Living In The Moment.

It is a bit quiet on Ella's blog right now and a mixture of reasons are giving rise to this. What is most important is that I'm just trying to live in the moment as her pre-school years wind down. We are busy. Emotions are flying everywhere, and not just mine. My girl who is verbal with a capital V, is just that.

So until I can gather my words to knock you off your chairs :), you'll see that this last week in photos was pretty spectacular.

Mood adjustment ice cream.

Getting someone her very own US Passport.

Tuileres Garden Exhibit at our Art Museum.

Hands-on art exhibit for Birders Week.

Pandas! Pandas!

Breakfast with Larry's band

Ella spent a few days down for the count with a fever. She's such a healthy little pip. It didn't take long to recover.

Ella's artwork contributions for our garden walls.

Thomas practicing his yoga moves in the morning sunlight.

What a great last field trip for this crew.

I was thrilled to be able to miss a little work and go with her.

Yesterday we let every other chore and errand go by the wayside and enjoyed our first 80 degree day at the zoo...with this crew.

Life is good. It is hectic and imperfect. Blog updates can wait. Do we have clean underwear? Great. Laundry can wait then, too, because we've got some more moments to soak up.

~Happy Mother's Day Weekend! H

School days.

 

Nikko. Callie. Avery. Adrienne. Brynli. Ella. Izzie. Josh. Jack. Nathan.

 

 

We are in the last four weeks of pre-school. These little souls have done an awful lot of growing up in the last two years. And it has been such an honor to watch them blossom. These teachers have been at it for over 20 years. They are retiring this year as well. Suffice it to say, there is a whole lot of melancholy swirling around - for everyone. 

Mrs. K (on left) and I have 30 years of history together. She and I taught the littles at our church many moons ago before she and her family moved on to this church. I can't express enough how comforting it has been for me to have her teaching Ella. I've written it here before but it is worth repeating over and over again.

Isn't this just perfect!?

As we look forward to the next chapter in Ella's school life, we are delighted to announce that her name was picked in the lottery for the public school academy here in our neighborhood. She got the golden ticket!!

The new school!

When we dropped off her application at the school several months back, she was quick to tell the principal (after just being introduced to her) that 'she was not going to this stupid school'. What a proud parenting moment!! I guess all that moxie helped. The school is bilingual from day one - German and Spanish. Our first choice was Spanish but there were no openings. It is a foreign language and for that we are thankful. We have a laundry list of registrations, tests and parent meetings in the next month. When we told Ella the great news, she burst into tears about missing her teachers and friends at pre-school. I wish one of them was going to be attending with her...just one :(

As luck would have it, I just learned moments ago that one of Ella's friends from the neighborhood just got the call that she has been accepted at the academy as well. I am so thrilled!

Be prepared for about a month's worth of weepy-I'm-not-ready-to-let-go blog posts about our girl's final month as a pre-schooler. You've been warned.

~H

Someone had a big birthday...

We aren't allowed to talk about age are we? OK. Well, my mom got to celebrate a big milestone and let's leave it at that! My parents look amazing.

We gathered at a former boarding school for boys (turned military school) for an amazing birthday brunch. It is an amazing setting in spite of the bizarre history. Really.

 

Because my parents are up on almost all technological gadgets (don't ask mom to text - she won't do it), we surprised her with a shiny new Kindle HD 8.9". We may never see her again.

 

Mom and her sassy girls.

Grand-daughters (and a great grand-daughter dressed as Elsa!)

I absolutely love these two shots I captured of my brother Greg and Lily.

The group shot!

It was such a wonderful celebration for her. Dad is next up for 'this big milestone' in November! Blessings abound.

~H

Easter Bunny, chocolate would have been better.

I don't know what we did to make him mad but two out of three of us were down for the count and it was not the girl pictured below.

My view for nearly two straight days.

 

Ella's resiliency is other-worldly. While her KatieRoz were suffering the same way half way across the city, her parents under the same roof, Ella happily bee-bopped around the house on Easter morning. She was a saint and a nurse.

Oh and what made it worse was that WE were hosting Easter dinner at our house. Thankfully, mom and dad switched gears at the 11th hour, re-directed everyone to their house and enjoyed a great day without Larry and me.

I got Ella somewhat put together and her Papa picked her up to celebrate.

So happy my niece sent me these pictures as we slept the entire day away. This Sunday, I will be recreating the entire Easter-Sunday-All-Dressed-Up-For-Church extravaganza whether Ella likes it or not!

We did have a great time leading up to our downfall, however. Like how Ella got to celebrate her 5th birthday early with her BFF because of the most ultimate gift that Roz couldn't keep under her hat!

Anna and Elsa dolls!!!!!!!!

 

Some excellent park time.

 

 

And a Saturday morning filled with celebrating our community.

Aunt Kay and Uncle Pete have just jetted across the pond for several weeks of travel but not before slipping in the mail an awesome (classic) book for Ella. We have read about Frog and Toad nearly every night since. Big fun. 

Larry with patience far-surpassing mine, has been trying to engage Ella in some ukulele playing. Listening to the two of them from the other room is fantastic.

Ella has been nursing two other family members back to health as well. Thomas and Mavis had their front claws removed on Monday. It was a difficult decision for us. And it has been a difficult recovery for them. Ultimately, it had to be done in order to maintain composure under our roof. They were destroying everything. She cried no less than a dozen times as they stayed overnight after their surgery. Suffice it to say she was more concerned about them than her parents. Stinker.

Here's to a healthy weekend, yard work, playing catch-up on the blog and my other 50 projects. Happy Friday, Ella-Land! ~H

You can thank your Uncle Greg, Ella.

The most amazing news bulletin ever!!!!

My brother asked me to host Easter this year. 20+ people here on Sunday means prep needs to start now.

First up, extend antique dining room table.

Secondly, look down into hollow pedestal just for the heck of it.

Spy sweet little Panda looking up at me. Wait about 15 seconds, just staring at him without making a noise.

Grab Larry. Show him our own EASTER MIRACLE OF THE RISEN PANDA!!!

Call Ella in. Grab camera again because this is how I live my life.

Joy. Disbelief. More joy. More disbelief.

Assessment.

Smelling him. Feeling him. Smelling him again.

Joy.

She quickly decided he needed a bath as he smelled like 'the old dining room table'. She was right - he did.

At 10:12pm, she is nestled in bed with Panda #1 and Panda #2 trying really hard to sort out her love for the old and the new.

We will be sure to give Uncle Greg an extra squeeze on Easter morning for playing his part in our Easter Miracle.

Oh, and as for HOW ON EARTH DID HE GET IN THERE? I'm still not 100%. Anyone could slip their hand under the table and into the opening to drop something in. The table mechanism was locked and I never, ever lock it which tells me other hands were under there. (Thomas is good but he's not that good.) And yes, it is somewhat feasible one of the cats (translation: Thomas) could have picked him up and taken him in there.

He was MIA for 49 days today. Oh Panda...welcome back.

~H