My Funny Girls

In the car on the way home from the grocery store last night:

Elizabeth: "Why did the Chicken cross the Playground?"

Ella: "To get to the other slide"

I just busted out laughing. Elizabeth corrected her and told her the answer was "to get to the other playground, no its to get to the other side".

We were all laughing by then.

Thanks for the joke and the perfect timing.

You two may have a future in Stand Up Comedy. :-)

Weekend with Family

This picture wasn't from the weekend but was last Saturday. Elizabeth crawled into a section of cubies at gymnastics. I didn't believe she could so I had to take a picture when she did it.

Practicing Piano before we made brownies

Each family was bringing a dish to share. The girls and I decided on Brownies. Ella made one pan and Elizabeth the other. All I did was put them in the oven. Great work girls.


Ella found another jungle gym :-) Thanks Uncle Jeff

Ella went up to Kent and hopped right up. Elizabeth was having a great time with Maddie so Ella was having fun with the grownups.

Uncle Jeff and Uncle Jerry were playing cards. It wouldn't be a family get together without at least one game of Buck. Aunt Chink was supporting her little Brother. The guy in the Bibs is Uncle Jim. The get together was at Jim and Joyce's.

Here is Aunt Joyce, Aunt Joanne (Grandma Jo) and Julie and Aunt Ginger. My girls were at the park with Uncle Jere and Maddie so I got some great visiting time in. Thanks Uncle Jere!

This one is for Uncle Steve :-) He told me I needed to put a picture of me on the blog again so I listen to my Uncle. Happy Birthday Uncle Steve. Thanks for the wonderful time Aunt Joyce. The girls LOVE the purses. Aunt Joyce gave each of the girls one of her purses she no longer uses. I wish I had taken pictures of them.

Me with my girls and Maddie in front of Jim's new truck. Maddie is Uncle Jere's granddaughter and her and Elizabeth had a ball together.

Gymnastics time for the girls after everyone had left.

What pretty girls


Elizabeth Ella and I then went to the hotel. The three of us went swimming for a little bit. When we got back to our room, we ordered pizza and watched a movie on Disney. This morning we had breakfast and then the girls swam for almost two hours. We stopped at Jim and Joyce's before we headed for home. The ride home was pretty quiet. Both girls napped and I listened to the game.

Its always nice hanging out with my family. Thanks for hosting Jim and Joyce. Grandma would be so happy knowing we do this.

On the way to Marshall we had to make a potty stop for me. While waiting in line there was an older lady in line in front of us. She asked me if the girls were sisters. So I said Yes. She replied that they look alike. I decided to bring it up in the car with the girls just in case. We talked about how some people think brothers and sisters are only kids from the same mom or dad. We talked about how that isn't really true but that families are made in many ways. Both girls were like "Duh Mom". LOL Glad they understand.

15 minutes in the life of Elizabeth

Today we got to school about 7:30. Elizabeth wanted to show me something in her class room so we went in. She proudly showed me the Chinese she had written on the large white lined paper. "See Mom, it says Elizabeth K". Nice work Elizabeth.

Madeline and her mom Denise were doing the drop off too and Madeline had a huge smile when she saw Elizabeth. She was also very excited to tell Elizabeth about her level in gymnastics. Both girls do so well in school and gymnastics and it was sweet to see them happy for each other.

Denise then told me she heard from Madeline that Elizabeth got 100% on the Chinese Dictation Test. I had asked how it went the night before, but she just said fine. Madeline got 100% and told her mom and dad about Elizabeth's 100%. :-) Again I told Elizabeth how proud I am of her hard work and good grades.

But, Ella and I got to spend time with Elizabeth while she signed in, put her folder away and got ready for her day. Then we walked her to the gym for the before school play time and Ella and I left.

Thanks for letting me be part of your day Elizabeth. I really enjoyed it.

Love you Itty!

