Full Disclosure

The many, many notes I mentioned getting from Ella before, well, they officially aren't all sweet anymore.

After a recent "try night" at our house, (what we call a night when the girls are being served a meal they may or may not like, but are expected to try 2 bites of everything on the plate regardless) I received this little note from my oldest. I only know for sure what it says because she used the words and said it to me moments earlier at the table. :EVAPORATE FROM THIS HOUSE : Yes, she told me she wished I would just evaporate from this house. She then used some rather curt words with sweet Maggie, so I sent her to her room to write sentences about using her words to love and not hate.

She did eventually turn things around because she wrote "I love you" at the bottom of her sentences list and informed me in a second line "I have gon to upologis to Maggie".

I just didn't want the blogosphere to think it was sunshine and roses here all the time.

These are the faces....

... of three little girls who are in need of some birthday party'n detox, loving on their great-Nanny.

... of one sweet birthday girl doing the "cheezy grin" face, and one adoring little sister looking on.
...of the littlest munchkin who just didn't understand what all the noise was about.

We celebrated Ella's birthday with cupcakes at school and family over for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we celebrate with a few friends after school, and after that all 5 of us will be in need of a little break from all the partying.

Tonight I'm feeling very blessed indeed!!

Kindergarten... the first

To say Ella is loving Kindergarten thus far would be a gross understatement! She walked in proudly on the first day, sat down, and got right to work. I was shocked that there were parents entering the classroom crying themselves.... I thought they would at least keep it together until they got out the door?!? Because she was so eager to get started and so darn happy, I didn't even tear up at all (very unlike my own kindergarten experience, right mom?).

The girls have missed Ella during the days, but for the most part they play incredibly well together when she isn't here. There seems to be more equality and sharing of the roll of "boss" between the three of them. I've heard Maggie say many times over the last several days, "I miss my Ella... when is big sissy coming home?"

After the first day Ella's report was that kindergarten was grand. When she climbed into the car and began chattering excitedly about all she had done and her new friends and her wonderful teacher, well, that was when I realized she had matured 5 year's worth in those 8 hours I wasn't with her... and then I had to try hard not to cry!

In the days since the first, she hasn't been quite as chatty but has asked if 1- I thought she might ever get to spend the night at her teachers' house, and 2- if she might call to ask her teacher about something, and 3- mom why didn't you tell me kindergarten was going to be so great?

I am incredibly excited that she is having such a great time! She is paving the way for Maggie, Kate, and Sarah too. Sarah has asked about a million times today if she will get to start kindergarten when she is only 4... seems she is ready for a little of the fun that big sis is having.

Tomorrow I've planned to volunteer in Ella's classroom. I can't wait to see her in action!

Back In May

I'm going to clean out my brain and my photo files right here on my neglected little blog over the next couple of days. Hopefully this will help me to get back to updating regularly because so much is happening and I don't want to miss this stuff! In no certain order:

Meet my Dad's dog Daisy Mae. She became his in May...

...on the same day that Ella graduated from preschool.

During the entire hour plus of graduation silly Sarah insisted on wearing her own personally devised clip on earrings. The hairbows attached to her earlobes looked terribly uncomfortable and she verified that they were in fact hurting her. Her words, "These things are killing my ears, but aren't they just the cutest?!?" Where do they learn this stuff??

Pastries with the Parents

This morning I had the pleasure of attending a special little breakfast with Ella at her preschool. While I was getting ready I had my usual crew of commentators taking note of every single detail. First it was the earrings.... "ooh, mama, are you gonna wear THOSE earrings??" "They are the prettiest!" Then I selected a cute pair of heels, and I kid you not all 3 of my helpers literally squealed with delight! They are such girly girls!!

After school Ella and I spent the afternoon on a special date. We had lunch at her favorite spot, did some grocery shopping, and then came home and finished up Valentine's cards and iced our heart cakes for Youth tonight. It really was a wonderful day spent with one of my favorite people!

To the Moon and Back and Then Some

Here in our house our favorite phrase for affection is, "I love you to the moon and back." If you ask any of the girls how much I love them they will quickly tell you "Mama loves me to the moon and back." I often overhear them telling each other that same thing.

