Because every princess...

...needs her very own princess gown.

Mother/Daughter Day: Dress-up

Ella's first day of school...

She cried. I waited to cry until I got in the car.  I worried about her for the entire day. I felt like a piece of me was missing. I kept telling myself "it's only two days a week." But, we both survived. She loves her teacher. She actually hugged her and blew her a kiss when we left which made my heart feel so much better. I was so happy to hear that she took a good nap there and seemed to enjoy the other kids. I am going to be a complete mess when she starts kindergarten...

Her first report card

Because every girl needs a lunch box with her name on it...

Dear Ella,

*sniff, sniff*. The hardest thing I have had to do so far is to start pushing you towards independence. All I really want to do is hold you in my arms for forever and protect you from harm. You will always be my baby. You will always have my heart...

Mommy

Splish, Splash...

Our summer with Ella has pretty much revolved around water activities. This is partly because she loves it and partly because it completely wipes her out...which means she takes a great nap! I have yet to come up with any cold weather activities (besides going to the park) that will utilize all her energy and also let us get some fresh air. It has been so wonderful having a daughter who loves the water!

We have really enjoyed our neighborhood pool this summer now that we have a little tyke who can enjoy it. It has been equally great having the fountains to play in at the park down the road. All this sunshine has given my daughter a great tan and continues to leave me with pasty legs. I am completely baffled how someone who wears SPF 50 has a better tan than me. She must get that from her daddy. As for me, I will continue my love/hate relationship with the sun...sigh...but, I digress.

Here are my favorites from the past two weeks of water play!