Bike Rides, Swim Suits, and Friends

Ella is loving summer. She has spent most of it in her swim suit and has the coppertone tan to prove it. Slip 'n slides, sprinklers, pools. Doesn't matter. If its warm enough she's been in the water with her friends. We've had multiple informal water parties in our back yard over the past several weeks. Otter pops are always included.
And of course, not all of summer is lived outside. We've had plenty of cartoon watching as well, which I attribute a lot of Ella's imagination to. Not to mention some of the funny stuff she picks up on. Seriously, she's hilarious. We had a time going for something and I mentioned there were 7 minutes left and she says, in an ominous voice, "Seven minutes to doom!" And I laughed hysterically. Oh, and she calls herself hysterical too. Which makes me laugh. So she's not wrong.
Ella loves the mystical, fantastical, etc. She's decided she's going to be a genie for halloween this year named Shimmer. She's a pink genie. Or something. It's a video she found. I dunno, but she loves it.
Ella is still very interested in the tooth fairy seeing as she's still waiting for that first grown up tooth to pop through and that second baby tooth to pop out. We had a nice lengthy conversation (meaning she talked and I listened) about how the tooth fairy works. According to Ella, the tooth fairy has a giant computer with a map of the world. When a kid loses a tooth, a little tooth symbol pops up over their house so Ms. Fairy knows where to go. Not a bad theory.
Ella is still working on her reading which I am excited for. It's gunna be so fun to see what her imagination does once she really takes off with that. We've started our own little reading program in which Ella gets a candy bar for every chapter book she reads. After five, we take her on a date. So far, she hasn't finished any. She's quite good at reading, but the poor girl is enough like me to where she doubts herself. So she'll have a few good days, but then have a day where she struggles a little more and decides she's done. So we keep egging her on and trying to build her up. Hopefully she'll soon learn that reading is fun, even if you can't read every word. Heck, there are words I still have to look up to figure out how the heck they're pronounced. The english language is weird!
Ella is ready for school. I think both girls are. They've been at each others throats lately. The usual picking, and teasing, and annoying one another. They do get along most of the time, but they need a break from each other too. But Ella especially is ready. She's so excited for all day school. She misses her school friends and learning. We do summer homework but its not the same. Poor girl is upset that we're still a month away.