Ella is 4!!

Ella is 4!!!  Happy birthday to our imaginative, sweet, helpful, sometimes dramatic Ella bean!!  She is such a big girl these days-the toddler days are long gone as she has gracefully transitioned into a preschooler and has matured and learned so much in this past year.   She has really stepped into the big sister role since Charlotte has been born and is such a great help.  She often will unload the dishwasher bottom rack without being asked, or get Charlotte a toy when she's fussing or even put away her clothes once I'm done folding.  Her room...however...now that's a different story.  There are some days where I feel like I am walking into a dark deep abyss upon entering her room.  She is definitely a packrat and most days likes to have everything strewn about.  She can play for a long time in her bedroom keeping herself entertained.  She is known to sleep with piles of stuff/junk surrounding herself on her bed.  For example last night when I went to check on her I removed her piggy bank, a stack of books, her jewelry box, a baby carseat carrier and two picture frames from around her! I'm thankful for a variety of baskets in her bedroom to just dump things in to hide the mess for now-some day I'll become more organized in her room but for now it works.

She continues to receive speech services through Westwood Elementary and although we have noticed improvements we are looking into adding supplemental services through a private provider at the new year.  She continues to drop the ending sounds of words and her /k/, /g/ and /d/ are often hard to understand.  She enjoys going to speech and it doesn't seem to be holding her back at preschool.  She is really enjoying preschool and it is evident that she is so proud of the work that she completes there and has fun. She has a really special relationship with all of her siblings and honestly is kind of the common denominator in the family right now as her and Joseph can play really well together for a long time and then she can play really well with Julia together but then she also kind of bridges the gap with Joseph and Julia.  She can be a little bossy towards Julia at times but really for the majority of times she plays so well with both of them.  She does have a pretty good "stink eye" and has mastered the crossing of her arms and stomping off if she isn't happy.  We have learned that even if you raise your voice the slightest she normally bursts into tears and nothing processes with her-we try our hardest not to raise our voices  with anyone in our family but know that with her, that technique definitely does not work.    She loves being outside and is determined to ride her bike without training wheels "when she's 4" so has been working hard at the balance bike to get her going.  Rich and I often laugh at her facial expressions or how she will talk to herself while using hand gestures-she has become very animated whether talking to us or while playing imaginative play.    She definitely has a sweet heart and she brings so much joy to our family. 

Happy 4th birthday baby girl (which we still call her!)  

This was early on her real birthday-like her brother, she requested to open up one gift in the morning and chose a gift from Aunt Gina, Uncle Brian, Michael and John and was so excited to receive a Frozen microphone and stuffed bunny.  She has slept with the bunny ever since opening it!

Ella's birthday celebration lasted an entire week!  On December 16th she celebrated her special day at preschool by bringing in her treat of choice which she decided upon pink sprinkled donut holes and strawberries.  She also had to bring in three of her favorite things to share with her class so she brought a picture of her family, her baby doll and bunny.  She basically skipped the entire way to school because she was so excited.  

We gave her the option of a birthday party with friends or a special day somewhere and she chose the special day.  After going to Legoland for Joseph's birthday she wanted to go back to Legoland for her birthday but we were able to convince her that Sea World would be a lot of fun and something different so on Sunday, December 18th we headed to Sea World.  We surprised her with Sydney and Cole showing up and spending the day with us which was perfect and so much fun!!  

Charlotte was there, too!!  

 The dads and the kids on the ride!

Ugh...the teacups.  So  much fun for them, not so much fun for me.  I went on this one while Rich sat out with Charlotte which I regretted as soon as we started spinning.  Thankfully, I made it through it and was able to walk (barely) after it stopped but it did take a few minutes to recover.  I told them "Never again!!"

I was much happier in the airplane ride!

Such a fun way to celebrate her 4th birthday!

Love these three and their little sister who was asleep in the stroller, too!

