Looks like she means business!

We were at our friends' house last Saturday night, and Ella was a little wild-woman playing with James' nerf guns -- look at this face!

Recycling Center Tour

We went on a tour of the Pearland Recycling Center last Saturday with Ella's daisy troop. It was pretty interesting, nothing at all like I was expecting, and we both ended up learned a lot. 

Out of all the different areas we saw, Ella's favorite part was the giant paper shredder. It could shred an entire phone book in a second and into about a square inch worth of paper strips. 

Throwing in a phone book

I love Ella's face while she was watching it work!

Getting to push the button

All the girls on the big scale together

By the weighed and marked bales

Group picture with the tour leader 

Definitely not our average Saturday afternoon, but pretty neat learning experience to see how the recycling center works!

Easter Sunday

 One of Ella's favorite Easter memories, that she talks about whenever she mentions Easter, was waking up on Easter morning in the apartment and looking outside her window and seeing eggs in the grass, so she knew the Easter bunny had been there. Last year we were in San Francisco for Easter so we weren't able to keep with our normal traditions, so it was nice to be home this year and able to make the 'eggs outside the bedroom window' happen again. 

Her view from bed - eggs in the grass!

Egg hunting bright and early

She finally spotted her basket!

Organizing all of her treasures

Ella got a ladybug notebook in her basket, and made this sheet in her notebook after breakfast. Translation: I like ladybugs because they are cool. They are pretty. Ladybugs are my favorite insect is a ladybug. 

Looking adorable before church

Some pictures in Mom's backyard after church

Washing the car with Steve before dinner

Perfecting her cannon ball 

Fun jumps with Daddy

And she found one more egg!

Adorable desserts by Grammy and Ella (mostly Grammy :))

Such a great Easter!

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend last weekend with Mom and Glenn. Ella had off of school for Good Friday, and so she got to have a sleepover at Grammy and Grampy's house on Thursday and Friday nights.  She had a great time and lots of fun!

Helping Grampy change a tire

Making Easter treats with Grammy

Grandma and Grandad sent this cute little hamster to Ella for Easter. Coincidentally, she had built a 'hamster habitat' at a pet workshop for Daisies a few weekends ago that was just waiting for an inhabitant - voila!

Coloring book from Aunt Erin & Uncle Josh

On Saturday, we dyed Easter eggs

It was a beautiful sunny day and we spent the afternoon outside - after Easter eggs, we swam and then had a cook out

Looking adorable with Cory!

Picture Post

Some pictures from the last few weeks of March and the beginning of April --

Living vs. non-living theme week at school - Ella holding an earthworm!

Ocean Discovery Day in Galveston for Daisies

Walking and reading their shark books

Sea turtle rescue facility

Telling time with Grampy

We went to Central Texas BBQ for Glenn's birthday. There were many items of memorabilia (for lack of a better word) and we had to take the opportunity for a picture with this mummy!

Happy Birthday Grampy!

Adorable short haircut for spring

Pet Workshop 

Sleeping beauty -- And she also happens to take off her PJs more nights than she leaves them on!

This guy was on our porch one morning a few weeks ago, I couldn't believe it!

Ella's kindergarten teacher is really the best, and she comes up with the neatest learning experiences for the kids. Last month Ella came home very excited because she had brought in an incubator full of chick eggs. Ella learned a bunch about how chicks hatch, they did experiments to predict which eggs had chicks in them and which didn't, and she was anxiously awaiting "chick day" when they would hatch.  We had many, many conversations about the chicks in the days leading up to the hatching day. 

The day finally came and did not disappoint. Some pictures from the class blog - 

They have been watching them grow and change since they hatched. This has definitely been one of Ella's favorite lessons of the year. 

Fun at the playground with Addison

Lunch time with her friends

Karoake fun on Fine Arts Day

Having fun in the pool with Jake 

This was so sweet. She kept Andy entertained by counting his toes, over and over and over. He just happily stared at her while she counted as high as she could. So cute!