for themselves...I was just available for them when they needed me. 

Ella has never been one to have a ton of friends and that's just fine with her. Her closest friends are most definitely Logan, June and Caitlynn. She gets to see Logan a few times a year, she gets to see June every Friday at choir and she gets to see Caitlynn on Sundays at church, Wednesdays at youth group and Fridays at choir. 

Justine wasn't able to join us for Summer Camp, but he did go with his family to Silverwood. He got Ella this cute Bear they named Snuggles.

She got him these matching Silverwood Sweatshirts when we went earlier in the year! 

This summer Justine is actually going to come with us to Silverwood. We're staying at Ed & Penny's house again. Owen will sleep in the little cabin on their property that is lovingly called The Love Shack, Ella will sleep inside the main house with Logan. Zeke is planning on sleep inside the main house with Conner. Michael and I, Jack and Justine will all sleep in our tent trailer. It's gonna be so much fun! We got 2 day passes for Silverwood so we're planning on going to Silverwood one day, then having a break day to hang out at the house, swim, play games and go on the ATV's and then head back to Silverwood the next day. 

Ella and Justine got to hang out at Wild Waves together I think 3 times last summer....twice just the two of them with me there and then once with our Youth Group. I'm sure this summer they'll want to take advantage of it as well since it will be there last chance. 

This year Ella really wanted a two-piece swimsuit. We let her get a two-piece earlier in the summer, but it still covered her stomach. She expressed her wishes to get a more typical two-piece and Michael said that he'd be open to it, but he would have final veto power. Ella found this one on Amazon and Michael approved it. Of course her brothers don't really like seeing their sister in a two-piece, but that's to be expected! 

Camping is always fun and going to Oasis is a tradition. This upcoming summer we already have our dates scheduled to go in August. At first the dates we wanted were booked for the site we wanted, but then I called back a few days later and the people that had booked our site decided to leave earlier so then the dates we wanted in the first place were available. I was so excited...it wouldn't be the same if we couldn't have OUR site! :) 

Another shopping trip...another cute outfit she hasn't worn yet! ;)

Cute pictures on the beach! 

Ella and Jack have definitely gotten more close this year. I think that kind of goes hand in hand when you're working with someone. 

Ella isn't a huge reader. She'll pick up a book and read a bit while she's eating lunch, but it's pretty rare to find her laying on the couch with a book. Every now and then she'll pick up a book and get sucked into the story. 

Ella got her permit on August 19th which was just a few days before we went camping at Seaquest with Michael and Robin. While we were there Michael had her driving around the campground and they even went across the street to the Visitor Center so she could drive there. At first she did not want to drive, but then after the first time she kept asking if she could go driving again. 

Justine is always trying to get us to play Truth or Dare, but really he should just say Dare or Dare. The last time we were at Wild Waves last summer he dared Ella that they had to walk up to me holding hands and grinning until I asked them what they were doing. They're so silly! Also because Ella worked as a lifeguard last year she had the most epic farmers tan on her legs. This year her hope is to lay outside more in hopes of not getting a farmers tan. 

Her shirt says 2029, but she's shooting for 2028 which was the original year she was going to graduate. I really should have kept that original shirt I made. I figure we'll just take a piece of masking tape and put it over the 9 and write in an 8.

Ella started her 9th grade year back in April. She finished the first quarter of her 9th grade year before summer started. She is on track to finish her 9th grade year at the end of February. In fact she's already enrolled in 10th grade. Her 10th grade PACE's have been ordered and will hopefully be here right when she finishes her 9th grade work and then she can just launch right into it. Her plan is to finish the first half of her 10th grade work by summertime and then finish the second half by the end of January 2027. She's such a hard worker and it's totally paying off! 

In early September, Logan came over because she had a Doctors Appt over here. That means she got to stay the whole weekend with us. 

On Saturday the girls did there make-up and dressed in coordinating outfits to go to JCPenney's to get their bestie pictures taken. It was so fun and the girls were adorable! All the pictures turned out so good Jen ended up buying the whole album! 

Girl Time is always the best!!! 

