Mountz Memoirs: Happy Birthday, Jon! Love, Kimberly & Ellie (and Ellie Walks)

Today Jon celebrated his thirty-third birthday! He started six hours earlier than us and had a fun-filled day at the baby product convention that he's at in Cologne, Germany. He also had time to stop by the big cathedral near his hotel and ate at a Mexican restaurant. Nobody in Germany knew it was his birthday (per his request) and I think overall he enjoyed the day! We will have to celebrate when he comes home.
Ellie and I started the day early when she woke up at 6:45 but it worked to our advantage since we were set to go shopping at 9:15. We met up at Kelly's house then drove to Good's Store to pick up the Iya's. Corinne and Daniel rode with Ellie and I while Mom rode with the Fentons. Apparently our ride was a lot quieter.

Ready to shop!

When I pulled Ellie's stroller out of the car she pointed to it and climbed right up into it.

We shopped until we almost dropped. We spent quite a bit of time at the Bass Outlet since they had some great sales! Ellie celebrated Jon's birthday by taking her first (documented) steps! I say documented since Grandma says she's taken a step or two at her house. At 1:30 we finally stopped and ate lunch at Chickfila. Corinne commented how hungry she was, even though she didn't even realize it until she was actually eating. We take shopping seriously.

Lunch break

Ellie fell asleep on the ride home at 3:00. I dropped the Iyas off at Good's and ran in (while they stayed with Ellie) and grabbed a disposable container. It is a lot faster to run in solo than to unbuckle a baby and lug her in and then buckle her back in. When we drove toward Morgantown we called Jon and spoke to him about his birthday.
Before heading home we stopped by AmyBeth's house to pick up some clothes for Ellie. Her daughter had received quite a few hand-me-downs and she was willing to share with me since her second child is a son. Yay for us! I was able to snag a pair of PJs, a handful of sweaters, and some pants and shirts for the wintertime. It's nice to have some more clothing to add to her closet!
We went home and put together a meal for a family in Reading. I decided since Jon was away that I would knock off all the people who need meals this week so that two dinners wouldn't need to be made. Ellie was so tired by this point since she had only slept thirty minutes in the car but she still wanted to walk around with her little walker in the driveway. I parked the car across the driveway so she had a clear visual of where to stop, she likes to walk that thing right to the street otherwise.

She walked all around with the walker and would even scoot it around to the direction she wanted. When she needed to go up a step she would run into the step then wait for me to help put it up. She really enjoys walking - I'm sure she'll enjoy being free of the walker! I didn't do any actual walking practice with her since Jon was really bummed about missing her first steps.

Jon's Birthday Tribute: