Pen Pals

Ella and her old class are pan pals. It is a good way for them to work on their writing skills and sstill keep in touch. Ella sent off a letter and picture and she got this in return.

She was so excited! A giant letter that she wants to hang over her bed and pictures and writing from all of her classmates. The letter were so cute. They said things like "we miss you", "wen will you cum bak" "I love you Ella" and " Caleb's read " Dear Ella. I love you. You are my franto. i like your smiyel". Translation, you are my friend, i like your smile. :) our turn.

Blogging Blitz

I am committing myself to getting all the latest news on the blog. I have got to try something different. I find myself writing what feels like a novel. I am sure many of you are disinterested before you finish. From now on they may be short, may only be a picture or a video but i will keep to blog current. I have quite a few to do and i will try and space them out.

For starters, the boys have gone fishing in the pond in the front yard a few times and have caught some fish. This doesn't help me much because they want to fish during the day and honestly if we caught a fish Eric would have to come home and get it off the hook or the poor thing would die. No, i do not think it is gross or slimy. I am just a little scared it will bite me. Yes, lame but......true. :)

Enjoy the pictures.

Happy First Birthday Ben!

Today our baby turns one. He is such a joy. He is walking all over, eating everything, and into everything. Still holding at 8 teeth and loves the phone. He loves to play with it and the camera. I wish he would find a little less expensive toys to play with. :) We enjoyed our day with Great Grandma and Papa Fraser (my grandparents) and then i took Ben for his one year check up. He weighted in at 22 and a half pounds, 50 %, and was 30 1/4 inches tall, 90%. He is a tall one. She said he looked great. Double checked his hips because of the breach birth but they look good. Four shots and he was a crier today. We moved on quickly. I guess i thought he would forget the finger prick and shots if we got out of the room. Got Ella and came home from school. Gave him his gift, a toy phone. He loved it.

Eric caught him a fish, had a great dinner and then.... another ice cream cake. This makes 4 in one month. Ben had his own. He loved it until his little fingers froze. (that is what happens when Daddy picks out a cake :))

Since we had company we shuffled the kids around and for Benji's birthday he is having his first sleepover. He is in his play pen in Ella's room and the boys are in their sleeping bags on the floor. He has been a great baby. We are very proud to call him ours and can't wait to see what the future holds for him. He is the baby that wasn't supposed to be, the one that wasn't there. He is our miracle. :)

Ella's movin' on up

Ella finally got her promotion papers at gymnastics. I met her teacher after class, i expected a paper moving her from Level one to Level two. When she handed me the ribbons she explained that Ella was not only ready to move up to level two but she also had the skills to advance to level three. Skipping a level, SCORE! I think she earned a new leotard!

Race Fans

I think the boys are Dale Jr. fans...........

Last lap, Daytona 500, 2/14/2010

Doctor visit

Jack and Ella both had their check ups today. It was a super fun trip for me. I can not think of one thing that makes me happier than spending an hour and a half with four kids in a room the size of a coat closet. :)

Since it was Jack's 4 year check up he was in for some shots. Shots are a non issue in our house. I don't hide the fact that they hurt but I also explain that it has to be done and shots equal ice cream. I allow them to play a game on my phone or we talk about what flavor ice cream we are getting when we are done. I will say I have never had one freak out or go into an all out break down over the shots. Fingers crossed. After finding out Jack had to have three shots and Ella had to have one. They began to discuss the shots were going to be painful. I was afraid they would get each other worked up but instead they ended up arguing over who was going to cry. Ella said she could take it and wasn't going to cry which begged for jack's response. He told her he wasn't going to cry because he was four. The bet was on. Ella did great and not a tear. Jack took the first two great, the third was the largest and the most painful. After the needle came out he put his face in my arm and.....composed himself. I know he wanted to cry but not a tear. I guess they both won the "no cry" bet. Jack weighed in at 36 pounds and was 41 inches tall. About 60% for weight and 70% for height. Hearing and vision were both great. She showed a slight concern for what maybe a small hernia around his belly button. It will be reevaluated in a year. Not a health risk so no biggie. He is set for another year!

