Happy 5th Birthday, Ella Grace!

Whew!  It's been a busy few weeks!  I can't let a few things go without blogging, though, so please pretend like it's February 11th, our sweet girls FIRST birthday since coming home!  Birthday's around here are special, but I wanted this one to be a little bit extra special, since we've missed 4 birthdays with Ella Grace.  She enjoyed her special day, and we loved being able to celebrate with her!  We missed her 4th birthday by a week last year!

 The decorations with a little walk down memory lane of pictures from her previous birthdays while in China.

 Her AMAZING cake made by a friend who does such a great job!  I sent her a picture and she made it even better than the original cake!

Happy girl twirling in her tutu

Favorite picture of the whole day! 

She LOVED having everyone sing Happy Birthday to her... was the sweetest part of the day!

Very happy with her gluten-free cupcake!

 Cutting the cake... I made my Mom do it!  I couldn't stand the thought of cutting all of Kristy's hard work!

PRESENT TIME!

Pictures with both sets of Grandparents!  Brad's parents were able to come all the way from Texas to help us celebrate!

A little walk down memory lane..... we are really blessed to have over 600 pictures of Ella Grace and her life before she came home!  She went to live in an American run orphanage at about 5 months of age, so they kept wonderful records of her life for us.  This first picture is one of the very earliest pictures we have of her.... this was in July 07, when she was 5 months old.

On her first birthday.... she was very sick with her heart condition, so she was extremely tiny and frail.

Birthday #2... those cheeks were finally filling out!  She had her heart surgery shortly after her second birthday!

Ella Grace's 3rd birthday, with one of her Nanny's from the orphanage.

About 2 weeks after her 4th birthday, and her LAST day in China.  We left for home shortly after this picture was taken!

And our BIG FIVE year old girl now!  I think she's come a long way!  We are honored to be her parents!