Ella has in all honesty been the easiest kid to teach to drive according to Michael. Ella and I don't do well together in stressful situations so I left this to Michael. I hadn't been in a vehicle where it was just her and I and she was driving in months, but just the other day I decided to have her drive to the Eye Doctor. She did great and neither of us got angry with each other. Progress! 

I love getting to take these guys out and go do fun things. I feel like 2024 was a more active year and 2025 ended up being a more stay at home year. I'm hoping that 2026 will end up being a nice in the middle year where we go do things and still chill out sometimes. 

This beauty is so photogenic! She's also gotten really good at doing her make-up. It accentuates her eyes really nicely without looking over done. Something new she tried this year was fake eyelashes since she had an accident with her eyelash curler. She actually has 3 different kinds of fake eyelashes...but she hasn't really tried to use them since her real eyelashes have finally grown back. 

 

Ella and Justine have gotten to go out on a lot of dates with Michael and I this last year. It's been a fun excuse to go out and do fun things together. Since Ella's 15th Birthday we gone on dates with them to...

The Cheesecake Factory

Redondo Beach

Bowlero

Red Lobster

Bai Tong

The Mandarin Kitchen

Baskin Robbins

Century Theater

Trapper Sushi

Value Village

Southcenter Mall

Red Robin

For their 18 month anniversary Justine got Ella a promise ring. It's so pretty!

Ella is definitely the saver in the relationship and Justine is the spender. She's always trying to keep him in line. This is him wanting to get an appetizer or something on the date to Bai Tong. 

Ella has had a heart for the homeless for a long time. We've made sandwiches for them, but we weren't the ones that passed them out. An opportunity arose for us to help out with a group that is down in Kent every Saturday. It was such a great experience to be the hands and feet of Jesus. To be able to look into the eyes of people that for the most part get overlooked and let them know that they matter and to be able to help them in a tangible way...it was really special. There were 5 students from our youth group and 5 adults from Riverview there to help out. 

 

Silly jelly beans! 

I love how Logan can bring out the adventurous side of Ella. They have a lot of fun together. I also love that Logan just gets Ella...she's so in tune with Ella's moods and she just knows how to be with her. She knows when she needs space and she knows when she needs to vent. They have an amazing relationship! 

Ella is still a Daddy's girl. He's the one that can always get her to lighten up and laugh. 

Ella has definitely been more of a homebody this year. She's wanted to stay home in her jammies and just veg. Sometimes we have to force the issue and make her go out since Michael and I want to go out and her and Justine are not allowed to stay at the house without a supervising adult. Once she gets out of the house though she usually has fun. 

She does like to go out, but she likes to know ahead of time so she can prepare herself for it. She's not a fly by the seat of her pants girl. 

Ella had been wanting Justine to meet more of our extended family so she was so happy that he came with us to Thanksgiving in Oregon. Of course they basically said hi and then disappeared to the basement which is where all the kids hang out since that's where the gaming system is. 

For the Women's Christmas Dinner Ella wanted to get a new dress. We found this beauty at Kohl's. She did in fact wear it, but she ended up with a migraine that night so I brought her home....actually I drove her home and then Justine carried her into the house where she promptly threw up. Poor thing....she was so sad that she missed out on such a fun night. She was able to wear the dress again during the Christmas season though. 

Ella hasn't really been into babies at all. She's never babysat a baby just toddlers and up. Michael and Sarah....old youth leaders from our church that moved to California...came up to visit family at Thanksgiving. Sarah and baby Eli joined us for a bit on Thanksmas. It was so much fun to hold him...he's a chunker for sure. So cute! It was so cute to see Ella hold him...he's like almost half her size and he was only 4 months old! 

Ella started Driver's Ed at the end of August. She went to class on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Because of this Ella wasn't able to take part in the Homeschool Choir she's been participating in for the last few years. Her class finished up on Oct 15th. She still had a few more drives that she needed to get in before she could take her final test. She took her driving test on Dec 2nd and passed! That makes 3 teenage drivers in our house! Lord help us! Even though she passed she still has to wait until she's had her permit for 6 months before she can get her license. She got her permit on Aug 19th and we already have an appt to get her driver's license on Feb 19th.

