Labor Day

Labor day was a treat for Ellie and I since we could enjoy having Jon home before he had to head back to work. But in all reality he wasn't home at all on labor day. We ate breakfast together before he headed off to help Uncle Keith with an electrical project at his apartment in Elverson at 8:00. Ellie and I stayed back and played, showered, then headed off to the outlets to take advantage of the Labor Day sales.
We arrived before 10:00 and the outlets were just started to get busy. I hit up the kids clothing stores to grab a gift for Cecelia Mountz since we were celebrating her birthday in the afternoon. We also found a couple good deals for Ellie, too. I also made some returns from before the wedding week that I had quickly picked up when I was searching for shoes but didn't need since Katelyn had found great ones at a re-use-it in Texas.
Right as we were rolling into Ann Taylor Ellie started fussing and complaining about being in the stroller. Apparently finding clothes at a good price (60% off the entire store, including clearance) was not in her plans. So we headed home.
I put her down for a nap and prepped our food for the day's events and wrapped Cecelia's gift. Ellie only slept an hour (too short!) so I filled another bottle and handed it to her and she hung out in her crib for another hour happy yet not sleeping. Oh well. I packed up the car while she hung out in the crib then nabbed her when it was time to head to Elverson.
After we celebrated Ellie's birthday with the Mountz family on her actual birthday Donna told me that she wanted to do a joint birthday part with Cecelia on Labor Day. Oops. Sorry to everyone who had to sit through two events for Ellie! While we were eating dinner Ellie kept trying to snag chips from Layla and Owen's plates. She needs to learn the concept of personal space. After eating we opened gifts and Ellie received several cute new outfits from her Mountz cousins and Nana and Pop-pop and a stuffed animal puppy from Grandma Mountz.

Trying to steal chips

At 3:30 we headed to Mimi and Pop's house for our second party of the day. The Fentons were already present and the Iyas (Corinne and Daniel, not Dr. Dan and Dr. Clara :) came soon after our arrival. We hung out inside and had some chips and dip and watermelon for appetizers then Pops grilled burgers for dinner. Mom made oven roasted potatoes, baked beans, and other sides and Kelly brought a green salad. It was all delicious. For dessert we had Heath Bar ice cream cake. Mimi dished out huge portions and I think we all gained a minimum of five pounds. Except for Clark, who helped at else three people eat their servings.

Clark during the prayer (yes, I took a picture while Dad prayed)

Grandpa, Grandma, and Mom-mom came by later and Jon headed out to help Uncle Keith again at his apartment. I tried to get people to play a game before heading home but the Fentons had left and the Iyas were busy taking advantage of the internet.  I went home when Ellie was cranky around 9:15 and Jon arrived home over an hour later. I was impressed that he was able to stay out so late in spite of his jet lag from China.

Ellieisms:
Ellie is a little afraid of Pop-pop. She gets nervous when he comes into the room and if I put her down right away she cries. She didn't seem to notice him too much on Labor Day, though, due to the chaos of everyone else being present.