happy 4th birthday Ellie and happy 1st birthday John!

It was also Pippa's birthday.  Tuesday was a big day.
Ellie had a princess castle birthday cake and John had a John rice krispie treat.  Baking for John was a little tricky since his birthday treat couldn't have dairy, wheat, or eggs.  :-)  My cousin actually has a degree in vegan, gluten free baking.  It kind of seemed like a specific niche until I had John, and now I find myself cornering her and asking her all kinds of crazy questions.  I used this video for Ellie's birthday cake and it was pretty easy.

Liz helped me make John some special chicken fingers and he was so happy to finally have a real meal!  :-)

Instead of a birthday party we decided to spend the night in a hotel at the beach.  I had the car loaded up when preschool let out and we got down to the beach early.  The kids were so happy to be in a hotel that this is how they stayed for most of the afternoon.  They had their own room and I overheard Ellie telling David that "he could pick up the phone whenever he wanted to and talk to the lady."  I bet that the front desk was happy when we left.

After venturing out we spent many, many hours on our beautiful north Florida beaches. 

*John was very present at our beach party but since he had pink eye in both eyes I did not photograph him.