Ellie

Ellie was up in Michigan recently for her cousin Colin's birthday. The theme this year was Thomas the Train, and let me tell you, those Ratkowskis know how to beat a theme into the ground.

First, for the actual party, they had a mocked-up Thomas train with wheels taking the kids around the neighborhood.

Ellie had fun and wanted to ride the train over and over and over again. Oma Sue made the hats for everyone, including the adults.

The next day, Thomas was going to be at Greenfield Village, so the family all went down for that. Ellie again could not wait to ride the big train that actually went on tracks this time.

I don't know how many kids they could squeeze onto this thing, but it was pretty darned big!

A view of the front of the train.

The birthday boy and his cousin having a blast on Thomas.

Some Easter pictures that Lisa reminded me that I forgot to post.

We really tried to make it easy for her to find the eggs, but she's just a little clueless sometimes.

It was even harder at the Easter Egg hunt at the Shriners, since all the older kids swarmed the place and didn't leave much for Ellie to find. Luckily, we were smart and brought our own which we conveniently dropped behind her and "found" for her to pick up.

Ellie and her buddy, Claire, hanging out on stage at the Shriners. They had a blast watching the puppet show and finally getting to eat the Easter candy!