Ella's Birthday Weekend!

Leading up to Ella's birthday weekend I had been talking with Jen (Logan's mom) about Logan coming out to visit Ella as a birthday surprise. Logan ended up flying in late on Friday night and surprising Ella by calling her at 10:15pm. We don't normally let the kids stay up that late, but I started that new documentary on Gabby Petito and we were really interested in it so the kids didn't ask questions. Ella got a call and was like why is Logan calling me so late. Then there was a knock on the door and that's when I started recording. 

 

One thing we've figured out from this is that Ella does not really like surprises. It takes her a minute to get her emotions to catch up to the situation. She was super confused and trying to process through what's going on. At first I was like is she happy that Logan's here, but she definitely was it just took her a minute. 

Later than night I walked into Ella's room and found them face to face just chatting away like the besties they are! Love these girls and I love their relationship and I love that Logan gets Ella....her weird moods and all! 

On Saturday we just binged watched romantic comedies all day long. We kind of had an Adam Sandler / Drew Barrymore theme going on. First we watched 50 First Dates and then they watched Blended. We wanted to watch The Wedding Singer, but it was rent or buy. 

The girls always have such a great time chilling with each other. 

Sunday was Ella's actual birthday and I'm absolutely sure this was part of why Ella was little thrown off with Logan coming. She was going to get to spend the day with Justine and she had it all planned out in her head how that was going to go and now with her bestie here she wasn't sure how that was going to look. Ella and I had a chat on Saturday and she got her feelings out and I told her that it would all work out just fine. We had to drive two cars to church that day so it worked out perfectly. The boys drove home for lunch and then Michael and I took Ella, Logan and Justine out to Circo Circo! 

They make these faces at each other all the time! 

Oh that's sweet! 

Sitting next to the dad....scary! :) 

I wanted to get a picture of Logan with Ella and Justine so Logan came around and just plopped her head right between the two of them. Then she started laughing and then she started coughing and it made Justine laugh. He doesn't normally show his teeth when he smiles so when I capture and open mouth smile I love it...he has such a nice smile! 

Once they got their giggles out we got a normal picture! 

 

I was there too! 

Logan and I shared my favorite dish....Pollo A La Crema and Ella and Justine shared one as well. Michael got something else I didn't even pay attention. All my focus was on getting this yumminess in my tummy! 

Since Valentine's Day was on Friday and they weren't able to see each other they decided to exchange gifts on Sunday. Justine wrote Ella a letter....they haven't been exchanging letters since their 6th monthsarry. He did buy her a few things as well, but they didn't arrive in time so he gave her those gifts later.

Ella and I went shopping on Friday so she could pick out something for Justine. She also got him a card...which was actually the most expensive part of the gift! We were going to go to The Dollar Tree, but she didn't want to make an extra stop so she picked one at Wal-Mart. 

We found these super cute coffee mugs that hug each other! It's hard to shop for a guy for Valentine's Day, but these were truly adorable! 

Justine was having the mug that represents Ella hug him! 

Aren't they so cute!!!

 The one that's Justine is the one on the right because he's hugging over the top because that's how it's supposed to work. The taller person's arms go over the shorter persons. Also I think it's ironic that his mug is the darker of the two. 

Logan wrote Ella the sweetest Valentine's card. They really are the bestest of friends! 

Look at these cuties! 

Logan was also so super sweet....her and Ella talked about how Ella wanted to spend some time with Justine on her birthday and Logan was totally cool with that. She just went up into Ella's room and watched a movie on her phone. Later on she told me that it was really nice for her to have some alone time too. She feels so comfortable at our house it's like it's hers and I love that. We all need a little reset time when we are around a lot of people. 

Ella was getting girlfriend love so Justine needed to have some bro love. 

Then for some reason it turned into Logan and Justine tickling Ella. 

Later that night we had The Chosen group and even though Logan hasn't seen any of the episodes she joined us. Ella and Justine usually sit on the couch behind them in this picture, but some other kids got those seats first so they had to sit on the ground. 

Charlie was being very social during group so Justine scooped him up and held him.

