Ella told the lady at the grocery store that blue was her favorite color, so I will write in blue today.  (At our grocery store, they give away free balloons to kids.  Ella loves it!)  I don't know if she would pick blue tomorrow, but it's our favorite today!

We have had a very busy last few weeks.   Dad has gone back to work and Mom and Ella haven't suffered too much shock.  We do love having Dad around though;  he is so much fun.  You can tell that Ella is his helper.   They have been doing some projects together.   Changing oil, carrying branches, and mowing the lawn are just some of them.

We are excited to see Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin David again.  We are hoping to spend Labor Day with them.  We had an awesome time in St. Louis and are glad to return the favor anytime!

Ella starts preschool with Ms. Ashley next week.  She will be in the young three's class and already has all her supplies.  She picked out a red and pink flowered backpack from the store and is very excited to go to school and play with her friends.  One of her friends, Emily, will be in Mom's class and Ella will be in Emily's mom's class.  (We had a lot of fun putting our rooms together with two energetic little girls running in between them.  Oh yeah, did I mention our classrooms are right next to each other?)

What a fun vacation we had!  Ella got to do many new things and we all got to explore a new place none of us had been to before.  Playing in the water, riding roller-coasters, even driving a boat!  After she was finished with her turn driving, she turns to Dad and says in the most serious voice, "Dad I want to drive that boat," pointing to the huge paddle-wheel river boat that we were passing at the time!  It was a wonderful time of renewal for all of us.

What a fun day!  It started out with rain; lots and lots of rain.  Ella went to get her rain boots before she was even dressed.  We got outside and did lots of splashing in puddles.  Then Ella got to go play with her friend Colton while mom and dad went downtown on a date.  (We went to Arthur Bryant's BBQ for lunch and then to the Jazz Museum.  We got to see Ella Fitzgerald's dress and glasses!)  After we picked our Ella up from our friend's house, we went out for ice cream.  What a sweet day!

After much anticipation and an extended delay, I am back uploading photos!  The past month and a half has been a rollercoaster ride for our family.  My parents moved from my hometown to be closer to family.  Two days later (May 28,) my father passed away.  After a simple service for Dad, we left right away as we had other family waiting for us at our house in KS.  Ella endured the trip well (thanks to the help of a DVD player on loan from friends,) but she was very glad when we got home again.  We had a wonderful week with the Filipeks and were very sad to see them go.  Playing with Cousin David, reading books with Grandma, and eating pizza with Grandpa were some of the big highlights.  We also got to celebrate David's 1st birthday, just a little bit early.

Ella is very busy and loves to go to the park, the backyard, and on walks around the block.   She went to VBS at church and had a blast.  We have had neighbors over to play and spend lots of time with water.  Whether it's in the kiddie pool on the deck, visiting big pools, or using our spray bottle, water is where it's at!

Also, just to let anyone know who doesn't yet, Ella is going to be a big sister!  Baby's due December 26th and we are very excited.  We don't know any gender details, but we know he/she is healthy and busy.

Spring has sprung and so have the flowers.  (Ella's holding some samples in the picture on the homepage.)  We had a beautiful day outside and that's where we spent it! 

Did you know that bop-bee-bops are blueberries?  Apparently, they get stuck in momma's teeth and mom is scared of them.  Ella, however, loves them and can't get enough!

Our church had it's Easter egg hunt this morning. She and mom were early because of music practice, so we did a little swinging first.  Ella got to see lots of friends and even played "Ring Around the Rosie" with Riley.  It wasn't too cold out this year and we found out that Ella is a very good hunter.  When our basket was full, we went inside to open the eggs.  Ella couldn't contain her joy as each egg was opened and candy fell out.  She also got a prize ticket with which she got her new pair of sunglasses!  (Have you seen the picture yet?)  As we were getting ready to leave.  Ella, the smartie, stowed some of her candy in her pockets of her jacket "to keep it warm," she said.  We went to the store afterwards and Ella shared her candy with the checkout lady.  What a sweetie!

We were sitting at the supper table and Ella tells us she's going to cook a ham.  I quickly grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down her recipe.  Here it is:

1.  Eat Pancakes.

2.  Flip pancakes over your head.

3.  Steal carrots from Dad's plate.

4.   Sweep the carrots.

5.  Sweep the Veggie Tales

6.  Sweep the carrots over your shoulder.

7.  Play with the ham on your fork.

Hope your ham turns out nicely!

Today is not a nice day in Kansas.  We are all staying inside watching "Noovies" as it is snowing outside and cold.  This whole past week was wonderful.  Mid-60's to 70's with lots of sunshine.  The weather here is unique.

Ella's imagination has no limits and she loves to tell stories about everything.  Yesterday, a big pink whale spit me into the water after I jumped out of the boat.  (I had mentioned the Veggie Tales movie "Jonah" to our neighbor and Ella must have been listening!) 

Ella got to spend the night at our friend's house last night.  It was the first time away from mom and dad both for the whole night.  I don't think she had any trouble at all.  She loves her friends "Jeff and Sawa."

Easter is next weekend and I will try to update as soon as I am able with egg hunt pictures and new dress pictures.  Have a good Holy Week.