Putting on the Ritz

For our Anniversary this year Steve was all about surprises, which in itself is amazing since the man loves to give me my gifts early for every holiday.
I actually got only one gift early and was able to help pick it out, but I knew he was planning something special, I just didn't realize how special.

We stayed downtown at the Ritz Carlton!

Ella spent the night with a good friend of mine and off we went. It was just for one night but he had everything planned out, my clothes packed and reservations made. Just so you know this is probably one of the nicest hotels I've ever seen. We have a fond memory of the Ritz when we were in Florida on our honeymoon. We decided to drive to Sarasota and could not find a hotel with any rooms available, then Steve remembered! Yes, fresh out of college with about half of our honeymoon money left and we pulled up to this fancy hotel. We had pizza delivered (we called the front desk to make sure we could even do such a thing) and felt so out of our comfort zone we changed our reservations to only one night instead of two. Things were different this time. After check in we decided to take a peak at the Club level and then it was off to the spa for a mani/pedi.

I had no idea. So Steve dropped me off and went back to get some snacks. After my girl time I had to get ready for the next surprise, dinner. But before we left we were given an anniversary gift from the hotel, so nice! So back to dinner at Elways, like (John Elway). We were seated at our table to find a hand written note from the manager and a red rose.




After dinner we decided to take advantage of dessert on the Club Floor. We had it all to ourselves for a while since everyone was at the Rockies Game. Totally amazing! It was the nicest, most wonderful evening and truly a trip I'll never forget. I'm so thankful that Steve and I were able to find each other, we are best friends and I'm so impressed that he did one of the hardest things for me by keeping it all a surprise. Thank you honey!

(loving me some fancy Sprite)

(Steve looking handsome in his new glasses)

I don't wanna walk without you...

Feeling very sentimental today.
I took my baby to preschool, although she really isn't a baby anymore.
She is funny, spunky, huggy, sweet, dancy, a spit fire, lovie and my very favorite little girl in the world. She is pretty much my whole world and now that world will be Ella-less for a few hours 3 days a week. I think I handled it somewhat well. As soon as I got in my car I called my sister and ended up waking her, (sorry about that Erin) but even though she was groggy she still talked to me, was supportive and heard my little sobs. Then I went to work for a while, then Kohl's and finally it was time to get my baby. I got a lot of sympathy but I liked what my mom wrote to me, "It's hard--even the mother bird has to push the little ones out of the nest so they can learn and grow. It's a new chapter in Gabriella's life. Enjoy helping her write it!"
Thanks mom!
She was pretty excited.

She ran straight to the toys and I had to ask her for a hug.

This will be harder on me than her but I know she will do great!

Personality

Personality, Ella has it, a lot of it. She always wants to be right next to the teacher and her facial expressions are adorable and hilarious at the same time. I can't describe how much I love this little girl. I had been thinking about putting her in Ballet for long time and when a friend of mine suggested our daughters take it together that seemed perfect.

I've thought about those 4 or 5 years I took ballet and even though I had some pretty interesting teachers I couldn't remember having one negative feeling or experience about ballet. I love to see Gabriella express herself through dance and as long as she enjoys it that's all that matters.

Here are some pictures of her most recent class.

Dancing Ella Bean

Gabriella LOVES her dancing class!

Picture Perfect

Party Time

Ella wanted some of her little friends over for a Thumbelina party complete with dresses, tutus, flowers and lots of pink .

Gabriella and I made party hats, candy, and flower headbands. The girls decorated their own butterflies and ate some wonderful mud cake....gummy worms included.

Thank goodness for ebay, it was the only way I could find Twillerbabies...the Thumbelina doll I found after Christmas. I think she was pretty excited.

The princesses ate out of flower pots and got some butterfly temp. tattoos.

Lets Party some more...after Church Gabriella got to open gifts and later she had her official cake.

I'm pretty sure she had a great time!

Nothing better than this....

Happy Birthday Gabriella! You are our greatest joy.