Ellie

The last of the pictures I had previously tried to post but got wiped out. I'll do my best to recreate my witty repartee.

You wouldn't think it would start so young, but so it was, the first day of school, and I swear I heard her say "5 more minutes, Daaaad!"

Ellie perked up once we said she could have Berry Lucky Charms for breakfast.

It took a while, but she was finally dressed and ready to go with her raincoat, rain boots, and doggy backpack.

She had a bit of trouble managing the fancy umbrella along with the clunky boots, and I had to carry her most of the way to school. We got smarter and brought the stroller for the second day.

Ellie has her own hook for her backpack and jacket. One of these days, she'll actually remember which one is hers.

One last look at Ellie playing with her buddy Stella. Ellie was real good the first day, but cried a little bit on the second day, until they started their activities. Then she was even the Napkin Helper for snack time! We'll see how day #3 goes, she keeps insisting that she doesn't want to go back, but she definitely has fun once she is there.

Posted by Brian at 9:41 AM | Permalink

Finally, pictures from Ellie's third birthday party!

I had to include this picture of Henry. Henry is the younger brother of Ellie's buddy Stella. They live around the corner from us, and Ellie now goes to school with Stella. Henry is neighborhood-renowned for his exclamatory nature. Whenever he sees Ellie, he points and yells "Eh-EEE!" When he colors, he tends to vocalize: "Ahhhhhhahhhhh!" And on their trip to the zoo, they saw the elephants getting a bath, and he started trembling all over, as he pointed and yelled, "Doggie!"

Another fine Lisa creation: the fishbowl cake.

Our little princess. Chowing down on the octopus hot dog.

Somebody tell those kids to slow down, the camera can't keep up! That was our gift to Ellie, an effort to save our bed from destruction: a trampoline. I am personally thankful for the air compressor that the website recommended we buy with the trampoline.

Not actually from the birthday party, but from her actual birthday, when we went to the Silver Diner for chicken pot pie and chocolate cake. Mr. Don the musician even sang her "Happy Birthday."

Posted by Brian at 5:36 PM | Permalink

Just one quick picture to tide you over till I get the birthday and school pictures ready. Our darned camera battery was running low, so we only got one real good one at Space Camp anyway:

Posted by Brian at 10:41 AM | Permalink

Today was Ellie's first day of school. Of course, it's been raining all morning, adn it's just a generally crummy day, so she didn't want to wake up this morning at all. But eventually we wrangled her into some clothes, and she had Lucky Charms and part of a bagel for breakfast. We started walking to school in the rain, but with her in her heavy rain boots and carrying her umbrella, I had to pick her up and carry her most of the way there.
We got to school with a bunch of other kids walking into class around the same time. Her buddy Stella was already there and playing with Play-Doh. She changed into her shoes and took off her jacket, and another boy started crying since his dad was leaving. She was a little befuddled and stared at him for a while, but luckily, one of the teachers took him out of the room to calm him down, or we might have had a chain-reaction meltdown. Ellie quickly found a toy to grab and play with for a while, and was watching Stella with the Play-Doh when we left.
I got lots of pictures, of school, and our trip to Grandma Ratkowski at Space Camp, but didn't have the time to post them before I had to get to work, so expect those sometime this week.
Update: Ellie's back home from her first day. When Lisa picked her up she had a big smile on her face. Ellie did some coloring, and was pleasantly surprised when they gave her a snack at 11am. She just said "No, I not want any lunch." But then when they told her it was a snack, she thought that was great. Oh, and one of the other girls had an accident, but she didn't. Hooray for that! Our little girl is so grown up now, it's amazing.

Posted by Brian at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)