May Days

It is still May - and I am doing a May post. Good work Brooke. It's a little long so it may take you until June to read it.

I loved May. It was busy and warm and fun. Ellie continued to crack me up. A few of her funny comments:

When I asked her what she wanted to do one day she said, "I'm still thinking about it. I'll be done tomorrow." I am not sure why I thought it was so funny, but it cracked me up. She knew she'd figure it out tomorrow.

I was putting her to bed one night and Kevin went to get her some milk, she said, "Now he will give me the life of Indians." I had no idea milk was so powerful - or where that came from.

We went to dinner one night and I was going to pay...Ellie said, "Kevin - you should pay because you are the strongest. Because you are the man of the house. And because you are the guy of Spain." He had to pay after that.

She also started to enjoy snorting. She tries to snort when she laughs. I haven't captured it on video yet...but I hope to. It's pretty funny.

Ellie had to get her 5 year old shots in May. Ellie (like her mom) likes to know what is coming up and so I try to talk about things with her before they happen. When we were talking about her shots she asked how many she would need. I said she would probably have 4 or 5, they would hurt a little, but be over really fast. She looked at me in disgust and said, "Hello here - 5 is a lot!"

Our doctor - who is the greatest - always does a very detailed exam and asks Ellie a lot of questions which she doesn't like to answer because she doesn't like to talk to him. As we were preparing for the doctor visit I told her that if she would talk to the doctor and be good for her shots we could do anything she wanted after her appointment. She did incredible. She answered all of his questions and ended up having 4 shots - which I could tell they hurt and I felt so bad - but she was awesome.


I could tell it had impacted her and she knew she had done a brave thing. She said, "At school they will ask what happened to me, and I will tell them I had to get shots." She said this a couple of times after. She decided she wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese's for her reward. She hurt still as we walked to the door. We had a great time playing games and winning tickets. She left with a few prizes from the tickets and said, "Mom, each prize helps it feel better." Now that is a kid that knows how to work it. :) We had so much fun, we had to go back later in May to play a few more games.


Grandma turned 65 in May and for her birthday she wanted to be in Disneyland. Ellie was so excited and frequently asked how many nights left until Grandma's birthday. It was a banner trip. We went to Disneyland, California Adventure, a Dodger's game, and played at cousin Mason's new house. We even got to have a birthday party with Mickey and Minnie.





One of my favorite moments ever happened at the birthday party. We were getting our pictures with Mickey and Minnie and Minnie stopped and took the time to hug Ellie and she gave her a kiss on the cheek. I can't capture in words why this was one of my favorite moments, but if I try, it was just how excited Ellie was. She was glowing. We were back at our table and she couldn't wait to tell me. It was just a satisfied, happy, excited look on her face that made the entire day for me. Thank you Minnie Mouse!

This is a little video of Grandma on her way to her party. Not acting or looking her age. Thanks for sharing your birthday with us!



We went to several BBQ's in May and Ellie had to dress for the occasion each time. I mean it's a party, right? For one she went in full Minnie Mouse gear. For another she went with all of her large bows in her hair.


For yet another she got dressed in full pink. I told her that she didn't match and she told me she did...it was all pink. She found the perfect pair of socks to pull the outfit together and prove me wrong. I guess the girl has style.


At yet another BBQ she and some other kids bonked heads on the trampoline. The all had to ice up.


On the Sunday before memorial we traditionally went to my dad's grave. I wish Ellie could have known him. I know he would have adored her and she him. I know I did.


On memorial day we had some Training Table, a little mini-golf and some shopping with Ellie's "sister" MaKayla and my mom. Ellie was so excited to hang out with her that she wanted to go home and spend the rest of the afternoon with her. I was happy to let her go so I could go home and be miserable with pink eye (in both eyes) and some other ear, nose, throat gunk. I was grateful Ellie did not get it.


As May is close to the end of the school year, Ellie's class had their spring program. I love going to her school programs. They are seriously the greatest. For her program each kid introduced themselves and said something they liked about the school year. Ellie had been practicing her line for a few weeks and Kevin had mentioned that he couldn't believe it was staged. I said I thought they chose what to say and then just had it written down to memorize it. Ellie agreed with me and said, "We aren't on the stage, we are just on the bleachers." Check out how this class can move their hips! (Ellie is in the middle row on the right end.)

----Video wouldn't load----I'll have to try again later----sorry----

Speaking of moving your body...Ellie's dance class had their Wizard of Oz performance in May. Ellie's class performed as crows with the Scarecrow. I think Ellie's favorite part about dance is dressing up and getting to put on make-up. She was in costume for three days. She did make a pretty little crow.



We ended the month this weekend with a Bee's baseball game on Friday. Which is really not about a baseball game but a train ride, nachos, an entire red snow cone down a white shirt, and waiting through several innings for the fireworks to start. Saturday we went swimming, golfing (Ellie was very reluctant to go, but enjoyed running on the grass, practicing her putting, and driving the cart and now wants to go every day we don't have something else and it's not raining) and played with the kids in Grandma's neighborhood. Sunday dinner at Grandma's finished us off.



