Forgive me for the absence...

I have no excuse. I wish I knew why I so often fall off the blogging bandwagon. Today I was thinking about our friends and family who are too far away to see as often as we would like and I thought you all might enjoy an update.

A quick summary since Wes' Birthday:

Hell did not freeze over, pigs did not fly, and lightening did not strike because Wes is "so old" as he thinks he is (so not true my dear).

We are all happy and healthy (sure, we had the standard H1N1 run through our house, bronchitis, food poisoning, ... but who hasn't?).

Ella had a great fourth birthday- we had a family brunch in her honor. And although she had to get four shots at her check-up (and an H1N1 mist thrown in for good measure) she survived (jury is still out on me). She is 75th percentile for weight and 90th for height.

Ella at Four:

Loves ballet, gymnastics, and swimming. She wants to go skiing and I'm working on that.

Has made it clear she does not want to be picked up from school until it is after playground time.

Eats well- her favorite meal is Cheese-it Chicken and mentions to me that Oreos are not for dinner (really?)

Does not stay in her bed all night

Has learned to read ( I so wish I could take credit for that, but thank you Joannie and Joanne at Millstone)

Likes to Skype

Loves to dress up

Has had 5+ time-outs in one day.

Her favorite song is "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas

Doesn't have a hearing problem (I know this because I was thinking she might since it takes multiple requests to get her to put her shoes on in the morning- but no, she is just already learning to tune her mother out.)

Her favorite color is green.

She believes in "Campbell Love".

Her favorite "class" at school is "Chef's Class" in which she learned to never eat cookie batter after the egg was added. I might actually lose some weight from that little lesson since she scolds me if I sneak some batter.

Has stopped napping (I, on the other hand, am holding out hope this will change).

Can reduce me to tears sometimes with her stubborness and my lack of sleep (see note above).

Can fill us with love in a way we never knew before she came into our lives.


We spent Christmas in Michigan with the Cuenys and had a great time. Ella loved sleeping with her cousins. We had told her that the state of Michigan did not allow binks and sure enough, it worked. As we pulled up to Polly's house she threw them out and that was that. We are still laughing at that one. Ella got to go to Camp Ortonville and is still talking about how great it was. I will be catching up with photos from Christmas, but for now, below are a few pictures from this week. The first is Ella standing next to her bed being so proud she "made her bed up" all by herself. The last two I realize are not the ideal snow playing attire. This was all Ella and I was so glad for a break outside I went along letting her make the rules. The rules did not include snow pants.

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...."