My sweet darling daughter turns 5!

Born 8 days late...we thought she would never arrive! 

 She filled out hearts with more joy than we ever thought was possible.

how quickly time flew to her first birthday!

she has always been a quick learner.  she loves to read and could speak in sentences long before she ever took her first step.  we stated a birthday tradition this year to go to the zoo every year for her birthday

she is full of life and personality.  not a moment goes by without laughter

she is an amazing big sister and has been since day 1.  

my sweet little ballerina should have been born in a tutu.  her life is lived in a constant dance

she has a gift of praise.  she is always praising and uplifting others for their accomplishments 

she is all girl 

she is a girl after my own heart - always time for learning and stopping to capture the moment

daddy's little golfer

mommy's little princess

praying as a family for her brother and embracing new siblings

I have enjoyed watching her become the little lady she is and look forward to every year ahead.  She is my first born. My first munchkin...and I cannot believe it has already been 5 years since we were blessed to be called her mom and dad. 

Happy Birthday, Ella

#5 birthday cake fun!

As my little munchkin's BIG 5th BIRTHDAY arrives - eeekkk! - I wanted to share my cute #5 cake! She and I will venture out soon for her birthday pictures, no one is surprised by this, Im sure.

Here is her surprise cake we made! Now, I am not the best cake decorator - nope - but I do love to bake and even though its not always pretty it tastes great!  I thought me and the hubs were pretty crafty with this one though.

we started with 2 loaf cakes 

and a round cake.  I got home from the store and realized that I should have gotten a bunt pan to make the circle inside - oops.  Here is what we came up with....we ran a soup can through the dishwasher and baked the cake around it - worked like a charm! 

and I even forgot to spray the soup can with baking spray but it pulled out super easy and didn't crack the cake at all! I did let it sit over night with the can in so it was super cooled down.

here we are after being all trimmed up.

and here after decorated! twislers line the sides and polka dotted with skittles!

Busy and Thankful

I certain someone told me I needed a blog update....

Things have been busy here in the Trahan house.  Fall and Christmas sessions are in full swing - which I am grateful for.  School is behind - and yes, my friends, I can hear your voices in my head already.  I'm not behind, I'm home schooling.  But I feel behind.  Work is stressful - I cried every day this week, at least once. I decided today that I need to find some new up lifting verses to memorize when I feel my face getting hot and my eyes welling up.  I need some words of hope and strength to make it though the day.

I'm not a big "this is what I'm thankful for" kinda person in the month of November - although I do enjoy reading what others are thankful for daily.  However, today I was pretty thankful.  I was thankful for the extremely long wait time at Sonic.  You see....as I waited and enjoyed the cool air with all the windows down, I placed my head as far back into the back seat as I possibly could without Ella noticing I was almost breaking my neck.  She was singing, which she normally does, but I just sat and listened to my wonderful daughter singing praises to God.  Takes my breath away.  I am thankful for her and the Lord who gave her to me.

Fall Picture Time

Today we did the kids fall pictures (as you can see I didn't wait too long to edit!)  As many of you know - I despise taking my own kids pictures.  You know how your kids act better for someone else than you?  Same thing goes for a photographers kids.  But - I do see light at the end of the tunnel - Ella has improved greatly which means, hopefully, that Avery will too in time.  Nevertheless - I love them! :)

this is typical Avery - and the one most likely of the two to go on the wall  :) 

love. 

my little man. 

this is how she spent most of the session....

Big Sister talks.

Recent conversation overheard from the office....

Ella:  Now Avery, we are going to watch Elf.  BUT - Elf is not real. Santa is not real, but Elf is funny.  We like to watch it.  It's called entertainment.
Avery:  Uhhh...okay.