After group was over Justine and Ella had a little bit of time to use his Valentines gift. I made them hot chocolate with whipped cream. 

At first the whipped cream was nice and fluffy and tall and looked like hair for the huggers. It was cute, but the cocoa was so hot it melted really quick. 

Birthday hugs! 

Just like last year when we flew out to see Logan and had to drive back that's exactly what happened with Logan. The flights were so full she wouldn't have gotten home for days. We ended up driving her to Aunt Becky's house and then Aunt Becky drove her to meet her mom in Ellensburg. 3 day holiday weekends are just not good when it comes to flying standby! It was so great having Logan here and it definitely made Ella's birthday weekend extra special! 

Fall Festivities 2024!

At the end of October, Jen texted me and asked if we were busy and if Logan could spend the weekend with us. Of course!!! Logan had a Dr's appt in Seattle on Friday October 25th, so they were going to meet us at the Corn Maze that's 10 minutes from our house. 

We got there before them so we went ahead and did one maze. Ella and Jack when it one maze and Zeke and I went in the other maze. Zeke and I were finished with our maze in no time and then we sat outside the other maze waiting for Ella and Jack to come out. They were in there so long we ended up calling them to make sure they were okay. 

I think in all we waited about 20 minutes for them to get out. 

Right after they finished the one maze Logan and Jen showed up. 

Jack, Ella and Logan then went to the maze that they hadn't done yet and then Jen, Zeke and I went to the one we hadn't done. Of course we finished that one before them as well. In fact they actually didn't even finish finding all the checkpoints they just got tired and found the way out! :) 

On Sunday, October 27th, our church had our Fall Festival. This time around it was a bit more stressful for me planning wise, but thankfully the volunteers were rockstars so the event went great! Ga-Ga, Cathie and Debra held down the fort in the kitchen. These ladies work really well together! 

Michael was grilling the hot dogs and Craig was his assistant. Thankfully this year it wasn't raining! 

Kristi was ready at the prayer station. 

Micah and Scott were heading up balloon animals. 

We had 10 games total...Jack and Andrew were running the golf game. 

Owen and Liam were stationed at the Axe Throwing...Liam was really taking it to another level! 

Ella and Justine were running the Pop-A-Shot. 

Bertie & Clayton were running a Tossing Game. 

We had rock painting which is always a hit! Gail & Linda were at this station. 

We also had a few people doing face painting. There was a whole other room with more games that I didn't get any pictures of. We also had caramel apples and fresh popped popcorn for people to take on their way out of the event. 

On Halloween night we headed down to Ga-Ga & Pa's house. This year the Kuch Family couldn't make it so it wasn't nearly as fun. Plus these kids are getting older so it's just not the same as when they were little kiddos! 

Owen bought himself a new mask this year so he's even freakier looking. Jack has been a Knight's Templar for 3 years in a row. This was Zeke's 2nd year being a Seahawks player. Even though Ella never got to wear her hippy costume last year I couldn't convince her to wear it this year. She has decided that she is too old to trick or treat and she's done with that. 

Side Note: This day was exactly 1 year since Ella last threw up. A whole year!!! There was time when I would be excited she if made it 2 weeks without throwing up. I'm so glad we've gotten her migraines under control. This has honestly been the best year for her health wise! 

 

Zeke was acting freaked out by Ella's "scary" costume! Hahahaha! 

Mine turn! Ahhhhh!!! 

Owen is such a creeper in this picture....lurking in the background! 

Had to take a picture of them actually trick or treating. Who knows this might be their last year! 

But then again Owen was like it's free candy...of course I'm going trick or treating! :) 

Visiting Logan!

Right before New Years, Jen contacted me and said they had some extra buddy passes to use and she wondered if Ella and I would like to fly over to spend the weekend with Logan. I knew that New Years wouldn't work, but I figured that the long weekend for MLK Day would be perfect. At first we were going to fly out after Ella's choir practice on Friday afternoon. It didn't really matter if we got their early since Logan did have school on Friday so we weren't in a rush. However, as the day got closer we noticed that the later flights were filling up. This was right around the time they grounded the Boeing Max planes because of that door popping off mid-flight. Yeah perfect time to be taking your daughter on her first plane trip that she'll remember...she did fly once before from Seattle to Billings, but she was only 2 years old. I did not inform her of the accident until after the trip though. 

