March Madness.

Before we shipped Grant off on his long flight, we did get to meet for breakfast one last time while Larry and the band played at our favorite downtown cafe. And Abbott and his grown ups came to us for the day too. It was so good to see them!

We are so excited that another little one is on the way just about the time Ella and I celebrate our birthdays in May. Ella and Abbott had a riot together.

Katie was sweet enough to take the girls for a haircut on Ella Wednesday. As usual, our Deb did an amazing job and got extra love when she was done.

The teaching continues on a daily basis. Ella is a great teacher to her class and uses her white board to explain to 'the class' their lessons each day. Occasionally, the cats will sit in for a session.

Like I mentioned before, that front tooth will NOT give up.

 On my day off a few weeks ago, I got to hang with this girl and Mama Sara at Sara's workplace. One of my side projects is a blog where people write letters to our city, professing their love. Sara wrote a sweet letter and I got to be her photographer!

As only good friends would do, we brought her favorite coffee. We had so much fun.

These two are such buds during snuggle time

We have had a great time playing catch up with some of our peeps we don't always get to see. Ella and Lily solved all the world's problems.

And dinner with RJ, Isabella and Rob was perfect too.

Last week, we took the big girls, and no boys, and hit the theater downtown for a Junie B. performance. Ella and I have big fun reading her books each night. I loved coming into her room to this scene :)

 We all had big fun together and even had the bonus of Yisabella and Amelia from school before the show was over.

The girls had fun enjoying the warm weather again this week. I'd love to say that the snow is behind us but it is NW Ohio and nothing is a sure bet in that category until the end of May.

 Unfortunately, the ridiculous amount of sickness going around at the schools finally hit our doorstep. She is on the mend now but we have enjoyed a whole lot of snuggles the last few days.

She was able to spend a bonus day with Grandma and Grandpa yesterday.

Ella did an amazing job sewing a baby panda during her downtime. Another panda to keep track of!! Oy.

Happy weekend, Ella-land. ~H

All the stuff.

We had field trips and snow days and 60 degree weather these past weeks.

I got to transport these two cuties to the university planetarium. Teagan is such a sweet little friend to Ella.

 And these three are pretty awesome too. We had a great time learning about planets, stars and the Milky Way.

I was thrilled to be able to help out and join in the fun even though the rain was falling in buckets as we made the long walk across the university campus. We. Were. Drenched.

At some point during that night, the rain turned to snow and we woke up to a message that schools were closed. Shrieks of delight!!! It also happened to be my day off from work so Ella and I spent a delightful day of nothing lounging in bed with a picnic, a little homework and a movie.

 It has been way too long since we opened up all the paint and created.

 Thomas tried to help and managed to get paint on just one side of his nose!

Panda Sled Creation

Daily Occurrence

We also gathered to say good-bye to Grant - again. He is back in South Korea teaching elementary kids for another year.

We are so proud of him but it is hard to see him go for 12 whole months.

Trying to get a group shot of these nieces and nephews is always a challenge....

...especially when my mom gets involved.

Enjoying the meltdown with Aubrey and Kayla

Ella is doing great with wearing her glasses as she needs them. I am still struggling with keeping track of the glasses. We had a trip to the dentist with no cavities and that front tooth is still dangling for dear life. We are so proud of her reading! Each night she reads aloud for 20 minutes to us and then has to write about what she read. And although she isn't overly excited about practicing the piano each night, she continues to progress with help with her awesome teacher, Miss Gail. (We adore her)

More up later as I have some catching up to do!

~H