Ellie prepared for Valentine's Day several weeks in advance making Valentine cards and mailing some out so on Valentine's morning she was more than ready to pack her school cards up and get ready for the delivery. I LOVED this day when I was in elementary school. We all made unique Valentine boxes which I'm sure we spent weeks preparing for. I remember how fun it was to see what other people made, to display my own, to deliver my cards, and of course to read those I received when I got home.
Ellie's class doesn't yet do big boxes, but they do make their own Valentine bags, deliver their cards - and Ellie goes through them with the same excitement I remember. She has given herself a card three years in a row and she cracks herself up doing it.
Valentine's morning I made her a heart shaped breakfast to send her off to school with some love and we exchanged our cards and presents. Ellie has been watching these gummy bear videos as was excited to get a giant gummy bear.
(This is her own card to herself.)
That night I had two really cute dates for dinner. We let Ellie choose where we would go on our date. She picked the Pizza Factory, picked out her own outfit and got herself ready to go. Kevin got himself ready too. ;)
Ellie loves the Pizza Factory and she ate every last thing on her plate including her full salad and her drink. I couldn't stop watching her and taking pictures. She was the only one to finish her entire dinner. It was cracking me up to watch her eat. She was eating like she never had seen food before and honestly enjoyed every bite. It was a fun date and at one point we were laughing uncontrollably. (Side story was that Kevin was having a clumsy day and had spilled several times and then proceeded to spill on Ellie at dinner.) I love going out with her and Kevin.
On the 22nd of February, Ellie's class invited us to attend their science fair presentation. Ellie told me it was about germs, but wouldn't tell me her speaking part. The night before and the morning of she told me she was first, but still kept what she was saying as a surprise. She gets nervous as you can tell from the video, but she does a really great job and she was happy to have Garred, Kevin and me there. What I can't decide is if she would be less shy if we weren't there.
Either way - I was so proud of her and excited to learn about germs and how they spread through both direct AND indirect contact!
Ellie has been in dance for several years, but this is her first year on a competition team. Ellie tried out for the team mainly because Isabel was also joining and Ellie and Isy really enjoyed dance together. After Isy moved, Ellie decided she wanted to stay on the team; on FebLUary 26th they had their very first dance competition. Ellie was excited but a bit nervous by the number of strangers that would be there - I was excited but a bit stressed because I forgot to buy the right lipstick...and the dance coach is a bit INTENSE about having it all exactly right...so we sent Kevin on a lipstick hunt, which we still haven't found...yet in the end (of course) it really didn't matter.
We watched several teams perform before them and were honestly impressed by how well Ellie's team did for their age. It came as no big surprise they placed FIRST in their category!! I was proud of Ellie for sticking it out after Isy left as it's not always as fun without her. Luckily, Ellie has other friends on the team and will finish out the remainder of the dance year even though without Isy, her heart isn't always in it. Ellie had her usual fan club in attendance.
It's fun and interesting to see Ellie on different platforms. At home she is crazy (sassy) and fun, at school she is reserved in class and timid to present, and then at dance she is a more confident performer, happy to perform along with the group, sometimes leading and sometimes looking around to make sure she is on task.
She is overall just a great kid and I'm so thankful she's in my life.