All the kids got to spend some quality time with their grandparents during the month of December! 

Matching clothes are Ella's jam. Even if these two are just hanging out at the house and not going anywhere they have to be wearing matching jammies. 

Ella has been getting guitar lessons from Papa on Tuesdays. She had this guitar on her Amazon list and Owen really wanted to get her something big for Christmas so he bought it for her. It's so pretty! Because of Christmas and then us all being sick Jack and Ella didn't have lessons for about a month and a half. They just started back up in February. It's been fun seeing Jack and Papa play together at family get togethers and I know that once Ella gets some more practice she'll be joining them as well. 

I love to do re-creation pictures and thankfully so do the kids. Top pictures were from Christmas 2024 / Bottom pictures from Christmas 2025. It's so fun to see how much they've changed in just one year. 

Ella and Justine have been dating for almost 22 months...April 21st will be 2 years. When they first started dating we told them that Ella wasn't allowed to kiss until she was 16. We've had a few people tell us that that was a pipe dream and they were totally going to break the rules. Here we are and they still haven't kissed...yet! They show each other affection by hugging, snuggling and holding hands. I personally love that their relationship hasn't been based solely on physical affection....they have really gotten to know each other and they have a relationship that has a very strong foundation. Ella's reached the age limit we set and we are so proud of them for honoring that rule and we pray that whatever they decide to do in regards to a physical relationship that they keep themselves pure and show each other affection in ways that are honoring to themselves and honoring to God. 

Of course our rules for other things are still in place. No being alone in a room with doors, no being home without a supervising adult, no riding in cars with just the two of them....that one can't even legally happen until Ella's had her license for 6 months anyway.

With all the house projects we've been doing I usually end up having to run to Lowe's for Michael for something. I don't like to go places by myself so I make a kiddo come with me. On this particular journey I made Ella come. Lowe's started carrying clothes this last year or so. I've actually found some really cute t-shirts for Ella here. This time around we found this cute fleece type shacket. It was so soft and so cute....I ended up buying it for her. 

Last summer I decided to finally purchase some really nice produces for Ella and my hair. They were expensive, but I had heard great things for years about them. I knew that Ella's curly hair really needed to have good quality products if we wanted it to thrive. So I purchased Monat products. After just a month or so Ella's hair completely changed...it was so smooth and healthy looking and wasn't getting tangled anymore...such a difference for her. Now when she wears her hair curly the curls are so healthy and way less frizzy. Of course when her hair is subjected to humidity it does tend to frizz a bit, but still no where near what it would before using Monat. 

For Christmas Ga-Ga got Ella this new hair tool that basically steams her hair straight. Ella saw someone online test it out and that girl was super impressed by it so she wanted to give it a try. Prior to this she straightened her hair with one of those straightening brushes. Every morning I would come out of my room and her bathroom would smell like burnt hair. The first time she gave her new hair tool a try, she came down stairs in shock....she made one pass on a section of hair and it was completely straight! One pass!!! It used to take her at least 30 minutes to straighten her hair, but now it takes literally 5 minutes. It's amazing!  

Ella has had a few more episodes in regards to her migraines. Her most recent one was on January 13th. She got sick with a cold on January 2nd. By Wednesday the 7th, Justine had the flu....we don't know for sure, but he had all the signs. Ella started feeling better so by the 9th she was well enough to go to her first choir practice. The next day it's like she got sick all over again and started coughing. She just kept not feeling well and by Tuesday the 13th she was feeling not so good. She ended up throwing up and becoming unresponsive. I took her to the ER that's just right down the road from us. They gave her an IV and a bunch of pain meds to get her headache under control. They also took x-rays to make sure her shunt was looking good. They tested her for the Flu and Covid and it came back positive that she had Flu A. Tamiflu wouldn't work for her since we didn't come in within the first 48 hours so they sent us home and told me to give her Ibuprofen and Tylenol alternatingly every 3 hours.  

Justine comes over every Wednesday after school since we have family night with Ga-Ga & Pa and then we go to Youth Group. He came over and took such good care of Ella. He kept getting her an ice pack since her head still hurt and she was hot. She even threw up one time and he held her hair back for her. At first I wasn't sure if he should come over since she was feeling so bad, but she told me that she just needed him to be here to love her and take care of her. 

