1st Grade!

Can you believe it?! A first grader! In my house! This transition has been harder on me than I thought it would be. Going from three hours to ALL day has been...interesting. I've loved having some alone time with Liv before Abby comes, but I do miss my Ella. Still, her being back to school has been good for all of us. Aside from my alone time with Liv, I get more done without having to referee two girls playing together. Livie, aside from her alone time with mom, gets free reign of the house and toys. Ella gets to exercise that brain of hers, see friends, and (my favorite part) come home and tell me all about it. The girls seems to be blossoming. She comes home and sits in the kitchen with me while I make dinner. She tells me all about her day (I don't even need to prompt her much.) She loves learning and had loved making new friends. Basically, this girl is thriving and I couldn't be happier for her or prouder. Even with the week of school missed for Oregon she's doing great. We spent this week catching up on her school work and she did great, even with all that extra homework.

Aside from school, there's really not a whole lot going on with Ella. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that because the girls birthday is coming up! She has been getting so excited to turn seven and we've started planning our joint Harry Potter birthday party. And of course, there's the halloween planning. She's picked a costume already. And then there's the thanksgiving planning. And the Christmas. Basically, she's got our next several months mapped out. She's especially looking forward to meeting her baby sister. I've started organizing Livie's room in preparation for moving Ella in there and she couldn't be more excited. Thank heavens! We'll see how long that lasts. They'll be getting a bunkbed for their room and Ella made sure to inform me that she's scared of heights, but she thinks she'll be ok on the bunk bed since it's not too high. And I managed to hold my giggle in until after she left the room. 

In other Ella news, she is super excited to be a flower girl this weekend for her uncle's wedding. Her and Livie will share the privilege and they've loved practicing. The wedding is in St. George and due to Andrew's work we'll be missing the rehearsal so we've worked on it here. They both donned their dresses and new shoes, I filled baskets with fake petals, and they walked down the "aisle" aka our hallway. Ella was very good about taking charge and making sure Livie was doing a good job. As usual. 

Ella takes her big sister privileges very seriously. And then adds some. Lately, her and Liv will be playing and I can hear Ella trying to be mommy. She'll try disciplining Liv or scolding her or whatever sorts of things I would probably do if I really needed to intervene. Needless to say, this never goes over well and a fight always ensues. I have to remind Ella that if she's going to take over my job, she gets to take over ALL my job. Chores included. This usually gets her to stop pretty quick. 

So, Ella's farewell to summer has been less bitter than sweet. She is mourning sprinkler running and popsicles a bit, but is looking forward to hot chocolate, birthdays, and holidays.