The Star Student of the Week! Aug 29-Sept 2

She wanted to show me how she can climb and hang on the spider web.
So proud of herself:)
Ms. Cooney made a poster of the pictures I sent in for Elli.
Elli with Ms. Cooney. She has made this transition easy. Elli loves her.

Ms. Cooney pulled me aside on Friday to tell me she had chosen Elli to be the star student of the week. She asked me to keep it a secret and to send in pictures for the poster. When I showed up to get Elli on Monday, she came running down the hall, as the line leader of the week, wearing her crown and yelling "Mommy, Mommy. I am the star student!" She was chosen for her good citizenship.
This is a picture of Elli's first homework assignment. She got a sticker and a smiley face. The picture is a self portrait:) The green lines are for her good behavior. She has really come around and now likes kindergarten. I on the other hand still cry each morning when I leave her there.

Elli's first day of Kindergarten

Posing for me and her Gonga. She wanted to eat eggs for breakfast because she said she eats them pretty fast!
She loves her new backpack.
Walking toward the school with daddy.
First steps into the classroom.
Pulling out her goodies. She was a little disappointed that she would have to share all her new supplies with everyone in the class. She picked out some special things:) We did keep a few sparkly pencils for her to keep in her bag though:)
Ms. Cooney talking to all the kindergartners.
They had to find their names and have a seat. There are coloring pages under the crayon box.
Daddy kissing his big girl before we leave.
Here come the kindergartners out of the classroom to the hall where their parents are waiting anxiously. Not sure how Elli got to be last in line. She said no one talked to her. Not sure about that one yet because she also said she played with the kids today.
Elli is telling Brent about the things she learned today. She was especially excited about getting recess today and about having a "cookie with a bookie" day. She said she behaved well and didn't have to move her car any spaces. She couldn't wait to show me all her papers in her folder either.
We celebrated her first day by going to Young's for lunch. She was very excited and she was very hungry:)

Her first impressions seem to be good. I cannot tell whether she likes it or not. She did tell me she didn't really want to go back though. I think we need to wait a little longer and see how she does. My guess is once she gets used to getting up early and gets to know the kids better, she will do fine.

She did say they only counted to ten today and she seemed disappointed by that:)

Love my girl and cannot believe she is in kindergarten. I cried when I walked out of the room. She was just sitting there with those wide eyes looking around at everyone and everything. It was hard for me. I hope to hear Elli share in the future days that she is enjoying school. I want to see her strengths shine. I want to hear about how she helped others. So, I am praying for my girl. Join me in praying that God uses her to touch the lives of those she is around.

Sweet Corn Festival, Aug 20, 2011

Caleb enjoyed the pony ride!!!
Elli had fun on her pony ride as well.
So did Madilynn:)
Travis, Jenna, Clay. Travis sang and played with Jenna (Sherry's cousin, my former student). It was really good! They sounded great.
Travis and Caleb sang Jesus Loves Me! Caleb was so excited and thought he was going to play his guitar and sing so Travis let him come on up and sing. Such a sweet moment.
Caleb was practicing while all the equipment got set up.
These two toothless wonders were just a small part of Caleb's audience. (Elli couldn't wait to show Lily that she lost the same tooth!)
Before Travis got to perform, these belly dancers gave us quite a show! At the end they offered to teach anyone who wanted to learn. Elli is giving it her best shot:)

Good Neighbor 5K, Aug 20, 2011

Before the race.
I ran it in 26:38.
Brent pushed Elli and ran it in 27 something. Proud of him:) He stopped and let Elli run across the finish line. Sweet memories!

Elli lost her first tooth!!!!!

The "Tooth Fairy" left Elli a tooth pillow and a $5.00 bill. Apparently the fairy didn't have any single bills:) At 4:12 in the morning, Elli came into our room to show us her "big money and her pillow!"
She worked on that tooth all day and kept saying, "This is it, mommy!" After about an hour of that, she was able to pull it out. She was so excited and we were able to share that excitement with Gonga and Papa too.
During the day, she was wiggling and biting her tooth. I even made hamburgers for dinner to help it out. Apparently it worked pretty well:)

Welcome Aria Grace Dodson, Aug 18, 2011

The proud mommy and daddy about 15 hours after Aria arrived!!!
Two of Aria's 3 cousins. They love her already:)
She is such a sweet little cuddly girl:)
Elli was excited, to put it mildly! We did a "It's a girl!" dance when we heard about her that morning. So excited to meet her:)

My twin nephews!!! Aug 13, 2011

Sweet Wesley's smile!
Love this face of Wesley's too!
Funny face from Luka:)
Check out his cute little tongue! hehehe

I love these little guys. So sweet.

Catherine Turns 3!

The birthday girl at her fairy garden party!
Heather did such a great job of making all the decorations so sweet. What a fun day.

Memories Forever

I walked in to kiss Elli good night and this is how she was sleeping. I LOVE watching her sleep. She is so very sweet. Look how she is holding her baby:)

Look Mom, no Wheels!

Look closely, we have taken off her training wheels!
We decided to try to teach Elli to ride without training wheels. She was totally against it a few days ago, but got excited about it tonight.
Brent and I took turns holding onto her while she practiced. I do not see her taking off on her own in the next day, but she is at least learning to balance more. Also, at the beginning of the summer, it was a fight just to get her ride her bike. I'd say she has grown, a lot!

A couple of stories:

1. On Monday, I had training all day at Cedarville and actually didn't see Elli at all that day until 8:30 at night. When I was putting her to bed she said to me, "Mommy, I was with you all day." I asked her what she meant, she replied, "I could hear your song." I asked what song that was and she said it was the song I sing to her each night, since she was a baby. "I want to hold you, I want to kiss you, I want to hug you, because I love you!"

2. Elli came into the bathroom to see me while I was getting ready and she had her big horse with her. She said to me, "Hi Mommy. I rode my Royal Steve all the way here." hehehe

3. We have been reading the Old Testament and I think she is paying attention. The other day while playing, she was pretending she had leprosy!

The boys come for a visit!

Elli with precious Wesley. She loves these boys and they are getting more used to her. They mostly like to watch her dance and spin all around them:)
As you can see, Luka likes his berry cherry dinner much more than Wesley! He was chowing down:)
Elli with sweet Luka.
Luka's adorable smile:)

We had the best day just being together, watching the kids play, playing with the kids, and even letting the boys nap on our chests. What sweet moments and memories.

Entrepenuer

I had talked with Elli about possibly selling some of our vegetables. She helped me pick and wash some of them on Thursday night. Then, that next morning, 2:30am to be exact, she woke me up to ask if she could sell watermelon and vegetables.

So, Friday morning, I set her up outside with onions, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and 2 cantaloupe. She made $12! One man walked by and we offered him some KoolAid. He asked how much it was and Elli replied, "a quarter or $0.99." He gave her a dollar, I told him he didn't need to, then he said it was a business decision he was willing to make. Another neighbor walked over to se what we had and Elli simply said,"Do you need cash back?" and offered him some money from her container. He hadn't purchased anything:)

Overall, it was a good experience for her. She ad a great time!

Sleepover!

Lily slept in a sleeping bag on Elli's floor.
Lily has asked me for a few months now if she could spend the night and make strawberry smoothies! We added some blueberries to these, and they were delicious:)
The girls and the sunflowers.
Playing together. It is fun to see them be such sweet little friends. We are thankful for Lily, her family, and their friendship to all of us.