So tonight, after a very lengthy bedtime conversation about our upcoming trip to the wedding, when Ella said to me, "Mom, do you know how much I love you?", I said, "to the moon and back?" She said, "Nope, we learned at school that a circle has no end, so that's how much I love you.... and please tell Daddy that's how much I love him from now on too."

Little Girl Excitement

Scott and I have plans to take Ella with us to a wedding in the middle of October. She is absolutely thrilled. The wedding will be the first one she's been to (that she remembers, sorry Kim and Dusty), but more than that she's looking forward to a trip alone with both Mom and Dad.

Her only disappointment with our plans thus far came when she realized we are not planning to travel there via airplane or "great big boat". I'm now trying to convince her of the merits of a simple road trip.... guess she was spoiled on her last Mom, Dad, and Ella outing since we spent the week in Hawaii!

We've discussed both our trip and weddings in general a ridiculous amount over the last few days, and just the other night we had a conversation that went like this:

Ella: "Mom, do you think the beautiful bride will be wearing white for the wedding?"
MB: "I guess so honey, but we'll just have to wait and see."
Ella: "Well, do you suppose the broom will wear white.... ooooh, will he cover his face with one of those thing-ys too?!?"
MB: giggling at her calling the groom a broom "No, the groom will most likely not be dressed in white and he'll definitely not have a veil over his face."


As it turns out the groom is a Naval officer, so he very well may be dressed in white. I don't think Ella has ever seen her Daddy in his handsome dress blues, but I am looking forward to being one of the two ladies on his arm that evening... every bit as excited as our sweet little Ella!

Wordless Wednesday: 1st Day of Pre-K

Big sis headed out for her first day of pre-K today all smiles. I walked her in and then had a hard time getting her attention for a goodbye. At pick up I was informed that her new teacher is the greatest... almost as good as Ms. Kelli. This is such a contrast to early last year! Enjoy more Wordless Wednesday posts at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Growing Things

We've talked a good bit around here over the past year about things we eat that are natural vs. man made because of the sensitivity that Ella and Sarah have to red dye number 40. Ella likes to excuse herself from eating strawberries (she doesn't like fruit at all these days, remember?) because they are red, but the other girls are all very quick to tell her that God makes the strawberries grow out of the ground. "They are natwally wred... we can eat 'em," they'll say.

After a lunch time conversation over a hamburger with a sesame seed bun the other day, I'm not so sure our lessons are really sinking in. As soon as the burgers were delivered I noticed Ella carefully removing the seeds from her bun and placing them in a napkin. When I asked if there was something wrong she declared, "I'm just gonna take these home and see if I can grow us some hamburgers, okay?"

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Goodbyes

One of Ella's best friends moved away a week or so ago. Scott took Ella to a little impromptu send off gathering with a couple of other kiddos. I am told that Ella was the only kid there who shed any tears over the move. I wonder if it is simply her flair for the dramatic or because she recently felt first hand what it means for someone she loves to be far away?

For more Wordless Wednesday visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday: Ella's Self Portraits

I keep downloading the new Panasonic camera to find photos, or series of photos, just like these. The kid loves to take her own picture!

For more Wordless Wednesday visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Son Rock Kids Camp: Day Two

My mission last night was to snap at least a couple of photos of Ella hard at work and play during Bible school all the while managing the chaos that is Maggie, Kate, and Sarah in the midst of the 2-3 year old class on the super large campground Bible school campus. It was a challenge, and I had to use the zoom a bunch, but I got a couple to at least prove that she was there!


The craft for last night was t-shirt painting... except, the kids painted on a fish and then the t-shirts were pressed down onto the fish like a stamp. They turned out really cute, but by the time the 'Lil Buddies group got down to make their shirts the fish were smelling pretty ripe! Ewww...

We happened to be in the arbor for snack time for a few minutes while Ella and her red team there too. This was my only close up opportunity and I flubbed it!

I'm not quite sure whether it was the 2.5 hour nap or the fact that her BFF Campbell was at Kids' Camp last night, but Ella was especially excited to be there. Can you tell how excited she was by that precious smile? Nearly every time I saw the red group those two were holding hands..... so sweet!!