On her actual birthday she was lucky enough to have Lindsay, baby Finn and Nani come over for a few hours to hang out since they had just flown in the night before.  That night we celebrated with just our family and had pizza, mac and cheese, broccoli and cupcakes which is what she requested.  At some point this past year she deemed this dress her "party dress" and wore it to as many birthday parties as she could, so it would only make sense that she had to go upstairs and put this on before we celebrated her birthday at home!  

She had some help from Joseph opening up her gifts!

On the following day we had all of the family over for another birthday celebration.  The kids played an outdoor scavenger hunt where they had to find snowballs and if they found a snowball with a blue dot on the bottom they won a prize...the girls won Frozen necklaces and the boys won a pack of Pokemon cards.

We just ordered Costco pizza and loved having everyone over!

She was a speed unwrapper and I don't really think processed what she received until the next day when she was really able to play with them and she totally loved them all!

After dinner we played a game where each kid chose a grown up as a partner to make them into Olaf out of toilet paper.  It was hilarious and so much fun!!!  Ella chose Aunt Hollie and everyone was in hysterics during the game!

I mean, seriously, how cute and hilarious is this?!?  Joseph and Poppa got a little creative!!

Happy birthday sweet Ella!  May all of your dreams come true this year.  We love you so much!  

Winter performances

Both Joseph and Ella's classes put on winter performances this holiday season which were both such a joy to watch!

Joseph's class, along with the four other kindergarten classes, performed on December 13th at 1:00 p.m. in the multipurprose room at his school.  The rumor circulating around the school about parents lining up to get seats over an hour prior to the show beginning was confirmed to be true as I showed up at 12:30 to reserve seats and the line was already wrapped around the front of the building!!  High demands for these kindergarten shows!!  Joseph was fortunate enough to have a huge audience there to cheer him on-Nani, Aunt Laura, Syd, Cole, Aunt Hollie and of course his sisters and Daddy and I were all there to support him and he did awesome!!  The students were given the choice if they wanted a speaking line and Mrs. Clark told me that he was so enthusiastic during practices that she gave him extra lines so he needed up with three different lines and he did great on all of them!  He had them memorized within a day and loved practicing at school and was so excited for the actual performance.  The show was called, "A Bear-y Holiday" and included different holiday songs and dance movements.  Joseph was a polar bear and just did such a great job!  

 Ella's performance was on Wednesday, December 14th and was an all school performance that was held in the newly renovated gym at the Westwood Club.  Her class sang three holiday songs and she was awesome!! She was SO extremely excited for her performance!  We got there early (not as early as Joseph's performance) but early enough to score front row seats and her face just lit up when she saw us there.  Nani was able to come to her show, as well, which made it even more special.  She stood next to her bff, Sophia, and did a great job concentrating and singing so everyone could hear!  After the performacne there was a potluck for the entire school so we stayed to enjoy the food and company of her classmates.

We enjoyed both performances and they definitely put us in the holiday spirit!  

Julia loved watching her older brother and sister and I'm sure is looking forward to the day when she gets to perform, too!!  

Six!!

Happy birthday to our happy, kind, even-tempered, empathetic first born!  Six already!!  Such an exciting day for our big guy and he loved every minute of it!!  

He awoke to balloons and streamers and begged to open "just one" present that morning!  We have always done presents at night but didn't really have a reason for doing so, so I think we have a new tradition.   After opening a Ninjago lego set and having a pancake breakfast he was off to school with Ninjago cupcakes to celebrate.   Unforrunately, Rich had to be out of town for the day which ended up being ok since that just meant we were able to celebrate an extra bonus day once he got home.  And, it was a bonus that Nani and Poppa came over to help with the celebration that afternoon.  We celebrated with pizza and more cupcakes that night and opened presents from them, which included another lego set that he got work on immediately. 

Rich got home the next night so he opened the rest of his presents and celebrated with more cupcakes!!    

