Her Last Night As a 3-Year Old...

Although we celebrated Ella's birthday a few days ago, it dawned on me this evening that tonight was her last night of being a 3-year old.  Since I am a sentimental sap and I don't like change, I discovered a few years ago that the growing up of my kids is not something that I am excited about.  I wish that I could just push the "pause" button on Ella's life and keep her my little girl forever.  I honestly do not know what I am going to do when she leaves me in 1.5 years to go to full-day Kindergarten.  The thought of it just makes me want to cry.  As a result, I grabbed my camera tonight with a heavy heart and walked into Ella's bedroom to take a picture of her sleeping away the final hours of her being three years old.  I just think that she is the most precious and sweetest, little girl around.  I am so grateful that she came to our family four years ago.  She has been such a blessing and a joy in our lives.

And with all of that said, here is a quick, quarterly update on my 4-year old baby who is growing up way too fast!  Ella continues to grow and develop and establish her independence.  In the last three months, she began taking swimming and ballet lessons every week.  She absolutely loves both of them and is excited to go to them every week.  Ella also has started to have some regular playdates and loves being social and playing with other children.  We usually have a weekly playdate with our next door neighbors, Poppy and Daisy, and a friend from church named Amelia.  Ella also really loves playing with two sisters, Isla and Emma, during her preschool co-op every week.  Ella now can write her name perfectly and can easily count to 20.  She still loves coloring and looking at books and also loves being read to every single day.  She proudly declares on a regular basis that purple, red, and pink are her favorite colors. She enjoys watching her princess or Barbie or fairy movies during TV time every morning, but also loves playing with dolls and other little toys every single day.  Ella still loves all things princess and girly and can be found wearing a different costume or outfit from our dress-up box in the office on a regular basis.  As a result, I cannot wait to take her to Disneyland next week to have her meet several of the princesses. She is going to love it!  Ella has gotten into the habit of singing songs (both real and made-up ones) all the time...especially in the car.  It is the cutest thing; however, she usually wants the spotlight all to herself and will get mad at me for joining in with her.  Ella really plays nicely (for the most part) with Logan whenever he is home from school and I am loving having two children two years apart who are finally old enough to be each other's playmates.  Since there is such a large gap between Lia and Logan, this is really the first time in my mothering career that I have experienced this.  Ella also loves any attention she can get from Lia and loves playing dolls or having a book read to her by her older sister whenever she gets the opportunity.  Ella also continues to say the cutest things that just make us smile or laugh or gush all over her on a regular basis.  I wish that I had the time or the energy to write them all down before I forget them!  Overall, we just love our Ellie B and are so happy she is the baby in our family!