Happy Birthday Wes!

And yet again, it is also Ella's Birthday (hence the Dora hats and princess balloon for Ella). Wes came home for lunch on his Birthday to a surprise from Robbie and Barry. We planned to yell "surprise" when he made it in the house, but as soon as he walked in Ella ran over and yelled, "Happy Birthday Daddy- your Mommy is here!" Classic for a three year old.

Those cookies arrived early for Wes from Nancy and I was able to keep them hidden for a couple days and only ate four (I justify that because it was my name I ate and I fessed up and offered Wes his name if I get them on my birthday too).

Where to begin...

... since I could pick a couple really interesting issues this week to comment on (again, if only I had my own blog I would elaborate on that, but I'll try to keep this related to Ella). Ella began ballet again and loved every minute of it. Last year I had to periodically sit in with her, or take her to the bathroom a couple times (the class is only one hour), or offer a mocha (aka hot chocolate) if she stayed in class the entire time. This year I just might get to be an adult and talk to other parents. I could get used to this. Ella getting ready for class:

She continues to love tennis. Shannon commented after all the golf going on around here that I was probably hoping for tennis to stick and Shannon- you couldn't be more right! This week we went on Thursday for class and Ella was less than thrilled with having a "boy teacher". She didn't want to go if Ashley wasn't teaching. We made it there and within minutes she was enthralled with Brad, her Thursday teacher. After class we got a snack upstairs and she then ran over to watch the next class. She said, "I want to wave to Brad". I couldn't stop her. The windows look down on the courts and Brad saw Ella and lobbed a bunch of balls up to her. If she didn't like tennis already, she was hooked at that moment. And if I didn't like tennis, I do now- that made Ella's week and as every mom knows, it then makes your week.

This past Saturday I woke up to this:

And Ella went to bed in this:

Polly sent this for Ella earlier this summer and at first I was a bit confused on the shorts and long pant thing as an all-in-one. Mostly because I constantly think Ella's cold at night (I make this up- she has never said that) so I wasn't sure about the shorts. Ella was not confused- she wears them all at once. Throw in "Hockey Socks" and this outfit screams Cueny Love!

Pre-school is continuing to be a fun time as well. Ella has her first "field trip" in October and is currently learning a letter every week. She walks around the house sounding out everything she sees: "Schro is a c-c-c-c-c-cat, L-l-l-l-lexy is a d-d-d-d-d-d-d-dog. We play a lot of this and it is fun. On Monday I asked her if she wanted to come home for lunch and she said she wanted to stay for cooking with Ms. Cinda. I go back and forth between being happy for this and being sad.

The Letter A

Our weekend started on Thursday when Polly arrived from Michigan- we celebrated with dinner at Fleurie. Originally, Polly was arriving mid-afternoon on Thursday but ended up arriving mid-afternoon in Baltimore. I told Ella she had boarded the wrong plane and wouldn't be here until Friday night. Ella then conveyed to her entire class that her Aunt Polly had "gotten on the wrong plane- can you BELIEVE that?". I then had to explain the situation to her teachers. So on Friday I dropped Ella off at school and filled out the appropriate paperwork for Polly to pick her up but added that they should not tell Ella about this in case of another mix up. Ella was very pleasantly surprised when Polly showed up at school. Here they are leaving for the weekend:

Hmmm... what is that blue bag? Well,... it is the class Bear that was coming home with us for the weekend. We were the first to have him spend the weekend with us. This, of course, includes a write-up in his journal of our weekend and a list of "A" words we found with Bear. Need I remind everyone that this school stuff is so new to me that I was lost after apple? Thank you Polly for your amazing abilities with the letter A. I should also thank Ella's teacher for reminding me Polly was coming in on an airplane. Thank God for great teachers and aunts. They make us less-than-great mothers look good.

Polly brought Ella a tea set, a princess dress, and amazing goodies for their party. A dress for Bear materialized out of nowhere (again, thank you Polly!). She even cut an apple in half and showed us how it can be a stamp of a star- and then packaged the apple stamp so it could go back to school with Bear. Polly- you are amazing (see, I can get the hang of this a stuff). Here they are at their party:

That night Wes missed out on going to Mas but he, Grandpa Bill, and Ella had their own party (and another tea party) at home. Polly and I went to the spa and then dinner with Steve and somehow made it home after midnight (when was the last time I did that?). The next morning, Ella fed Bear:

On Saturday we had friends over Steve's house to celebrate the completion of the addition to Terrell Road that my Mom started before she was diagnosed with cancer. She saw the groundbreaking but that was all so it was a bitter sweet day. It was also her birthday. Our friend Mary sent sunflowers to add sunshine for the day. When I told Ella, she said, "how sweet" without even realizing how appropriate that is (not to mention a good use of the letter S, huh?). Here is a picture of the addition (notice the adirondack chair):

The day was beautiful- so nice to see old and new friends. We had a sleepover that night and the next morning Steve and Ella fed Bear...