We were supposed to have all of the family over on Saturday, the 10th, to watch the Army Navy game and to have another celebration for his birthday but Joseph actually woke up with strep throat.  He complained of a sore throat Friday night and woke up Saturday saying the same thing so Rich brought him to the doctor early that morning and sure enough it was strep.  After a round of antibiotics and a nap he was feeling back to his normal self, so we were able to celebrate Army's win (for the first time in 13 years!) and just enjoy a lazy afternoon before heading to Legoland the following day.

Joseph chose to go to Legoland as a family instead of doing a friend party so that is what we did for the second year in a row.  He has been wanting to go on the Ninjago ride since it opened last summer so he was so excited!!  Thankfully he had the antibiotics in his system for over 24 hours from the strep so on Sunday morning we were up and ready to go!  It was such a great day!! The park was SO empty, Charlotte slept for the first almost 4 hours, the weather was gorgeous and we just had such a nice day!  Joseph wanted to do the Ninjago ride first and they walked right on-Rich took all three of the kids (we were shocked about Julia wanting to go but she did!) and then they went on it again (although Julia decided she didnd't want to do it a second time.)  From there we just bounced around the park, going on rides and enjoying all of the holiday Lego fun.  We ended our day with a walk through the aquarium and then made our way home.  I almost hope that he continues to choose to do a fun family day like this for all of his future birthdays because it really has been a great tradition so far.

 See, Charlotte came, too!! She was such a trooper.  I think I took one for the team because she was up a lot the night prior but at Legoland she slept for the first four hours (from 10 to 1) and then was happy hanging out for a bit before falling back asleep until we got home.

 A quick photo op with Lego Santa.

 

 We attempted to do the 3D movie but less than a minute into it, Julia said that she wanted to leave, so I left with her and Charlotte while Rich stayed with the other two.  Joseph and Ella enjoyed it while Julia and I roamed around the lego building area to play.

Joseph is such a loving, kind, and funny kid.  He is always willing to help other and continues to be a great rule follower. He is respectful and honestly never really gives us a hard time...he does have a "tone" that he'll use which sometimes needs to be put into check but thankfully that doesn't happen too often. He has learned so much since starting Kindergarten and we are so proud of his progress-we love listening to him learning to read and to see his inventive spelling really take form.  He has a great memory which never ceases to amaze me and can still sit and listen to books forever, which has always been a favorite of his to do.  Julia still always calls him "budder" (brother), Ella still calls him "Jofush", Rich and I often refer to him as "buddy" and nothing from Charlotte yet, but soon enough! He is very affectionate towards Charlotte and she definitely lights up when he entertains her.  He is also very affectionate towards me, especially when it is just the two of us around-he is always willing to give hugs and kisses which I'll happily be the recipient of for as long as he's willing to give them.  

His other current six year old favorites consist of:  

Legos (especially Ninjago)

Playing outside-especially in the cul de sac with Brandon and Alex

Soccer

School-continues to say that he loves everything about school daily, especially his best buddy, Kai

Wrestling with Daddy or with anyone who is willing to do so

His sisters-he is such a doting older brother...seriously, so good with them!

Food-such a good eater!  Of course, he likes the typical 6 year old favorites (pizza, ice cream, etc) but also has no problem eating eggs with spinach, broccoli (with ketchup, of course) and downing milk

I guess I should also include the iPad.  He could sit in front of it/play with it forever but thankfully is really good about the limited screen time that we allow him which is one of the reasons why I think he enjoys it so much.  

We just love you so much Joseph Ducote and are so proud of the boy that you are turning into!  

We actually had one more celebration the following week!  Laura and the kids came up to watch Joseph's kindergarten winter performance (more on that in another post) so they came to the house after to have a mini celebration since the original one was cancelled due to his strep.  We celebrated with a scavenger hunt for Lego Nexo Knights and with cake, of course (ice cream cake per his request)!  It was a great way to finish out his week of birthday celebrations!  

 

 May all your wishes come true, buddy.  Love you!