It's so bittersweet to watch your kids go from needing you to needing someone else instead of you. I love it though because that's how it's supposed to be...she not supposed to lean on me forever. I mean of course she can come to me whenever she needs help and I'll be here for her, but it has to be on her terms. I can't force her to let me help her. She is growing up and she is in love and she is clinging to Justine and that's honestly natural for her to do so. 

Ga-Ga & Pa will actually be gone on a road trip for Ella's Birthday so they gave her the OJEZ box early this year. 

She got $116 total, $115 dollars in dollars, but Pa didn't have another dollar bill so she got 4 quarters to make it the full $116. Money is money so that was just fine with her! 

This next part is a little more serious than my birthday posts normally get, but it has been something that's impacted Ella's life this last year. 

Just an FYI, I would never post personal information about my children if they weren't okay with me posting it. I always read the birthday blog post to my kids and they help me correct anything that I might have gotten wrong and they give me the go ahead to share or not to share. Ella has given me permission to share this part of her story. 

Ella has had some struggles this last year. She was having a hard time finding joy in pretty much anything other than Justine. She was very somber and it was hard to get her to smile. She wasn't laughing and she was very moody. I figured it was normal teenage stuff and I tried to not take it personally and just give her space. I was a real pill between the ages of 15-18 so I just figured she was going to be the same.   

I did start to suspect that Ella had depression, but I didn't want to influence her in anyway. I also knew that she would most likely not take it well coming from me if I said that she might have depression. Justine was the one that actually texted me and said that she was depressed. I figured that she had been talking with him and that made me feel better. I had made an appt with our Naturopath to have Ella's blood drawn...we go in every year to get labs run to see what needs to be addressed. During that appt I asked Ella if she'd like me to leave the room so she would feel comfortable talking with the doctor about certain things. She said yes so I left and went to wait in the waiting room. After quite awhile the doctor called me back and let me know that after having Ella complete a test they determined that she has severe depression and anxiety. The depression wasn't a surprise to me, but the anxiety was. The doctor told me about the different methods that Ella could address her depression and anxiety and then she told me that Ella was open to taking medication at this time. 

I talked with the doctor about how many people in my family have depression, my mom, my brother and myself so it wasn't actually all that big of a surprise. All of us take meds to keep our depression at bay so that was fine by me. Since Ella has anxiety she wanted to put her on Lexapro since that can help with both concerns. She started Ella off with 5mg which is a half dose and then she moved up to 10mg after 2 weeks. Ella hasn't had any bad side effects at all. We have definitely seen an improvement in regards to her attitude, moods and overall zeal for life. Of course she's still a teenager and has mood swings, but she should have those...the meds shouldn't artificially make her happy all the time. I want her to feel emotions, but what I don't want is her emotions to control her! She should be able to control her emotions and the meds help her with that. She also has a natural supplement that can help with anxiety that she can take a couple days before an event that she feels she might be anxious about. She's taken them one time, but she took it the day of and she didn't really feel any different. In the future she needs to take them a few days beforehand to get the full benefit. 

One thing that Ella was not open to was therapy and I really hope that changes in the future. There is just something about talking with someone that isn't in your everyday life that can be very freeing. I've been seeing a Christian therapist on and off for years now and it's helped tremendously. I don't go to her all the time....I go through phases and I like it that way. She given me some great advise, she given me books to read, she's prayed over me. We've cried together and laughed together. She's even just listened before for the entire hour while I spilled my heart out and she's not been able to get a word in. To the point where she said she'd process what I told her and then we'd work through it at the next session. By the time next session came though, I didn't even need her to give me any advice. Just getting my feelings off my chest and pouring my heart out to someone who wasn't emotionally invested in the situation was good enough. God used that experience to completely free me of all the resentment and hurt that I'd been feeling and it was completely gone. Therapy is something that I'm a huge fan of and I do hope that one day she'll feel open at least to giving it a real try just to see if it could help her when it comes to dealing with her emotions. 

