Our Six-Year-Old Sweetie

      Oh, how we love our Ella!  What a gift it is to celebrate her and her life.  She's six, and we've enjoyed each age with her, praising God for her life and for making her so wonderfully. Ella is such a brave little girl and often thinks of others' feelings.   She is creative and artistic and knows exactly how she likes things to be done.  She's loving and funny and such a delight.  Happy birthday, dear Ella!

 

       Ella awoke to presents from her family and a skype call with her grandparents.  

      We went on a little family vacation for a long weekend before her birthday at Lake Baikal, and we gave Ella a choice to stay at Baikal for her birthday or to go to kindergarten on her special day.  She chose kindergarten!  They have a special tradition where they sing a song and lift you up on a chair and you get to pick your six favorite people.  So, Ella went to school and chose her favorite freinds and passed out candies for everyone! 

     After a lunch of chicken pot pie and crepes (Ella's favorite foods) we picked up her best friend Anya (and her Papa) and went to a local amusement park.

     The kids had fun on the dragon roller coaster...

and rolling around in this water wheel...

     And eating ice cream!  Ella doesn't like cake, so she asked for candles in ice cream instead of cake.  It was a bit windy and tricky to keep the candles lit, but Leif was able to keep them lit until she blew them out!

There's nothing like ice cream on a hot summer day!

I love watching the joy on the kids' faces!

It's so much fun to fly an airplane!

     There's a great ferris wheel at the park that gives a great view of the city.  The girls were so cute talking excitedly together in Russian!

Friendly Faces

Riding Above The World

     Anneka and Leif rode on one of those huge swinging boats.  Anneka both loved it and also was gripping onto Leif very tightly!

     Next to the amusement park is a nice playground.  The kids played in the sand there for awhile.  I met a nice lady and had a good conversation there as the kids played.

     We finished off our day with dinner out.  Ella ordered a hamburger.  She LOVES hamburgers!  When we make them at home she usually eats TWO of them.  I don't know where they fit.  =)  We had fun telling each other funny stories.

     As we were leaving, the kids got to choose a toy out of a special machine.

     And the very next day, Ella lost her first tooth!  We didn't know if she'd be 5 or 6 for her first tooth, as it was loose for so long! 

What a gift to celebrate such a special day with our special daughter!