As for Maggie, Kate, Sarah, and I, we are REALLY tired. We were at the campground until 9pm last night, and once again they had to have baths before I could throw them in bed. I just can't stand the thought of putting them down all sweaty, sticky, and covered in bug spray!

For tonight I plan on leaving all my cameras and extra stuff behind. I'm taking a mini mommy media break. I did take a super cute video of the 'Lil Buddies group doing their camp chant last night, so I'll try and figure out how to post that here soon.

Graduatuion Night

Last night was Ella's preschool graduation. In honor of the occasion I took my "old" camera (Nikon D80) and the new Panasonic HD video camera.... video of the performance is coming soon. In the mean time, here are a few shots of the graduate and the future sibling scholars sporting someone else's spectacles. Isn't alliteration fun?!?

Ella with her Ms. Kelli

Maggie

Kate

Sarah

Being entertained with silly glasses and pictures was what got the girls through the hour wait between dropping Ella off in her classroom to the beginning of the "puhformance". It really was a joy to watch, but I can't believe my baby is even old enough for preschool much less already completed her first year?!? Where does the time go?

Birthday Parties Galore

Looking back through the pictures tonight I realized that I've missed several incredibly fun mentionables from my R&R blogging break. Not the least of which were a couple of 4th birthday parties for Little Miss Ella, otherwise known as The Big Sis. I can't even believe she is 4 already?!? Where does the time go?


We felt very fortunate that Scott was home from Iraq for Ella's birthday, but because he was going to be here I didn't make any real plans for a party in the days leading up to his arrival.

Instead we had an impromptu celebration of Ella and the glorious weather on her actual birthday with the family members who were able to make it for dinner and cake on a couple hours notice on a weeknight evening. We had burgers off the grill out in the cabana, and all the girls had a great time. Since it was such a last minute thing, Mimi ended up decorating the cake with smarties... Ella didn't mind.

Then the following weekend, once Gamma was here to help us celebrate, we invited a few other family members and friends over for cake and ice cream cake. Ella and I had a date morning out together on Friday, and she picked out her cake from the DQ. I really didn't want to drive back over on Saturday before the party, and Ella was too eager to wait for it anyway, so I let her choose from the cakes that were available. It was ugly as all get out, but it had the kinds of ice cream she wanted and no red dye... we were sold!

I think part of my lack of party planning was due to the fact that this will likely be the last year I can get away with it, but the primary dilemma to party planning stems from Ella's idea of a party. Having three sisters who share a summertime birthday means that their parties have always been at Mimi and Pop's pool, kids play on the big blow up water slide and run in the grass eating melting ice cream.... it is just dreamy, especially if you are 2, 3, or 4. However, having a March birthday often means cold or at best unpredictable birthday weather.

So in addition to the two wonderful parties we've already had to celebrate Ella's turning 4, we'll be having a water slide party at Mimi and Pop's once the weather warms up enough that the kids won't freeze. We'll just call it an un-birthday party and invite her school friends. She is definitely one lucky little gal.

But her daddy, myself, and the rest of our family and friends are blessed by her sweet little spirit daily. She is one of the most patient, kind, loving little gals you could ever hope to meet. She takes great care of her sisters when they are in need, and often when they don't even know they are. Her personality is large, her questions these days are deep, and her life is shaping into one of the most beautiful blessings we could have ever imagined.

Happy almost one month late birthday to our sweet Ella B!

A New Word for the Dictionary

Agri-fied: it's not in the dictionary... but it should be.

This morning ,while I took Maggie, Kate, and Sarah to Kindermusik, Ella went with Kay to take Brian to work and run a few errands. One of the things they were after was a blow up Easter bunny for KayKay's yard. They searched all of our town's dollar stores and several other places that I would have never thought to look only to come up short. Ella was disturbed that they didn't find a suitable yard bunny.

This afternoon as we were driving down the road Ella was trying to explain to Mimi and I about their quest this morning, and she said, "We were just so agri-fied." The best I can tell she has made up her very own word combo of aggravated and dissatisfied. I can relate because sometimes I too become agri-fied with the selection, or lack thereof, we have here in small town USA, but most of the time I am extremely grateful for our little community... bunny decorations or not!

Wordless Wednesday- Favorites from the Beach