Bear also had his picture taken at the airport (see, I'm a quick study) and then at the golf course. Both Wes and Ella taught Bear how to play golf. There were no As to be found here, but since it is such a big part of our lives, we had to include Bear too.

And finally, everyone fell asleep...


I have copies of Bear's journal entry if anyone would like to learn more about the letter A.

Tennis anyone?

That 's right, I finally gave in and signed Ella up for tennis. I was a bit nervous about how this would go- is it competitive at this age? It seemed a bit when I called about lessons, but I was completely wrong. It was all fun and I really enjoyed meeting the other moms and Ella enjoyed actually making contact with the ball (that might have actually happened twice). She also wants to play basketball (is that even possible at this age?), soccer, gymnastics, swimming, and of course, ballet. She is too young to understand "over scheduled", but rest assured, Wes and I definitely are not.

First Week

Ella's first week was great- for all of us. The week continued with good (read: tear free for both of us) drop offs, fun activities (see picture below of her cookie she made in "cooking class" and I actually handed in her "my favorite things" collage on time. She had fun picking out the pictures and was sad when it stayed at school (understatement, tears were involved). She made a doll of herself and has been singing "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" every day. I love all these fun books and songs she comes home with. I messed up when she offered me a bite of her cookie though- I apparently had too big a bite and it really made for a difficult afternoon (understatement, again tears were involved).

Ella's First Day of Preschool

Preschool. Not daycare, not a nanny, not camp, but preschool. Why does this distinction have to be made? I have to admit I didn't even make the distinction until Ella said she was so big that she was going to preschool this year. Well, okay then.

Wes had an early meeting and left while Ella and I were still sleeping. I have to say, once Ella pointed out the preschool thing, I had visions of both of us taking her for her first day, a family breakfast (yea right), matching outfits (just kidding, sort of),... but you get the idea. Or maybe you don't but I am that type of person where everything runs through my mind in June Cleaver perfection before reality sets in. It isn't a bad reality- far from it, but also far from June Cleaver. But I digress. Ella woke up, we had a snack in bed, played a little, Ella picked out her outfit (very different than what I picked out) and we went downstairs to have breakfast. There we found a note from Wes:

So sweet. And yes, since he wasn't here this morning I'm fine with embarrassing him by posting this. So after I read it to Ella she said, "Oh lucky you mom, daddy loves you too”. Isn't that great- I'm the afterthought in her world because daddy loves her first and she is so happy for me to be included.

We arrive at school and I'm a bit worried about how she will be when I leave since this summer there were many days I left her in tears at school, barely making it to my car before I cried as well. But not today. She ran into her class, joined in circle time and proceeded to tell everyone how much she grew last night and how she is now four years old. I quietly left.

And did I mention she also pooped this morning? To the new reader here, this seems inconsequential, but to all you who know the issues we have with that, sing it with me: "Ella is a super duper pooper...."

July!

July always brings our H2C2 trip (Hawkins, Holland, Campbell, Cueny) and this year we went to Santa Fe. This was a special year because my Dad turned 70 and we celebrated every day! On top of all the great activities, we had this amazing house where we could all hang out outside by the fire and the kids could run around without us having to keep an eye on them all the time. It's hard to say what my favorite thing was, but the balloon ride and the dinner are my top two. With golf, fly fishing, a day at the spa, visiting Taos, Bandelier, downtown Santa Fe, ... it is definitely hard to choose.

I have added a couple pictures below but after checking out Dad & Nancy's blog and Bella's blog, I'm sure you saw what a great trip it was.

The girls with sparklers celebrating the 4th (Thank you Nonna!)

The H2C2 Clan

The littles sleeping together

The littles sleeping with Uncle Mark

Mark fly fishing

Wes' catch

Before take- off

Dad and Bella

Bella "driving" the balloon! Isn't that so fun- Bella lit the burners and guided us above a mountain.

Bath time.

The littles spending time with Poppy.

Ella with Mark and Polly on our last night.

