Ella's 4 year old dr. appt & stats

The 4 year check up comes with the dreaded finishing off of kindergarten shots. Ella had been dreading this for weeks. I debated whether I should tell her about the shots or let her find out once we got there so she didn't have to worry about it beforehand. I decided she needed to be prepared and in hinds sight I am glad I did it this way. We have a book about going to the doctor and getting shots that we were able to read and she would talk about it every few days but in the end she did great.

This is her snooping through the doctors drawer.

& laying on the exam table before the doctor came in.

& hiding under the exam table after the doctor left and we were waiting on the nurse to come in to administer the shots.

& after she got her shots. She cried for about 2 minutes but then was just fine. She really was very brave about it. The best news is, neither girl has to have any more shots until they are 10!!

Ella is an all around healthy girl and I am beyond thankful for this. She weighs 35.2  lbs, which is 50th percentile. She is 41.25 inches tall, which is 75th percentile. She is tracking taller than most but is perfectly average for weight. Love this girl so much!!

Ella's 4 year old questionnaire

1. What is your favorite color? Yellow, golden and purple... And blue... And pink

2. Who is your favorite friend? Katie and Emmy

3. What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks and fruit bars

4. What is your favorite thing to do with Reese? "Play with her with the things upstairs"

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Chick fil a

6. What is your favorite drink? Juice

7. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with Katie and Lily

8. What is your favorite sport? Gymnastics 

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? "Maybe I'll just stay with you, I think I want to be a kid forever" 😂

10. What is your favorite animal? Giraffes and zebras

11. What is your favorite book? Peter Rabbit

12. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Go to chick fil a (with all of my family)

13. What is your favorite thing to do with mommy? Go to chick fil a (with all of my family)

14. What is your favorite song? Eye of the tiger

15. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Pasketti 

16. What do you take with you to bed? "The rainbow bear that Lily gave me."

17. What is your favorite holiday? My birthday

18. What makes you happy? Mama 😊

19. What makes you sad? When Katie and Emmy won't play with me

20. What do you think about before you go to sleep? "That I'm scared because the lights go off"

21. What do you like to do as a family? "I told you, go to chick fil a"

Ella's 4th birthday!

My littlest baby turned 4 on Saturday! Time. Is. Flying! This girl is so much fun and has added indescribable amounts of joy to our lives. She was a bit of a surprise and I am so thankful that God decided to give her to us when He did.

The weekend before her birthday her Emmie (my mom) came to celebrate with her. She came the weekend before because she had that Monday off, so it was more time to be able to spend. We had a lot of fun & Ella got the 6 barbie princesses that she's been dying to have as well as the palace pet figurines, she was thrilled.

Gigi and Pop pop came in for her birthday weekend. The below shot is her reaction when she opened her Peppa pig house and car. I caught her in mid air, jumping with excitement.

We had her party at the house with a small group of little girls that she loves. Princess Belle came by and Ella is still in the clouds from the excitement of this visit. She had an absolute ball and will definitely remember this party for many years.

Ella, I love you more than you could ever imagine. You are a precious little girl that is so sweet, sensitive and funny. Happy 4th birthday!!

Life-on-life influence

Today at church one of our favorite pastors spoke on evangelism. He focused on the importance of having a mentor that is a stage or two ahead of you in life as well as having a mentee a stage or two behind. 

This sermon really spoke to me. I have been thinking about finding a woman that is a stage or two ahead of me to look to for guidance, support and friendship for over a year now. Ideally I'd love to find someone that has raised or is raising daughters a bit older than mine. It would just be so amazing to have someone to confide in and look to for advice as we eventually handle the mean girl stuff, pre-teen attitudes & dating 😁😁😁. Finding this person has been a challenge for me. I did this well when I was working in a professional setting but it was for some reason so much easier to find mentors and I had some great ones in the professional setting. I'm praying and searching for who God may have for me in this area and hope to find someone in his timing to do life with. 

I also have a heart for high school and college girls and have been considering starting a community group for a high school girls. I just think this would be so much fun, rewarding and would be a highlight of my life a few years from now. I think I'd like to wait until Ella is in kindergarten to take this on and I'm hoping I may find one or two other ladies that may want to do this with me. An added perk will be that my girls will hopefully be influenced by some high school girls that are making good choices and may pour into their lives as well. 

More to come on this but I'm believing this will be a reality in the near future.

Reese starts kindergarten, how can it be?

