We love this girl so much and can hardly believe that we are celebrating her turning 8!!! Ella is growing up so much and we are so proud of the strong, helpful, kind, hardworker she is. I often think of Ella as a strong but silent one...not meaning that she is silent but she just gets things done, helps out, makes decisions, etc without a fuss. She doesn't need a lot of fanfare behind her or has to be the center of attention-she just knows what she has to do and then does it and does it well, and often more than asked without the need to be highlighted. Don't get me wrong though because she does love one on one time and her face just brightens up so much when given positive feedback, hugs and love and we love doing that for her. She is really shining this year with being back to school. She rarely complains anymore about the asynchronous work at home and gets right to work in the morning checking things off her to do list. Then she loves her 2 1/2 hours in Mrs. Ostrander's class and is really shining there. She is making so much progress and Mrs. Ostrander says that she is such a joy to have in class. She is a friend to everyone and isn't persuaded by what other people want to do or say-she is true to herself and does what she wants to do. She'll play with boys or girls and isn't afraid to tell people that she doesn't want to do something. I lvoe her relationships with her siblings. She is the one who probably has the closest relationship with each of the others individually. Her and Joseph have a special bond. They spend a lot of time together one on one and she loves spending the night in his bedroom and they often do this on the weekends. However, her and Julia are SO close, too, and can play for hours together with babies (family) or playing school or even just drawing in their room. Then she is so good with Charlotte and if they aren't all playing together then she *almost* always includes her in whatever she is doing. She's just so easy going and easy to get along with-not much bothers her and she is no drama-ha ha-which we hope continues for a long time! We've really loved watching her take care of Nora this past year and love that she loves doing so. She looks forward to her daily one on one reading time with Nani and has improved in her reading so much this year. She still doesn't like to read with me so I am so thankful that Nani is so gracious to spend her time doing this because it means so much to Ella and she really looks forward to it. Ella is an athlete and a quick learner. She is teachable and a hard worker. She is so fun to watch when she is on the field or even just when she is outside playing-she is competitive but not "in your face" competitive-she is just confident in her skills and tries her best. She loves hearing her birth story told by Daddy of how she was born in the "prison hospital" with all of the inmates in shackles. We always tell her that we knew she'd be a strong one since she was born there! Ella Jane, we love you so much and can't wait to watch you continue to grow and amaze us!
The birthday girl the day before her birthday on her new rollerskates from her birthday!
She loves that her birthday always falls over Christmas break so she never has any school which means she gets to open all of her presents in the morning! Rich took the day off on for her birthday so that made it extra special, too. We opened presents first thing and she loved them all-lots of earrings since she is getting her ears pierced for her 8th birthday!!! Unfortunately, due to Covid, San Diego is shut down again so she can't get them pierced now but we're hoping that things open up after the new year and she can get them done sometime soon. She is totally taking this in stride and is bummed but ok with it-that's just her personality! She was also thrilled with the camera from Uncle Justin and Aunt Anne Marie that she had asked for along with all of her other fun gifts!
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