A day in the life of Ella

I recently found a camera at a garage sale and gave it to Ella.  She has been on a rampage taking photos around the house.  Needless to say the kids get plenty of practice posing for pictures - but it's pretty humorous to listen to them direct each other around.  "Sit here, do this, smile".  One morning when we were skyping Ella decided she wanted to have a picture of Baby Nora on her camera so she took a picture of the computer screen.  Actually a pretty good idea.  Cyndy asked for the picture so I downloaded the memory stick from Ella's camera.  Thought I might share what a little 5 year girl finds interesting enough to take a picture of.  These pictures were all taken on the same day and within 30 minutes.  I guess now I know what they do all day when I'm not looking.

Looks like a good day!

Ella's Dance Recital 2011

I wasn't able to video the actual recital, so this is video from the dress rehearsal - not quite as good, but still super cute!  Ella had such a fun day, she LOVES being on the big stage!  In this rehearsal she looks to the side some to see her teacher ,but she was so proud after the "real" show to tell us that she did her dances without even looking at the teacher!  She was so happy that she could hear us cheering for her, but said that she was "concentrating on doing her dance, so she couldn't see us in the crowd".  I keep wanting to cut dance out of our crazy schedule, but every time I see her up on that stage I think "maybe one more year"!  There is just something about seeing her up on that stage with the lights, and music and costume that makes you smile so big that your cheeks hurt.

Madelyn learning to ride her bike

 I decided to give Madelyn a try at riding her bike with no training wheels.  She can balance so good on her scooter that I thought she might be able to do it.  So just out of curiosity I took the training wheels off  her bike, to give it a whirl.  The video below is seriously how quickly she learned.  I didn't catch the very first time on video, because I didn't in a million years think she would actually do it.  But the very first time, I ran with her a couple feet and then let go without her realizing that I had let go.  She biked on her own for about 15 feet, before realizing that I wasn't holding on.  Then she stopped pedaling.  She didn't want to try again for a little bit, but once I knew she could do it, I wasn't above bribing her.  A popsicle can go a long way for a little kid in Spring.  After I saw how good she did her very first try, I went in to get the video camera and the rest is literally how it went.  I remember with Collin, running around the entire block holding on to the back of the bike for weeks.  As you can see in the video, we barely had to run behind Madelyn at all.  She literally had it figured out within minutes.  Amazing....I guess being the 3rd child has some advantages.  

Ella's Pre-School Graduation

I can't believe that Ella is already done with pre-school and ready for kindergarten.  She has made lots of new friends, learned how to read, how to count to 100, beginning math, and on and on.  So she is more than ready for that next big step on to kindergarten, but I am not.  She can't wait for summer to be over so she can go to kindergarten, but I can wait.  I have learned to treasure moments with her, the good and the bad.  The hours and hours we spend playing games, reading books and doing puzzles.  The rollerblades on and off a hundred times in one day.  Finding or even making up worksheets so she can have "homework" to do.  Endless hours of practicing dance and listening to Bella Dancerella.  Snuggling on the couch or just simply listening to her laugh.  I get a pit in my stomach just thinking about a day without her.  I know the time has to come when I have to let them go, even if it is just a little.  But I thank God every day for giving me the wisdom to appreciate the time that I do have with them, and to cherish every moment.

Ella had so much fun singing and dancing.

Madelyn spends a lot of her life trying to be just like Ella.  Ella loves being the big sister and having Madelyn look up to her.  During the slideshow, Madelyn snuck down to sit by Ella.   It was so adorable.   But if that wasn't enough, Madelyn then climbed right up into Ella's lap. 

Ella and Teacher Kari.  Ella has had Kari for 2 years of Pre-School and is really going to miss her next year.  Luckily they will be in the same building and Kari has promised to stop in and visit.

Grandma, Madelyn and Ella

And of course the day would not be complete without her very best friend Cole by her side!  I know I'm biased but aren't they adorable?

Camping at Sibley State Park

This is the earliest in the season we have ever attempted camping.  Because we were not sure what the weather at night would be like, we decided to give the "camper cabins" a try.  This is simply a very small cabin with 2 sets of bunk beds and a small table, but more importantly a roof and an electric heater.  We arrived at the park at about noon, had some lunch, unpacked and were on the trail by 1pm.  What a treat to have no tent to set up.  We did the loop up to Mt. Tom.  It is about a 3 mile loop.  We brought the backpack carrier for Madelyn, because we were not sure how she would do hiking.  She started out asking to be carried quite a bit, but after we insisted she walk at least the first half, she did eventually give up.  She not only made it half way (to the top of Mt. Tom), but she made the remaining half of the loop also.  All 3 miles on her own 2 feet - what a big girl!  This was a nice hike with a cool observation deck at Mt. Tom.  We got back to the cabin and the kids wanted to tackle geocaching, so we headed down by the lake to do that.  They are getting really good at this, and hardly need any help from mom and dad at all!  We had a bonfire, roasted hot dogs for dinner, and of course had smores.  Got in a little playing catch, before settling in by the fire just in time to see a couple deer run right through our campsite.  It was so cool.  We went to bed in nice warm beds, and all slept pretty good.  We woke up to rain and more rain.  We spent the entire morning and afternoon playing games, listening to music and reading books.  It was a very lazy day and lots of fun.  The kids said their favorite part was sleeping in the camper cabin on the bunk beds.

One of Madelyn's favorite things to do at camping is drinking as much as she wants from the water cooler.  

The kids thought it was pretty cool to hike up to a mountain named after their grandpa.

Taking a small break to get in a quick map reading lesson.  Collin is starting to get pretty good at orienting himself with a map.

Geocahing

Found the treasure.

Lazy Sunday morning.

Madelyn at gymnastics

I had no intentions of signing Madelyn up for gymnastics at this age, but when we showed up and there were two little 3 year olds in the pre-school class going on during Ella's gymnastics, I just couldn't resist.  For once in her life, she could have the chance to be doing something fun, instead of just watching her brother and sister.  She COULD NOT wait for her turn to do gymnastics.  On her first day she had a hard time figuring out the concept of "stations".  She had only known open gym, and this coupled with a natural 3-year old attention span didn't go so well.  She did something one time and then was ready to move on to the next more exciting thing.  She was basically running wild in the gym, but her coach is awesome with her and just kept reeling her back in.  After that first hour, I was sure he was going to boot her right out.  I later learned that the other 2 girls in the class had already done a year of gymnastics in a parent/child class.  Coach David said he already had them trained like little puppies.  Clearly Madelyn needed a little work in that area.  But he insisted that she would catch on, after all she has been watching Ella for a year now.  He was right, already the next week she stayed on task much better!  She has a huge smile on her face the ENTIRE time.  She absolutely loves it.  She loves being a big kid!

Baseball Season is in Full Swing

Collin's first baseball game of the season.  He is playing for WB baseball association this year.  His first game was on a rainy, cold day.  He was so worried that the game would be cancelled.  He is really excited about playing baseball this year.  I'm pretty sure Collin had his hands in the air, cheering for one thing or another for most of the game.  Every run was "the game winner" and every out was, "the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs - world series style".   He really had a great time.  After the game Connor got in our car to head home and he said, "Collin did you see that home run I got"?  Collin responded, "Yeah, dude -  did you see my slide at 3rd"?  It was pretty cute.  I love these years, when life is good and easy and the kids are truly their own biggest fan!!  I know it won't last forever, but I hope that Collin is making memories that WILL last forever - I know that I am!