Pre-K Graduation

Ella's Pre-K graduation was on Friday May 31st. Mom was here and kept Ella home for a fun day, and then the ceremony was that evening.

Looking so cute in her cap and gown


With Grammy


The ceremony was held at the junior high. Here she is in front of the school, with her stuffed graduation dog from Grammy






I know that in the scheme of things, graduating from Pre-K may be pretty minor, but I was so proud of her! She was excited about going up on stage and had been practicing her songs and poems, and was just so precious!

Going to her seat with her class


Getting her diploma from Miss Richmond


Being silly with her friends with their diplomas




Sharing some important news


Video clips from their songs and poems


With Steve after the ceremony - successful Pre-K graduate!

How can it be that my little bitty is just a few months away from kindergarten!?!

Ella's 4th Birthday

Ella turned 4 on January 5th!

A picture of her on her 4th birthday eve, her last night asleep as 3-year old


And here she is, waking up as a big 4 year old!!




Adorable birthday girl in her birthday shirt


Mom, Steve and I met at Ella's school to have cupcakes with her class after nap time.







After cupcakes they were wild and ready for some fun!




Mom and I stayed for circle time





Big hug for Grammy





Mom made lots of little friends and helped the kids draw spider webs





That night we went out to dinner to a Japanese restaurant. Ella was very proud of herself because she tried soy sauce for the first time, and she told us over and over that the reason she tried it was because she's 4 now and will be trying a lot of new things.

They knew it was her birthday because she made sure to tell everyone! And although we did not request it, our waitress brought out a big dessert and we all sang Happy Birthday



As we were walking out of the restaurant, she stopped at almost every table along the way, pushed her "4" candle (from her cupcake at school - of course she brought it to dinner as proof of her new age!) out in front of her and said to each table "I'm already 4!", "I'm 4 now!" It was just so funny, definitely one of my favorite memories of that day.

We got home and it was time for birthday celebration #3 :)






Silly girl


It was a great day, I loved seeing how proud and excited she was that it was her birthday, and how excited she was to turn 4. It was also awesome that Mom came to celebrate with us, and made it that much more special.

More updates to come on my big 4 year old!!

Isn't it Incredible?

I am way, way behind in blogging and have tons of pictures to catch up on, but just had to write this quick story about tonight. I was clearing some things off the dining room table, and Ella was "doing dishes" at the kitchen sink. She loves washing dishes but really this just entails squirting water around, getting all the dishes wet and soapy, and just having a good time. Then, I follow up with washing the dishes!

Tonight I got a surprise. She said "Mommy, all done with the dishes, I did them all my myself" - I walked over and couldn't believe what I saw - an empty sink and dish rack full of dishes

I was really blown away, I couldn't believe it, and I know the amazement showed on my face. Ella had a giant grin on her face, was just so proud of herself and said to me "I know, isn't it incredible?"

Clean sink and dishes 'done' :)





(In case you are now scared to eat at our house for fear that you'll be eating off a plate washed by a 3 1/2 year old, I did put them all in the dish washer once she went to bed!!)

My Big Girl

We had another first today. Ella can be very shy and is generally very attached to me when we're in new or unusual places. She warms up after a little bit, but is still typically a lot more secure and comfortable the closer I am to her.

Well, today we were getting her 3-year and Easter pictures taken, and there was a table with a bunch of legos on it that she wanted to play at and build. She wanted me to sit next to her and build the legos with her, and so I sat in a little chair (that was way too small for me) and we played legos for a while.

After about 10 minutes or so, another little girl came over, and said "hi, what's your name?"; Ella said, "Ella. What's yours?"; The girl said "I'm Isabella. I'm 3." Ella said, "I'm three years old! We're all 3!" Then the little girl said "Can I play with you?" and Ella started handing legos over to her and said "sure you can, we can both build." I was so proud of her for being so friendly and willing to share the toys.

They had a little conversation and played for about 2 minutes and then Ella said to me "Mommy, you watch us play. You go sit over there." I couldn't believe it! Not only was she being friendly and playing with a new little buddy but she wanted me to leave so they could play by themselves! I went and sat in a chair right behind her and she said "No Mommy, you sit over there" and pointed to another chair a little further away. They talked and had fun and played really nicely together; and I was so pleased with her being so independent, such a big girl!

New Gymnastics Class

We took a break from Little Gym during the fall and winter, but I thought she'd enjoy going back to gymnastics because she did ask about it a lot over the last few months and always had such a good time when we went. This time now that she is 3, it's no longer a Parent/Child class and it's just the kids on their own! We signed up with a friend so that Ella will have her buddy in class (and I'll have a buddy to chat with) and tonight was the first class.

Ella was super excited about it, but I was unsure how she'd do once she realized that I really wasn't going in with her. I told her a bunch of times that it's a big girl class where the mommies just watch, and Ella said she understood but then would say something completely opposite like would I help her on the rings, so I really didn't know if she got it or not.

Anyway, once we got there her and it was time for class to start, Ella and Kati held hands and walked in together. I was so proud of her. She did everything with the group and listened to everything the instructors wanted her to do. The class is 3 to 5 year olds so there are older girls in there too, and I think it was neat for her to see the older girls. Her and Kati stuck together most of the time and really had a great time.

She did forward rolls and the balance beam, bars, rings, jumping, balls, all that good stuff. Every so often she'd run by the window and give me a little wave, and I just loved seeing her have such a good time so independently. She came running out at the end and was so smiley and happy, I just felt so proud of her. After almost 2 years of classes together, it feels like such a milestone that now she's on her own in there. And even more amazing, that she did so great on her own and didn't need me being there at all!

Baby Love

Ella got her first babydoll last year for Christmas and although she occasionally played with it, more often than not, her version of playing was tossing the babydoll around, and otherwise being anything but sweet and caring with her little friend!

Well, things are very different now and Ella LOVES babydolls. She got a new one for Christmas from Dad and Donna, her name appears to be Baby (quite original!) and she is tops on Ella's list right now.

Ella is so adorable and sweet with Baby - she gives her hugs and kisses, carries her around in a blanket, tucks her in, feeds her, pushes her in her stroller, and makes sure she is involved in Ella's activities.

In the morning when I get Ella up, she lets me know that we have to bring Baby downstairs too. She has another favorite buddy, Violet, that is a stuffed dog that she sleeps with every night, but Ella requires that Violet has to stay in her crib during the day (it's always night-night for poor Violet). Baby is lucky though and gets to have quite a nice little life outside her crib.

Starting the day with some milk


Ready for breakfast!


Baby on the breakfast counter


Nap time


Wake-up Baby (or, as Ella says "Baby Kup-Kup"


Road trip


Dinner time!


Tea and Birthday Cake for dessert


I love seeing how sweet Ella is with her Baby and how she takes such good care of her!

I'm so proud!

Ella went #1 in the potty tonight!!

I haven't put her on the potty in several days but tonight asked her if she wanted to sit on it before bathtime and she said yes. She sat right down and went right in the potty - you would've thought she discovered the cure for cancer with all the praise that we gave her.

She was SO proud of herself and was beaming and kept saying "pee-pee" and "potty"...which is not the word I initially intended to teach her but it's easy for her to say and for purposes of telling us that she needs to go, will probably be the easiest thing.

I'm in no hurry whatsoever for Ella to potty-train and in fact think it's probably easier for her to be in diapers, and I want her to do it in her own time, but I'm so very proud of that little nuggie's first potty success!