Ella At Last: 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!!