Ella Taylor, E L E V E N

It's always an exciting morning when it's somebody's birthday! We started off with early morning present opening while the cinnamon rolls were in the oven. Ella has been working hard at volleyball and wants to make the middle school team this fall. She received, from Jake & I, a Tachikara volleyball and registration to a volleyball tryout prep came in July. She is super excited.

After her pick of homemade cinnamon rolls, they all headed to school.  We did tell Ella she was allowed to skip school today on her birthday, but she decided that she wanted to go to school and see her friends.  

After school we headed to the sand volleyball court to play. Some friends met us there.  Ella's friend, Haven ended up joining us for the birthday dinner at Bdoba.

The night before her birthday, Ella created her own birthday cake.  This is so fun when the kids start making their own cake. Ella recently watched a kids baking show and she wanted to try making a pattern inside the cake. She made a vanilla cake, with a blue dotted pattern, homemade peanut butter frosting and topped with crushed Oreo's. It smelled so good that we decided to taste test it Tuesday night. You can never start celebrating too early!

 Happy 11th Birthday Ella Taylor!