A week ago today my biggest baby went to kindergarten. People with kids always say that time flies but until you have kids you never understand just how fast time flies by. I cannot believe she is in kindergarten. She is loving it!

The week before kindergarten she got a pretty big haircut, about 5 inches!

Her teacher's name is Mrs. Elmore. We have heard so many great things about her. I have been really impressed so far. She has taught kindergarten for many years and seems to be great with the kids. Reese really seems to like her.

The morning of she was a little anxious but pretty excited. Once we got there she happily picked a table and played with the legos on the table but when it came time for us to leave her she wasn't so happy. She cried a bit but the librarian, that lives in our neighborhood, stopped in and did such a great job of comforting her. The crying only lasted a moment and when we picked her up she was all smiles. We took her out for fro-yo to celebrate a great 1st day.

I walked her in the first 3 days. On the 3rd day, Wednesday, we had some really loud storms overnight. Reese still hates storms and woke up crying at 4:30. She never went back to sleep so when I walked her into school they had to peel her off of me, crying. She calmed down in moments and went on to have a really great day. I think it had a lot to do with her level of exhaustion due to being up for hours at the time of drop off.

Because the Wednesday drop off was a bit rough I worried about the plan to let her walk in on her own Thursday. We went for it anyways and she walked in like a superstar, no hesitation and happy as could be. I am so glad that she was prepared for all of this and that we have raised her to be so confident and independent but I am also sad that all of the baby seems to have faded away.

I held it together and did not cry during this first week. However, the Sunday before one of our pastors prayed during church over our schools, teachers and students. While he was praying that He would protect our students and guard their hearts and minds...it hit me that even though I have listened to prayers like this year after year this year it actually applied to me an oh so real way. I may have lost it a bit.

And we can't forget that this sweet girl started Pre-K last Monday. She is so excited that she now gets to do computer and Spanish and all of the other things that the Pre K classes do but the younger kids don't. Her main teacher is Ms. Skylan and she seems to really love her. Could she be any cuter?

Random updates on a Monday

1. Ella really likes having her picture taken. She poses in the most random places and says "mommy take my picture" and if I don't happen to have my phone she pouts for a while. Here is the latest random shot while at Walgreens picking up ear drops for her sister's swimmer ear problems (yes she went in her jammies).

2. These girls have such a special bond. They haven't seen each other much over the summer but the past few weeks have gotten to spend some sweet time together. Reagan, her mom, Reese and I are going to take an overnight trip to Branson before school and I think they are really going to have a blast. It will be interesting to see if they keep this bond over the years even though they will not see each other as much since they are going to different schools.

3. Reese's last day at The Kids Studio was a few weeks ago. I cannot believe her time there is done. She spent 5 great years there and I am so thankful to have found such and amazing daycare/preschool center. The staff really loved her so well and taught her so much. I am especially thankful for the love for Jesus that is taught there and all that Reese soaked up from many. She will miss it but will visit often since Ella will still be there for a bit.4.  My mom came up for a visit while she has a short break between summer school and the school year starting. She was here for her and my youngest sisters birthday. We had a lot of fun! A highlight was when she was pulling toys out of the pump of our neighborhood pool and reached in for what she thought was a toy frog. She quickly realized (after having it in her hand) that it was a real, dead, bloated frog. She shrieked and threw it. It takes a lot to get my mom flustered. Reese, Ella and I laughed hard. Reese wanted to play with it and kiss it like she does live frogs and I had to threaten her to keep her from it.

5. Look at this back seat full of cuteness!

6. During the 3 weeks that Reese is out of school before kindergarten starts I have been able to spend some really special time with her on the days that Ella goes to school. Some of the highlights have been eating at a bakery and watching them make cakes for hours, An Anna, Elsa and Christoff dance party at the library, sitting together for lunch at restaurants, high rise trampoline park and a super special overnight trip to Branson with her bestie and mom. I cherish this special time I have gotten with her and cannot believe kindergarten starts a week from today!

7. Gigi also paid us a special visit before the girl starts kindergarten. We had a lot of fun with her and even got some free babysitting since Neal and I had an event to go to.

8. This is Neal and I at said event, The Color of Hope. I just love this handsome man.

9. We love this sweet dog.

10. I am really going to miss getting to start most of our days relaxing with this sweetness.

11. The girls have been saving money for cowgirl boots and last week they finally got to go purchase them. I love that they have wanted something so badly and worked hard for it.

12. I am predicting Ella is going to have a hard time with her sister going to kindergarten. They play together often and love each other so much.

13. This one was longer than normal!