For Ella's Birthday present from us she wanted to get her hair cut and colored. We had never let her color her hair before, but I figured since it was her Sweet 16 it would be a fun extra special gift. We went to see Miss Bridget on Thursday, February 12th to get her hair done. She got the whole treatment! 

Ella showed Miss Bridget a picture and it was going to cost $240 and I was like...NO! I'm not spending that much. Ella showed her a second picture and Miss Bridget said that that one would be much easier and not cost as much...it would end up being $140 which was about what I was thinking about spending. 

It turned out just like Ella hoped and it's so pretty. I was worried that it might not end up being what she wanted, but my girl really does know what she likes and what she wants and she loves it! 

For Valentine's Day, we decided to do something that none of us had done before. We contemplated going ice skating, roller-skating or to an escape room, but ultimately landing on something totally new. Activate! 

Activate is in Southcenter...it's an interactive gaming experience. Everyone gets a bracelet that is assigned to their gamer name. There were about 14 game rooms...when you look online it shows 16, but some of the ones listed they didn't have in Southcenter so maybe those games aren't completed yet or we totally missed them some how. Anyway each room has multiple games that can be played in it. You can choose games that are cooperative or competitive. We chose to play mostly cooperative games. The rooms are interactive and so much fun! They encourage you to wear active wear and I would totally agree with that...you get hot and sweaty. I don't want to give too much away, but for $28 an hour per person it was totally worth it and I know we'll be going back. They did have a 90 minute option for $38, but I'm glad we only did one hour since it's a lot of activity. 

When we got home Charlie jumped off the desk in the office and just marched right over to us since it was dinner time and he was hungry. Ella scooped him up and then Justine wondered if he scooped Ella up would Charlie stay and he did. He's such a regal looking kitty boy! 

For Valentine's dinner, we had shrimp cocktail, soy sauce salmon, parmesan couscous, salad and Crumbl Cookie for dessert! It was so yummy! 

For the rest of Valentine's Day these two hung out and watched shows on Justine's laptop. Also whenever they watch shows Justine frequently falls asleep.

Ella's birthday just happened to land on President's Day this year so these two get to spend the day together. Our plans to celebrate Ella today are having her open her presents from Justine & her brothers and we're going on a double date to Olive Garden. 

Tomorrow Papa & Miss Ruth are coming over for guitar lessons and dinner so we'll celebrate her with them then. 

I wrote Ella a poem before she was even born and I thought it was time to update it. 

Oh my sweet sweet Ella Grace, 

I'm so thankful that I've gotten to gaze at your face. 

To hold you in my warm embrace, 

These last 16 years my sweet Ella Grace. 

Oh my sweet precious Ella Grace, 

I've gotten to kiss your sweet soft face. 

And I've cherished almost each and every phase, 

Of my sweet precious Ella Grace. 

Oh my sweet angel Ella Grace, 

I don't get to dress you up in things with lace. 

But I enjoy watching your grow and change, 

My sweet angel Ella Grace. 

Oh my sweet 16 Ella Grace, 

These memories will never be replaced. 

The time I got to share this place, 

With my sweet 16 Ella Grace. 

Oh my sweet daughter Ella Grace, 

I look forward to this new phase. 

And I give God all the glory and the praise, 

For my sweet daughter Ella Grace. 

Ella Bean...

I'm so excited to see what this next year brings for you. I know that we've had some struggles this last year...you and I. I know it's mostly because you are pull away and I'm trying to hold you here with me. I keep reminding myself that I did the same thing with Ga-Ga. I wanted to grow up and be independent and you want the same thing. I've been trying sweet girl. I want you grow up and become independent...that's what this job of mine has been leading to this whole time. I swear I just blinked though. 

Ella..God has great things in store for you. Even when life gets rough and overwhelming He's right there for you. He's your biggest fan. Bigger than Daddy or I ever could be. He loves your more too! More than you can even imagine. Ella I pray that you will continue to put your trust in Him. That He'll make his presence fully known in your life and that when hardships do come, as they always do, you'll lean into Him. He's always there my sweet girl! 

Happy Sweet 16 & Golden Birthday Ella Grace!