A Five Year Old Birthday in Pictures...

She chose what we did the entire day. Food, activities, all the way until bedtime. She had a great fifth birthday!

FIVE

Today my big girl turned 5. FIVE. I can hardly believe it has been FIVE years since I gave birth to her and met her for the first time. What joy she has brought to my life. From the second I found out she was a girl, I had all these dreams and thoughts about what it would be like to have a daughter. I am so in love with her and lucky to be her Mommy. She has really grown up a lot this last year. She is an awesome big sister to Hadley and a great little Mommy to her. She is always looking out for her and consoling her when she is sad. She is in LOVE with her Daddy. IN LOVE. Definitely a Daddy's girl. And she wants to be just like her big brother and she learns so much from him. She is starting to have her own opinions about what she wears, what color she wants her nailpolish, and what jewelry she wants to wear. She is starting to want her hair done the way she wants it. (Lately a side pony that I can never do quite right because she wants it to look like the side pony from the 80's) Guess you could say she is getting really independent. It makes me sad to watch her grow before my eyes, yet happy for her and proud of her for the little girl she is growing to be. She is so excited to grow up. She is a determined little girl and knows exactly what she wants to be when she grows up- a singer- on CMT. LOL. Slow down Ellie, your Mama is trying to take it all in.

I love you Elle Bells. Thanks for being such a sweet, loving girl and an amazing daughter!!

Happy Fifth Birthday!!

August 20, 2005

And now:

First Grade

Tonight was Meet the Teacher and to say that we are excited for Gavin would be an understatement. I have heard nothing but good things about his new teacher, Mrs. Bruno. Funny thing, the year that I left teaching (because I was pregnant with G) Mrs. Bruno came in and was in my old classroom halfway through the semester. And now G has her. She is so nurturing, sweet, and you can tell she is going to be a lot of fun. Gavin was also super excited to find out that his best little buddy from his Kindergarten class, Grant is also in his class. Could First grade get any better?!? I think not!! Needless to say, we feel very blessed to be at such a great school with such great teachers. Every time we think of moving, it's the school that holds me back. I can't believe that on Monday, I will have a first grader at the school where I used to teach first grade. Where I was pregnant with Gavin in my belly. Gavin has been in a first grade class before, he just doesn't remember it. :0) Crazy how time flies.

Here is my big man and his first grade teacher:

I did this exact bulletin board for years. I guess some things have stayed the same since I left first grade. :) G was excited to see his name!

Cheer Camp

Ellie just finished Cheer Camp this week and did she ever love it!! She has been very excited to do this camp all summer. She had a blast every day. We debated starting Cheer last year but decided on ballet and tap instead. But this year she is doing Cheer and is super excited. Especially after completing cheer camp. She is so in love with cheer camp that she goes around the house clapping hard and cheering things she wants to say to you. "I.... AM... REALLY HUNGRY." "CAN. I. GO. PLAY. OUTSIDE." All while clapping and using her cheer voice. It's quite hilarious and adorable all at the same time. I am excited for her to try something new.

It's a Bird, it's a Plane, it's..

SUPER G...

Do you recognize this guy??

What about now??

It's Super G....

It was Super Hero week at VBS and today he got dressed up like a Super Hero and he's been in costume ALL. DAY. LONG.

Even when we went to meet my friend and the best Kindergarten teacher in the world for lunch today...he was still Super G. And a funny super G with Bread for eyes....

The people at Tommy Bahama's got a good laugh...

And I have been laughing all day...

Look Who is Coming Around...

Ever since Destin, we have this girl that we still aren't sure we recognize completely....

I mean she even ASKS ME to take her picture, "Mommy, take a picture of me...."

Hands on the hips and everything. POSING... The girl is POSING...

And smiling, looking at the camera, no longer hiding her eyes....

Who is this child??? And where did she come from???

Hoping and praying she stays like this so I can get more pictures of her pretty face...

Summer Reading Awards and Other happenings...

We've been busy. VBS, camps, playing, eating, swimming, you know...the good ol' summer time stuff. We always spend more time at the Library in the summer too. Back in June, we went and watched a Magic show and checked out books. As we were there the librarian encouraged all three kids to sign up for summer reading and she assured them there would be prizes if they completed it. Gavin and Ellie each read their own books. Gavin 25 and Ellie 20, and Hadley got an award for me reading her 20 books. I am in love with children's books so it wasn't that hard for Hadley to get her award. But Gavin and Ellie worked super hard to earn theirs, and they did. Last week we went in and turned in our forms and they got their awards. They got a lot of free kids meals certificates for around town and tickets to an Astro's game. Guess we'll be doing that soon. Anyway, here they are before we turned in their certificates. I am so proud of them, especially G and E!!!

In other news, last week after looking at our Destin pictures I decided to get Ellie's hair cut. We contemplated Locks of Love, but after realizing it was a 10 inch braid (not length) we realized she'd have a little buzz in the back and I wasn't thrilled with that idea. Maybe next time. I did get a good 5.5 inches off although it is hard to tell.

This is after the 5.5 inches was taken off...still a lot longer than I thought it would be- but I love playing with her long hair:

While we were there we got Hadley's ears repierced. Not sure if you've noticed in pictures but she has been walking around with one earring pretty much since we got them pierced. They were pierced uneven at first so I took the one out and let the hole close. We finally went back and got it repierced. She wasn't as giddy or excited this time. But with Daddy's help, gum, and the lady telling a little white lie, we got the one re-pierced and hopefully we are done with that now.