Monday check-in!

There's no place like home. You know how Dorothy clicked her pretty little heels together and was whisked back to reality? The mantra has several meanings in our life right now. We have been little tornadoes of activity since my last post which is why the blog posts are suffering. Again.

This is also the theme of the 2nd annual moms group photo shoot blitz I'm involved in this fall. I have managed to photograph 15 families in the last two weeks while dealing with a whole lot of rain, Ella activities, my full-time job, laundry, dinner, homework and bath times. It is a lot of work. It is beyond fulfilling. I am forever grateful for Larry and Ella being complete troopers as I dash here and there around the neighborhood with my Nikon in hand.

But enough of the busy: that isn't going to change anytime soon and if it did, we'd all be bored!

What has our little Ella been up to??

1. Rocking out her school pictures!

 

2. She is featured on the bulletin board at school "How We Came To America".

 

We made sure she was comfortable doing this project for the Spanish teacher, who was also adopted and part of the project. The other student is her classmate Levi who was adopted from Ethiopia. It is super cute.

3. Hanging out at a bar for our pal's CD release party.

Thank goodness for my parents (again) who helped negotiate last Sunday's schedule. Our friend Jeff had his CD release party and Larry and I were in the thick of the event. Ella came for a bit with my parents, ate pizza, danced a little and took selfies of us. She is such a big-game player.

4. Thomas. We have stopped trying to contain him in any fashion. He ripped that cast off a while back and hasn't stopped. He occasionally limps about but is back to more antics than ever. Weekday mornings are hurried and crowded as we all share one bathroom to get ready. We also share it with this fool and his sister. This is not at all unusual.

5. Our neighborhood is glorious right now.

 

And during some hang-time with the Harrison's, we put them to work on the leaf removal!

 

6. Waking up early, even on weekends. Since school has started, Ella's sleep has been disruptive. We do a happy-dance if she can make it all night without screaming out for me. She had a good run last week and boy, was my body happy about that. She doesn't seem to get the memo about sleeping in on Saturdays. At 6:45 this past Saturday, she woke up, immediately informed me she 'had a lot of work to do on the computer'. I made a pot of coffee and fired up the laptop for her. She contently played educational games for the longest time.

I have been able to negotiate my work schedule to offer assistance in the classroom once or twice a week for her teacher. It is awesome!! One of those jobs is computer lab helper. I am amazed at how well these little five year olds navigate through their reading and math tutorials. The joy on Ella's face when I join the class is worth all the gold in the world. There will be a day when she rolls her eyes at my presence at school. Until then, I soak it all in.

7. Friends. Joy.

Yesterday we had a much-needed afternoon with Roz and Ava. I had a much-needed living room pow wow with Sar and Katie. I think the pictures speak for themselves, don't you?

Happy Monday, Ella-Land!! ~H