Waiting for shots

Ella weighed in at 42 pounds and was 45 inches tall. That is 50% for height and weight. Funny how she is an average size six year old and she barely wears a size 5. I guess it is all the gymnastics muscle. She was great but had problems on the hearing test and the vision screening. Turns out it was the hearing machine and not her hearing. However, the vision screening was right. It seems to indicate she could have a vision problem. Maybe an astigmatism. That is something we will have to follow up with. Will keep you posted on her peepers. :)

John liked the gowns too.

Ella is 6!

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Birthday go together like cake and ice cream around here. Ella, our little Valentine turned six this year. She is a joy and getting quite silly these days. I think it is the influence of the other school kids. It was a busy day. Up to open presents and then play with them. Off for lunch at a restaurant that brought you cake and sang to you. At first she insisted that i could make a good lunch so we could just eat at home ( i was flattered) and then she said that it was okay i could make her a cake too (again, flattered) but once she heard they would sing to her we had to go out. Outback was the stop. They sang and she tried to hide. HA!

It was a great day full of fun and phone calls.

Ella got a Ladybug night light that she loved from Aunt Kim! ( note: the flying wrapping paper)

She got her very own scuba set from Grandma and Grandpa

A bulletin board from Nana and Papa

A Brighton Charm necklace from Aunt Dale. ( her words: wowww, i love it more than i love my curious george notepad. that was just looking at the box and that is a pretty high distiction!)

And lots of money for The University of Alabama when she starts college. :) Thank you Aunt Betty, Nana and Papa, Robbie Dear, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Fraser. She especially love the 20 dollar bill. Her words, that is 20 dollars, that is Jackson, i love me some Jacksons. :)I guess that is better than Benjamins right now. HA!

We got her an ice cream cake and magic candles.

The boys love the birthday girl. Probably because she had the cake. :)

Ella is tying her shoes. She has been for about a month or more now and insists on wearing the cheap lace up cheer shoes we got from wal-mart. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see her non-lace, not cheap New Balance tennis shoes sitting in the corner. However, this is a new skill so we must use it daily.

February 3rd was Ella's 100 day of kindergarten. I was not aware that was a day you celebrated but in kindergarten you do. We had to decorate a vest with 100 items, her name and "100 day" on it. I stared at the cut brown paper bag, the "vest" and contemplated. Did i really want to get out all our craft stuff with four young children running around. No i did not and thank you to the person who thought it would be cool to have parents help decorate a "vest" for the celebration. I procrastinated. We did it the night before so she would have it in on Friday, the due date. We start with glue and glitter. Might as well get the worst part over with. Just as i had anticipated Jack and John wanted to craft. Jack is being fairly neat so i allow him a small amount of glitter to use and i am monitoring Ella and Jack while John is running in circles. I start helping Ella with her glitter and Jack took that opportunity to open a small jar of glitter i had missed. He kept it all on the counter but John spotted the open jar and that was all it took. I imagine a thought like this went through his head.....i think all that sparkly stuff would be really cool on the floor and it would be really fun if i spread it all around with my feet and danced in it. Before i knew it glitter was everywhere. :) Got the vest done and she was a cutie. When she saw everyone else's it was "why didn't you do that to my vest". Of course.

Ella received her first report card from this elementary school. She is doing excellent. It took me awhile to decipher all the s's and e's and what went where. It was a pretty detailed report card. It even had a section for her grade in "algebraic thinking". Her teacher, Mrs. McKay, sent me a note in her folder and on the report card saying she was adjusting very well and while there was no need to have a conference we could set one up to talk. I appreciated the offer. She also said Ella had made lots of friends in class and was ahead of where she should be at this point in the school year.

She has been in gymnastics for about 4 weeks now and is being moved up to the next class. They don't seem to have a good system for placing the girls and this program is not near as good as KPAC but she still loves it. Yea for Ella.