I feel like all of this week’s blog posts begin with the words “a few weeks ago”, but that’s just the way it is! One weekend in May, our town had a celebration at the city park and my girls were so excited to be there. Our daddy couldn’t make it, but we met up with Gran, Heidi, Granmom (my grandmother) and our neighbors for a few hot, sweaty hours in the park.
First on the agenda were face-painting and bounce-housing. The face-painting wasn’t the most creative I’ve ever seen, but it was fast, easy, and cleaned up quick before nap. Ella wanted a purple flower and since Sophie can’t exactly articulate what she wants without some examples, we opted for a pink heart. She couldn’t have cared less!
The most exciting thing, to me, were the pony rides! Since you probably don’t know this, Ella had the opportunity to ride a pony right before her first birthday. Yeah, that didn’t go well. She is anything but brave and doesn’t participate in activities that might cause harm or embarrassment. Sophie on the other hand was squealing from the get-go, so Ella couldn’t be outdone by her little sister.
She was so brave and smiled the entire time despite the fact that her heart was “beeping” very fast and she was decidedly anxious. She told me later that she gave herself a pep-talk. She said, “Mom, I said to myself, ‘Ella, you got this. You can do it. Deep breaths. I mean, I didn’t say it out loud, but I was thinking it in my head.'” I could NOT love this kid any more than I do. We might be complete and total opposites when it comes to doing scary things, but she gets the talking to herself from her momma!
Sophie couldn’t get on that pony fast enough! She was beating her chest and saying “MY DO IT!” She was thrilled for her turn and was such a big girl. I walked with her, but she probably would have been just fine without me. She held on time and grinned from ear to ear.
And just because no blog post is complete without a photograph of food, we finished the day off with a little snack! Ella & Sophie split fried oreos with Gran and I had a strawberry Italian ice all to myself. Yum.
