And the 1st year of preschool is.......

.....officially complete!

Thursday was Ella's last day!

The school year flew by and she enjoyed every minute of it.

She loves school and it was nice to hear all of the wonderful things her teachers had to say!

They had a special little program in chapel.....I always LOVE hearing the kids sing! SO CUTE!

Ella's bathing suit was exploding out of her skirt....so funny

After chapel, we headed out to enjoy 'water day'!

Love this little girl!

Splash!

And then the meltdown......(due to water getting in her face!) Yikes!

After a minute of tears, she was eagerly back in line with her best buddy Meredith

And down they came....hand in hand

Got a tad bit muddy!

Time to get warm and dry off!

They had a snack in the classroom and then headed out for some sprinkler fun!

And then it was time for their last 'circle'

Saying a little prayer

So thankful for her wonderful year of school and all the memories!

She met alot of wonderful friends.....(and a couple of mean boys that I hope are not in her class next year!)

Below are photos of Ella with her fantastic teachers....

Ella and Mrs. Doerr

Ella and Mrs. Scharwzhaupt

Time for a special treat for Ella and her best buddy (us moms tagged along too!)

Chick-fila and then a special ice cream treat!

We will miss Meredith being in Ella's class next year but i know we will keep in touch!

And the butterflies flew away.........

Ella received a fabulous gift from Santa this year......the butterfly garden.

We mailed in the postcard and about 2 weeks later received a package in the mail with "LIVE INSECTS" written all over it......Ella was ecstatic!!!!

They catepillars arrived in 2 plastic cups and Ella loved every one of them!

She watched them every day and whenever we would get home or get ready to go to bed, she would say, "Um.....you forgot to say 'hi' to my catepillars." or "Goodnight my catepillars"

The little guys soon plumped up and we watched them crawl to the top and begin to make their crysallis. About 2 days later, when we were sure they were formed and ready, it was time to move them to their new home.....

This was the 'ick' part of the process, but actually wasn't too bad......

The paper in the top of the cup is removed and the paper disc is pinned in the net house.

We anxiously awaited the hopeful 'hatching' of TEN butterflies.......

Ella watched them often and Logan wandered around saying, "BUG!"
And then about 4 days later, I came downstairs early one morning with Logan and saw our 1st little butterfly emerging.....we ran upstairs to get Daddy and Ella.....

Ella in her PJ's pointing to her 1st butterfly......she named her 'CHEETAH'

All but 2 hatched that first day and Ella had fun and put thought into each of their names

#2 CARRIE

#3 CASEY

#4 LACEY

#5 FLOWER

#6 TAPPY

#7 ELLA

#8 LOGAN (THE ONLY BOY)

We were a little worried that the last 2 wouldn't hatch, but the next day out emerged

#9 CHERRY BLOSSOM

#10 HEART

They were beautiful and amazing to watch.....

Their tongues are the strangest things ever!!!! Long skinny black strings that they stick into their food, which for our butterflies was roses dipped in sugar water and watermelon.....

Also, a couple of other facts that were neat.....butterflies have 10,000 eyes and may travel over 1,000 miles in their lifetime which is only 2 weeks long!

Although we really were enjoying our butterflies, we wanted to let them go flutter away and be free!

Ella was excited to watch them, so early one morning, we headed to the backyard and opened up their house.....

All but 2 flew right out pretty quickly....

It was fun to have them and fun to watch them fly away....

Ella was proud of the job she had done.....

The butterfly house is washed and packed away and ready for some new ones next year!

Mother's Day Tea

Thursday, was Mother's Day Tea at Ella's preschool....

I was so excited and couldn't wait to see what they had planned for us.

It started with them singing adorable songs in chapel and talking about how special mommies are.

We then headed back to the classroom, where we found beautifully decorated table with everything the kids had made.

My place setting....LOVE IT!

My card said, "I love my mommy because sometimes after she picks me up from school, she takes me to Chick-fila".....so funny and a good bribe because we went there after school for lunch! I also LOVED my frame she painted with her adorable little face inside!
The kids filled our plates and served us

Another decoration.....She told me, "notice the pattern I made mommy....pink, purple, pink, purple....."

After our snack, the kids sang us the sweetest song about mommies!

See video below....

They finished our pampering with a massage.....it was adorable.

They dimmed the light and put on music and the kids did sunshines, wind, raindrops, and rain on our backs.....

I felt so special and so loved!

Making up for lost time.....

Logan is DEFINITELY making up for lost meals.....

this little guy has spent SO much time in his highchair this week or taking me to the pantry for a snack....

I couldn't be happier that both he and his sister are eating like crazy this week!

Between the two they ate a WHOLE cantaloupe and a pint of strawberries in a sitting.....

Big boy using a spoon to eat spaghetti-o's.....love that I caught this photo mid dribble off the spoon

Really doing great with the spoon....

Smiling.....more food mommy!

So cute! Sharing a snack!

Enjoying a chip.......can't wait for his little arms and cheeks to fill out again!

Star Student

Ella was the star student at school last week!