Happy Birthday Aunt Shannon

Who am I to say no when Ella wanted to sing Happy Birthday to Shannon while jumping on the bed? As Ella pointed out, Aunt Shannon would let her. Ahhhhhh, the age of reasoning. For most of the video she is watching herself in the mirror. Enjoy!

Visit to Creeksedge

This week, Ella and I headed up to the Eastern Shore to see Dad and Nancy and my Grandma. I went into Baltimore for a couple days while Ella lived it up at Creesedge. Among many (many!) fun activities, this was an especially memorable visit because Ella started her trail at Dad and Nancy's. Isabella has had a trail for a while and I just could barely wait for Ella and Grace to start their trails. This entails them being big enough to actually pick out a path and clear it and (drum roll please...) Ella was big enough! Yea for Ella's Trail:

Ella also had her first kayak ride. When I asked her about "rowing" she corrected me to "paddling" .

Ella was lucky to get a lot of time in with her Great Grandma.

A great visit and if I hadn't left my laptop in Baltimore, it would have been a longer one. But Ella was able to meet all my friends at work which was nice.

Happy Birthday Mary!

Here is how this came about:

Me: Ella, it's Ms. Mary's Birthday today!

Ella: Can I see her?

Me: (so sad) Not today

Ella: Can we blow out candles for her?

Me: Not today

Ella: Who will sing?

Me: How about you?

Summer Summary

Thank you for checking in on us even though we disappeared for a bit. At least my last post was a great memory to revisit. Somehow I just haven't been feeling the blogging bug lately. I'd elaborate, but this isn't the "Life of Sara" blog so I'll spare you the details. Moving on....

Since the last post, Ella had her dance recital:

So sweet. What could be better than a bunch of little girls in tutus!

We had a quick trip to Georgia when our Aunt Clifford passed away. She lived an amazing life and we all agreed to be able to live in your own home until age 94 when she passed was a life to be celebrated. Polly and Mark flew in and out in the same day and we were there for only one day- but a life like Clifford's could not be remembered without us all together. Thank you to all who remembered her with us.

Our summer has been filled with lots of family fun. We have had many great dinners with GPS:

And Grandma has been by many times to tuck Ella in at night- even if it means she too is "tucked in" with Ella:

Grandpa Bill visited and how could I not post this:

Aunt Jodi, Selma, and Kemper are visiting from Africa and Ella is loving being "big" with them:

Ella had her Little Gym recital:

Here's a big one: Ella went to the dentist for the first time and she has no cavities! I'm not really sure how that happened because our tooth brushing of late is one big fight but I guess we're fighting the good fight, so to speak. Of course the whole pacifier issue came up but, well, let's just chalk that up to parental survival at this point.

And... (drum roll please)... Ella started Summer Camp. Wow! This was a huge transition for me and it seemed an easy one for Ella and Wes. I worried over every little detail for absolutely no reason at all. Ella had fun swimming, playing, and making art projects that are beyond me. Routine-wise, it was a big change for us because now Ella has breakfast at home, gets sunscreen on, and wears her bathing suit to school. After swimming they change into clothes and continue their day. I was worried this would all throw Ella for a loop but no, apparently I'm the only anxious one in the family (of course all of you know that; however, I'll continue in blissful denial). Wes can do drop off without tears but I just haven't mastered that art yet. Ella cries, I cry, I call Wes, I call Polly... I'm a disaster really. I think at this point they have both stopped answering their phone between 8 and 9 am. Of course when I pick her up she doesn't want to leave. Here is Ella on her first day of camp:

That catches us up through the end of June. Hopefully soon I'll get July posted because it was a great month for Ella! But just in case I don't get to it as soon as I would like, please visit http://lifewiththecuenys.blogspot.com/ and http://musingsfromcreeksedge.blogspot.com/ to read about our vacation to Santa Fe.

Quiet Time... for Mom

Some days I feel like the only quiet time I get is when Ella is either sleeping or taking a bath/shower. For the most part, things are pretty easy these days (no, I can't believe I actually put that in writing either- but she is just one child. A friend of mine is about to have his third under three so, well, who am I to complain about Ella's thunderbolt threes?). But today Ella was having a difficult time listening and I was having a difficult time remaining calm. She finally said she just wanted a bath which turned into a shower which sort of re-set our day (Thank you God). Then she went right to her room for a nap and that definitely re-set my day. So here I am writing with the perspective of someone who has a quiet house on a rainy day with a sweet, sweet little girl tucked tightly into bed.