You Are My Sunshine. Still.

It used to be one of her favorite little songs to sing. We'd sing it together. Larry's band would perform it when she was at a gig. She'd hide her face, equal parts embarrassed and stoked that the band knew.

She's still my sunshine, when clouds are gray. That sunshine might come with an extra dose of sass but I'll take it.

We just finished conferences with Mrs. V (her new teacher this year). It is going even better than we hoped: Ella loves her and Mrs. V loves Ella. We had no idea what to expect after two years with the beloved Mr. H. Ella is thriving, excelling in all her classes. We haven't had one tear about school!!

She's still bashful and adamant about staying the course and not venturing out to try new things. (What an old soul!) We did get her to join Roz for a little basketball fun a while back with this rag-tag group of strong little women.

We've done a little 'bar hopping' together and some of the other band kids joined us.

Birds of Chicago performed nearby and we got to spend an afternoon and evening with all of them. What a fantastic time reconnecting with all of them.

There's a problem in aisle five at the grocery store!

Otis and Olympia, now known as Olive, are slowly growing. They are so super affectionate and nearly perfect in every way. Man, is she having fun growing them...

We hit a concert at the new park down by our waterfront wherein the adults had more fun than the kids.

We went back to the waterfront two days later and took part in a huge art project.

Larry and the band were on the big stage and Grandma and Papa tagged along for a beautiful afternoon.

And somewhere in all this, these two have found a forever home. Although they are still under our feet because Olive is not quite at the 2 lb. mark, we are delighted to announce that Ruby and her family are adopting BOTH of them.

Here's Ruby, getting all kinds of direction from Ella, the Kitten Whisperer. Ruby comes over once a week to check in on her babies. We only have to travel a few blocks to visit them after they leave us!!

The official school pics are in and she nailed it!

The Brownies Troop is meeting regularly again and they had a blast together at the BIG Event.

Our annual neighborhood-wide block party was a huge success!

My buds and I met at Ronald McDonald House to make dinner for the families staying there.

So yeah, my little Sunshine is keeping us busy, and laughing and learning...because if I haven't said it already, third grade homework is no joke!

Happy Weekend! ~H

Amazing start.

At this point, I think it is safe to say Ella is enjoying third grade in spite of the new teacher, moving to the second floor of the building and the stack of homework each week. Pretty much, she looks like this walking out of school each day. More importantly, she looks this happy going into school each day. 

Mrs V. likes to have all kinds of help in her classroom and because of my flexibility a few days a week, I've been able to pitch in a bit. Ella still loves it and I'm getting solid training on the 'new math' during the math rotation sessions. 

We've had some really big fun with our neighborhood family group this summer. I served as co-president (with Mama Michelle) for my third and final time. We are wrapping up our last month as leaders. We covered a lot of ground having fun, not to mention owls and birds making guest appearances.

Some cats and sharks blowing bubbles made appearances too.

Our summer send-off Kids N Cocktails produced 457 kids, I swear. OK, so I exaggerate but we had a whole lot of cuteness going on in our yard.


We had big fun showing our support at the Pride Parade.

Larry and I watched the eclipse thanks to technology (from our respective offices) and Ella got to wear 'the best glasses ever' and do some sun-gazing with her school mates.

Nothing seems to be moving slowly anymore. There were times that a day here or there would seem to move at a snail's pace. Nope. We try to soak it all in, get involved and enjoy the moment. And although it doesn't need to be repeated again, it is one of the many reasons I don't get to update the blog as much as I used to.

And until she absolutely refuses, I'll continue to keep my camera at the ready to capture what I can.

Pic sent to me from her teacher!

Also contributing to our busy schedule? These two foster babies: Olympia and Otis. The little Cat Whisperer is working her magic.

~H