Thinking of the families that are still waiting

Please send some prayers out there. I remember how hard the Holidays were for me when I was waiting for Elizabeth. The last Christmas before I got her referral was a very depressing time for me. When I started the process, the wait was about 6 - 8 months until you got your baby's referral. For Elizabeth my wait kept creeping up until I hit 14 months. That seems unbearable 6 years ago. I cannot fathom how the waiting families are able to go day to day with the wait now. Its now over 3 1/2 years and for some it will be a 4 year wait. Please add your prayers to mine that the wait speeds up and that God continues to bless these families with more strength and peace.

Thank God also for my social worker. Because of her insight she suggested I could handle Ella's special need and now my family is complete. Without my social worker's intervention, I would still be waiting. My Log In Date was December 2006. Referrals have taken place for families with Log in Dates up to March 2006.

My thoughts and prayers are with all my friends that are still waiting. I believe with all my heart that God will bring your children home soon.

Hard to keep up. :-)

So on Thursday or Friday of last week Ella told me she didn't want the next days to be stay home days. I asked why? Because I will miss my school and my teachers.

I LOVE MY SCHOOL MOM.

Wow... I was happy to hear it but wanted to wait for Monday to see what Reality would be.

Monday was back to Sobbing, I'll miss you MOM, I miss my old school, I don't want to go to this school Mom.

But, when she got off the bus back at daycare, Ella was fine... no phone call to Mom at work.

This morning Beth called and she is sick with a fever. As Ella and Elizabeth said, Poor Beth... its not fun being sick. But, since day care is closed, I brought Ella to school. No tears at home, no tears on the way to school. But, on the walk in the doors she was looking sad. One little girl asked why Ella was crying. I said she is sad and moved Ella on. In her room she was crying out right. We tried to distract and were only a little successful. Fast forward to 11:45. I got there to bring her home and she Smiling and having a great time.

I LOVE SCHOOL MOM. That is what I heard in the car.

I asked if I could call her Psycho Sally, she said no, I can call her Ella.

Then she told me that Sour Watermelon makes her tummy hurt and then she sang Row Row Your Boat. LOL

I LOVE YOU ELLA. :-)

S, S-, S+ D

I went to Elizabeth's conference last night. She is doing great. Her English reading is improving as is her English Math. I was concerned at the beginning of the year but am very proud of her hard work. She is going in the right direction! She got Satisfactory, Satisfactory Plus and Developing for most of the points. Her Chinese Teacher did bring up Elizabeth's ability to handle anger. On that one she got S-. We are all working on helping her find the skills for handling her anger and how to redirect. It felt good to know we are all on the same team.

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Doreen had Ella so Elizabeth and I had some great one on one time before the conferences. I brought her some MacDonald's and we visited with her and her friends. Then we went into the Book Fair and bought a few books.

On the way to get Ella I told Elizabeth we could stop and look at vans since she did so well. She was all for it. So we stopped at the Toyota Dealership by Kevin and Doreen's. We looked at the SUV and the Van. Elizabeth was liking the SUV until she saw the auto open feature on the Van as well as the little DVD player. We will wave at "our" van whenever we go visit Kevin and Doreen because it will be next year before we can afford it. :-)

But, that same night, Ella told her Uncle that Mom was saving money so we could get a van with a TV in it. Scary ESP.

Rock Star

Ella is doing great with all the points teachers follow. She is actually at the end of the year scale on many of the points. She knows letters, numbers, is very social, is starting to figure out how letters go together to read, plays with everyone - boys or girls... they are all her friends. Ella's teacher answered my questions. There are only a couple of parents and none really interact with Ella.

Towards the end of the conference, Ella came over and said she was sad and her tummy hurt and that she was having a bad dream. Under her breath she told me she missed her old school. She said that to me in the car too. I have been playing with the idea of having a visit at her old school and I am still thinking about it.

So Ella's teacher saw her get sad but told me again that Ella stops being sad after she does the sign in each morning. She also told me that Ella is working with a volunteer to get her up to the End of the Year stats on the points she is close on. I guess her vocabulary is huge and she is very helpful to her friends. All great things. Here's hoping Ella starts smiling when she gets there in the mornings again soon.

You are a Rock Star Ella and I know you love it at school and I hope you let yourself enjoy it again soon!!

Love you.