It was such a simple weekend, but one of my favorites. It was also one of Ellie's. Friday night she said, "This is the greatest night ever." Saturday she said,"Today was so fun, just like yesterday." And today she said,"Yesterday was also so great because I got to stay up late." It's for sure the simple things that we enjoy. I loved being outside watching kids play, enjoying time with Ellie and just enjoying life.

Reading, Writing, Arithmetic

Ellie has 2 weeks left of preschool and I am always amazed at what she has been able to at 4 and early 5.

She is reading sentences in her books like these:


She is learning to spell and write. On her own she sounded out these words; in 4 year old phonics I believe they work. :)

Bad Witches (X - meaning - not here)
Good Witches (check, meaning - here)
Princes
Princesses
Fairies
Animals
Babies
Dog


She did an entire 64 page K-1 grade math book in two days. She was so motivated by wanting to put her name on the award page at the end. I love that she loves to learn and so far, seems to do well at it.



And my favorite....art. I think I love it so much because I have no talent in it. I am so logical and so learning things with rules like math and reading were easy for me. But art is pure creativity and I don't get it....so I am always excited by Ellie's art. Here is one of my recent favorites.


Preschool was great for Ellie - I loved picking her up each day and asking about her day. She is always happy when I pick her up. She frequently skips to the car, which one teacher commented that it meant she was happy inside. I loved hearing about her friends and looking at her pages of school work. I loved listening to her teachers say how well behaved she is and what a great reader she is. I hope school continues to be a positive thing for Ellie. I am sad to give up preschool - but excited for what comes next!

April

I swore (and I do sometimes) I was going to do an April post before May came around and then it happened. It came. And there was no April post. But now a month after (which is becoming a habit) is an April post.

Ellie is getting so grown up. She wants to make all of her own decisions and do what she feels like doing. And yet, she still wants to hold my hand when we walk (this is absolutely my favorite thing in life,) sleep in my bed at night, and suck her thumb. It's a fun mix but I prefer the younger side of Ellie still.

One Sunday in early April we had game and Easter crafts at grandma's house. We made Twinkie chicks and foam bunnies. The bunnies were supposed to be door hangers, but I decided I wanted to put mine on the fridge so I didn't add the hanger. When we got home my bunny kept falling off the fridge and Ellie said, "Mom, that is why they are door hangers."

My mom had a teenage girl, MaKayla staying at her house the same day. A friend of my brothers came to visit him and told me I had beautiful daughters. We laughed and told Ellie she now had a sister. Ellie has referred to her "sister" MaKayla several times over the month. She really wants a sibling. Garred should get on that. :)





Ellie and I took a short trip to Grover, Utah to enjoy the peace and quiet of nothing at "The Ranch." Ellie and her friends Sage and Taj enjoyed being free outside to roam and play. They had fun with an outside treasure hunt. Ellie asked me why we don't have a cabin. I ask myself the same question all the time. I would LOVE a cabin in the hills or a ranch house in beautiful Capital Reef. On the beautiful ride there we passed a section of land that had a lot of large, dark brown rocks on the ground (I assume lava) - Ellie and I were looking out the windows and enjoying the scenery when Ellie said that she thought it was probably giraffe poop. Disco.



Of course we had Easter in April....Easter eggs, Easter egg hunts, Easter family parties, Easter dresses, Easter stories. Ellie did every egg decoration she could. We had gone shopping for an Easter dress, and finally found one that didn't itch but we forgot the tights. The Easter Bunny put some in Ellie's basket and she was in awe that he would know to bring her some. That's one smart bunny. Ellie was excited about the Easter bunny this year, looked beautiful in her dress, and had fun with hunts and baskets, but also knew the reason for the holiday. I was talking about someone dying one day around Easter and she said, "But mom, everyone lives again."




April had more birthdays. Ellie went to her cousin Kamri's 5th birthday party where they had a dance-off. She also went to Bailey's 4th birthday party. Ellie and I threw Kevin a surprise birthday party. We filled the house with balloons and birthday signs, set up a treasure hunt of presents for him, and baked him a cake. It was fun to do this with Ellie, she was so excited to surprise Kevin. And we were both amazed we fit 33 balloons in my car. Ellie had to hold onto them as they were flying out the back of the car on our way home.



Ellie's friend Savannah was in town for a week and started the trend of tea parties. There were several in April with lemonade, treats, and dress up.


I have been trying to come up with new things to do with Ellie, so we went to Color Me Mine. It was fun to watch Ellie paint and create. We had to wait 5 days to pick up the finished product and Ellie counted down each day.


I'm excited for summer when we can hopefully do more outside. Too bad mom has a job and no sabbatical like last summer. I'm sure we'll still find a way to make the summer months fun.