So we decided to take the 9:40am flight. Michael dropped us off at the airport on his way into work. 

It was so fun getting to go on an adventure with my girl! 

It was funny I kept asking her how she was doing waiting for the plane to be ready to board. She was starting to get irritated with me because she had told me she was doing fine. This is where I learned that I shouldn't project my own fears on my child. As a teenager I went on my first flight at 14 years old and I literally thought I was going to die.  

This girl wasn't scared one bit. She did great! 

Our flight was delayed a couple of times. We're still not sure what happened. At first they said our plane left Bozeman MT. late and that we just had to wait for it to arrive. Then later they said our plane was still in the hanger there at Seatac. It was all weird, but we finally boarded the plane around 11:30am. Then the flight itself was only about 30 minutes it was hilarious.

When we left home it was cold, but it was going to be REALLY cold in Spokane! When we arrived it was 2 degrees which Jen told us that they had doubled the temp for the day so that was awesome. ;) 

Richard picked us up at the airport and took us to their house. Jen got home shortly after that from helping at Connor's school. It wasn't too long and it was time to go pick up Logan from school. As we drove up I rolled down my window, whistled and yelled....Loggie Bear! Logan was just as excited and didn't even care that I just made a scene outside her middle school. I love that girl! 

Logan didn't realize that Ella was sitting on that side so she had to run around and jump in the other side of the car. 

I love these girls! 

It wasn't long and this is what was happening. 

These girls just love to laugh with each other. 

I can't believe that it's been just over 13 years to the day since I started watching Logan. I absolutely love love the relationship these girls have. It just goes to show you miles apart don't have to change a thing! 

That afternoon we went to Hobby Lobby...where the girls totally ditched Jen and I and tried to hide so we didn't have to leave. Jen and I were talking and I told her that Logan is the only one that gets Ella to come out of her shell and be a silly girl. For the most part she's pretty reserved, but not with Logan. I was the same way in school until I met my friend Nicci Hayden...she went onto be my maid of honor, but unfortunately we haven't kept in contact. Whenever her and I were around each other we'd do the craziest silly things and it was a blast. Logan is Ella's version of Nicci Hayden. 

On Saturday night we drove all the way to Coeur d'Alene ID in order to keep up our tradition of eating at The Cracker Barrel. 

These girls did their hair and make-up for a fun for night out! 

Look at these beauties! 

On Sunday, we drove up to Grandpa Ed's and Grandma Penny's house. On the drive up to their house is when I got a phone call from Michael about our house flooding from a burst pipe!!! I mainly tried to not think about what was going on at home since there was nothing I could do from so far away. In hindsight it was a total blessing for everyone that I wasn't home when it happened. 

Grandma Penny had heard that Ella was dairy free....we were only letting her have one small bit of diary a day at this point....she was making lasagna for dinner and she made Ella a diary free lasagna. It was the sweetest thing!!! When we left there house it was the coldest we experienced the whole trip. It was -9. On the way home the windows were icing up on the inside of the car! It was crazy! 

That night after getting in bed their cat Rocket....who I call Parker came and snuggled with me. He is a purring machine. I had to take this picture and text it to Michael. Such a sweet kitty! 

We were supposed to fly out on Monday, but the flights looked awful. They were down by 3 flights a day because of the planes being taken out of service. The earliest we were going to be able to get home was most likely going to be Wednesday. So we made the executive decision to have Jen drive us halfway and have Michael drive halfway to meet us. It worked out perfectly since Michael had the MLK Day off from work. Jen drove us to Vantage and that's where we met Michael and continued on our way home. I was so happy to get home since it was Owen's actual birthday. 

After getting home we went out for dinner at Red Robin to celebrate this guy turning 17 years old!