Cute Ella

Oh boy. It's a good thing daddy has guns 'cause he'll need 'em. Ella seems to be quite popular with the boys. There's the story of the neighbor boy coming to the door for Ella saying, "Are you in love with me?" When Ella said, "No." another little boy hiding in the flower bed yelled, "She isn't?" Those two boys tease Ella frequently and when I told her that means they like her, she refused to believe me. But, on the way home from school today one of the boys went out of his way to say "Hi" to Ella and was rather disappointed looking when she ignored him. Then, today after dropping Ella off another mom mentioned her son told her that there is a cute girl named Ella in his class. Ella is the only Ella in her class so he's definitely talking about her. And continuing on our walk home, another boy went out of his way to say "hi" to Ella. I'm thinking we may be in big trouble with this girl. Luckily, when I ask her about boys she just gets exasperated and rolls her eyes at me. She's too busy being a little girl to worry about boys right now. Thank heavens.
Ella is LOVING school. This will be her first full week and she is over the moon about that. She can never tell me what she learned that day but she can tell me who she sat by. Hopefully the academia becomes more interesting over time. I'm glad she has friends but I would also love for her to do well. Of course, she is a little ahead according to her teacher so maybe that's why she's more worried about socializing.
Ella spent all summer working very hard and this past week finally earned what she'd been working for. A new bike! She skid so much on her old bike that the tire is worn completely through. We gave her the option of a shorter chore list to earn a new tire or a longer one for a new bike. Since her birthday is in the fall we wanted her to actually have time to ride before the snow flies and thought this was the best option. Several times she decided she just wanted a new tire but after a bit would decide that she'd rather work. She weeded for a total of one hour, she kept her room clean for two weeks straight, she folded her own laundry more than the required 2 times, she learned how to vacuum, she helped me wash the car, and she cleaned her bathroom all by herself three times. So, we finally got that bike for her and she has been on it constantly since. She is loving having her very own two wheeler and I am still in shock how grown up my first baby is.
Ella really is at this strange stage where I can see her growing from a little girl to a big girl. Her interests are maturing. She no longer wants to watch princess movies but is drawn towards stuff like Monster High (not as horrible a show as I thought it would be) and basically anything halloweeny. She still loves playing dress up but while Livie will don the princess dresses Ella will put on her halloween costume from last year and be a vampire. It's been very interesting to see how her personality is morphing. With each new change I miss the little girl she was, but love seeing the person she is becoming. She is a lot like her mommy and we share a lot of the same favorites. Indianan Jones, Star Wars, Harry Potter. She loves all my favorites (that she's seen) and is well on her way to being a absolutely beautiful nerd. Mommy couldn't be prouder.

This is possibly my favorite picture of us, ever!

And Ella selfie.

This girl loves making people laugh. I was informed by a neighbor over the summer that Ella had been mooning her friends. We spoke and come to find out she was doing it to make them laugh. When I told her that was inappropriate she said, "But how else will I make them laugh. They don't laugh at my jokes."

I can't get over how beautiful this girl is.