Children: Don't Try This at Home

One sleep 'til Ellie's birthday.  She's been counting down.  And Nathan and I have been trying to think of what we can do to make it a special day for her.  A few months ago we were online and Nathan discovered a company that makes "floating" lanterns -- the kind you can light a flame inside and it will float up in the air, much like the lanterns which played a big role in the movie, Tangled.  Needless to say, after discovering they were a reasonable price, we purchased them and they have been hiding in a closet until the big day.

To fully appreciate tomorrow evening's surprise, I need to share a previously-unpublished event that happened last Christmas.  To celebrate the 4-year anniversary of bringing Ellie home, we left a napping Reni with Nonna and took Ellie to see the movie Tangled.  She LOVES going to the movies (a very rare treat) and  she loved Tangled.  Before the movie even concluded she was asking if we could go buy lanterns like the ones released for Rapunzel's birthday.  So we made a detour to Hobby Lobby on our way home and picked up some paper lanterns and votive candles.

 I wish I could remember what she was writing on here (this is why it's important to blog events shortly after they happen)!

Nathan's family is proud of their "science experiment" heritage and Mom and Dad eagerly joined us in the driveway to see if this one would "fly"

 No luck.  Apparently the votive candle didn't produce enough heat to lift the lantern off the ground.  We needed a bigger flame.

I don't want to say "I told you so" or claim I made a wild prediction that just happened to come true, because I don't think it would take a rocket scientist to tell you that lighting a kerosene-soaked handkerchief in a PAPER ball would have any results different than what you see below (photographed from the warmth of indoors).

Hopefully tomorrow night's lanterns will meet with better success!  If you want to leave Ellie a birthday greeting, we'll read them to her tomorrow night!