She got to fill our a questionnaire about herself and make a poster......
The poster had photos of her and she loved decorating it!
She also made a hand drawn picture of our family.....above us, in the heart, is Jesus....since as Ella says, "Jesus is in our hearts"

She was one proud little girl!

8 days......

2 weeks ago today, I headed off to work, had a crummy day, and was so happy to come home to relax, see my family, and go to sleep.

I came home and Ella and Paul were hiding to scare me......we had a laugh. Logan was asleep already. I was getting a drink in the kitchen and we heard Logan coughing and then starting to cry.....He had thrown up ALOT!!!! Paul put him in the tub while I hopped in the shower and then I took him to the couch to comfort him.....He proceeded to throw up more and more.....

About 30 minutes later, Ella woke up and started throwing up...... Paul then told me that he wasn't feeling good! About 11pm, I called my sister in tears and told her that she had to come help me..... It was just AWFUL! In about 2 hours time, Logan had vomited about 15 times. I called the dr. at work and I knew what he would tell me, but I just didn't want to hear it. SO....Suz and I packed Logan up and headed to the ER. In the 4 hours we were there, they gave him some medication and he drank some apple juice and perked up...... he was doing great so we headed home and arrived back about 4AM. While we were gone, poor Paul and Ella continued to vomit so they were exhausted when I got home. After about 2 hours of sleep, I was up with Logan who started having diarrhea.......Paul and Ella would soon join that club as well :0(

When the 3 of them took a long nap, I headed to Target to stock up on toilet paper, diapers, popsicles, gatorade, chicken soup, pedialyte, etc.......

Logan did really well and ate a little and drank a little, but was playful. Paul and Ella still felt crummy all day.

Monday morning, Paul felt all better and Ella was perky as well. I happily thought it was all behind us since Logan had been doing so well. He actually had gotten up throughout that night just to drink.......

Well, Logan had a ROUGH morning and I knew I had to take him in to the doctor.....

She also told me what I knew was coming, but didn't want to hear, so we headed back to the ER for some IV fluids.

Unfortunately, Logan didn't perk up and we had to be admitted. His poor little body just had gotten soooooo dehydrated and even though he wasn't vomiting anymore and was eating and drinking, he just couldn't catch up......

The first night he did well and we got a bit of sleep while he got his fluids.....

The next day, he didn't drink much and we knew we weren't going home.....

He did perk up a bit for his visitors and we went to sleep thinking he was on the mend....

Well, he ended up throwing up twice that night, his abdomen was distended, and we had to do an xray to make sure he didn't have an obstruction.....ROUGH NIGHT!!!!

Luckily, everything looked okay and he did better the following day......We decided that evening that he could go home.....

The first night at home he did well.....

The next day, he didn't want to drink much and 30 minutes after he went to sleep, he vomited.....OH NO! What was happening. Out of pure exhaustion, we just couldn't go back to the ER so I slept on the couch with him and watched him closely.

The next day, he did a bit better.....on the mend???? Well, again 30 minutes after going to sleep he vomited..... OH NO!

Day 8 was the next day and we FINALLY had our little guy back.

He lost 2.5 pounds and was SO skinny. What little bit of chub he may have had was gone.

He was drinking and eating and even though we had MAJOR anxiety putting him to bed, he didn't vomit and slept!

We still don't know what it was.....food poisoning or stomach bug....

Whatever it was, it was HORRIBLE!

Ella finally managing some crackers and a pedialyte popsicle

So weak.......before his 2nd trip to the ER
Admitted to the hospital......sad boy, just not feeling good

Managing a smile when daddy visited

Day 2 in the hospital....important to text your friends :0)

Early morning visit from Uncle Pat, thanks for bringing me breakfast and coffee!

Coloring with Grams and Papa

Day 3.....finally wanting to eat a bit.....

Thanks to everyone for your visits and prayers.....

It was a rough week!

the preschool zoo trip....

So......I am a little behind on blogging, but hoping to be caught up this week.....

A couple of weeks ago, we joined up with Ella's preschool class at the Wildlife World Zoo.

It was a beautiful day and the weather cooperated!

The animals were out and about for us to see and we had a great time!

Ella and the tortoise

A silly giraffe

Logan and mommy feeding the giraffe

Suddenly Ella didn't think it was such a great idea :o)

A family pic with the giraffe family

The pretty zebra

Logan didn't know what to think of the rhino! Meredith pretty much sums up the rhino experience as she is seen here plugging her nose

Our safari boy!

The gals....

Her 'best' flamingo pose

Cheeks full of snacks.....

Enjoying the carousel....

These bizarre ducks had legs on their backs.....freaky!

Crazy monkeys!

Rahr! (Logan's translation of ROAR!)

Stealing mommy's glasses!

The zoo train is one of the best parts.....it actually takes you behind a fence and into an area with animals. The ostriches are pretty intimidating close up....feel like they are gonna peck you in the forehead! The kids insisted on all sitting together, so they squeezed into one bench!

This was our first time to the zoo since they opened the aquarium.....Quite good....

Check out this snake neck turtle.....ewwwww

Ella's favorite fish....

It was a super fun day! We even had lunch at the restaurant there while enjoying watching the flamingos! Can't wait for the zoo trip next year!