She's Four!!!

(I started this last Tuesday and finished it today. Somehow the pictures I upload got erased and I couldn't add them again so I lost a bit of steam and just now got a chance to sit down and concentrate on it again. )

Today was Ella's birthday! A little bit anticlimatic after Saturday's events but we had to celebrate somehow - just in a more subdued fashion. Since it was a Tuesday, as well as her birthday, I was assigned to be the helper in her preschool class and bring in a special snack - cupcakes of course. She wore a birthday crown on which she drew a sweet picture of her family which became a bit unrecognizable when I suggested adding hair. Apparently we are all pretty hairy!

For those of you who read this blog pretty regularly you hear alot about Ella, but I still can't resist devoting a post to my firstborn. There's so much to say about Ella. I think I could write a post everyday just filled with the things that she says that day. But I don't because at the end of the day I usually forget them. She is very insightful (in a four year old way) and constantly observing life around her and trying to make sense of what she sees. We have alot less "whats" these days and a whole lot more "hows" and "whys". Usually listening to her process life is pretty humorous. A few weeks ago somehow we got on the subject of death and dying and somehow that lead to having babies (circle of life you know) and her thought process went as follows..."So... Nama (my mom) ate alot of food and got a big fat belly and then she had you?"

Ella is a very active little girl. She loves to run and wiggle and dance. The picture below is a typical Ella shot - on the go and unwilling to slow down - especially for pictures.

The things Ella loves. She loves projects. Art, cooking, decorating - any type of creating appeals to her and she usually asks to have some sort of project at least once a day. Anytime I get an idea for an activity I save it for when she asks for a project, because an afternoon can be become pretty unbearable if Ella decides she must have a project and I can't think of one. For her birthday we got her a kids' concoction kit - a recipe book full of ideas and projects as well as paints, glue, glitter and glow in the dark stuff along with measuring cups and spoons for the "recipes". It was a great deal at Costco so if you have a kid interested in creating things I would recommend this. She also got paints and sponges and little paint cups from my parents. Both have already gotten alot of use.

Ella also loves her sweets. After lunch and dinner she always asks for a treat. She is really clear that she doesn't want a snack, but a treat.

Treats are usually something like a handful of chocolate chips or a cookie or something like that. I try to make it small things so she isn't overindulging but at least it's only two small sweets a day.

She's become a really good eater. She loves broccoli (Praise the Lord on high for that!!) and has recently started enjoying celery. She loves any kind of soup and will eat any vegetable that she finds in her soup without questioning it at all. Her favorite "meal" would be a turkey and cheese sandwich, macaroni and cheese, chicken fingers or pizza. Her birthday dinner was homemade chicken fingers (breaded with crunched up cornflakes, so easy and good) and good ol' Kraft mac 'n' cheese. Unfortunately her moods often dictate her willingness to eat the food we're eating. Often times it's thing I know she'll like but she resists just because....actually I don't know why - just exerting her strong will I guess. She loves fruit and often overindulges. I recently bought a box of clementines and her and Catherine realized they could peel them on their own. I think Ella had 5 in one day. It wrecked havoc on her digestive system (still is!). I was working on Saturday and while I was gone Matt said that the girls sneaked a few oranges before he realized what was going on.

Ella loves clothes and she loves to dress up. Not only does she love to dress up in her princess outfits (as evidenced by the party pictures) but she loves to just wear dressy clothes. She would wear a dress and tights everyday if I let her. Truth is, we just don't have that many dresses and tights. Because although she may look sweet and dainty, she doesn't refrain from wrestling and rolling around on the ground so her clothes are pretty dirty by the end of one wearing.

A funny example of her love for dressy clothes happened about a month ago. She had her Thanksgiving program at preschool that we all came to watch. I believe she was wearing jeans and a sweater and her sneakers. I was dressed similarly - jeans and a sweater (but I did have heels on so for me it was dressy!). I was feeling crampy and yucky afterwards so when we got home I immediately went upstairs and changed into my comfy clothes - yoga pants, t-shirt and some type of fleece. Meanwhile in the room next to mine Ella was busily shedding herself of jeans and sweater and putting on a dress, tights and black dress shoes. Which she proceeded to wear ALL. DAY. LONG. It's moments like these that make me wonder how she is related to me!

Here is a sweet picture of her the above mentioned outfit. I made her take of the shoes to play on her blow up bed.

But there's more to it. At one point she lifted up that top dress to reveal another underneath and excitedly said "Look, mom - double dress!" As if there could be nothing greater!

She also loves to put together random outfits that in no way look good together. I don't have a picture of her latest outfit but it without a doubt was the craziest. She had a long sleeved t-shirt on. On top of that was a pink and brown polka dot one piece swimsuit. On top of that was a pair of striped tights. I imagine it wasn't too comfortable because it only lasted a half hour or so.

There's so much more I could say about her. She is a beautiful little girl full of so much personality and spunk and heart. Sorry if I'm repeating myself from up above but I started this a week ago and I'm just now finishing. Sorry for the length but who doesn't want a chance just to ramble on and on about their beloved little one?