Tagged . . .by Teegan

After almost a month of a household full of germs and illness, it feels great to be well (almost) and among the living again. And I was happy to find an assignment to blog about since my mental faculties are not completely up to speed yet. Here it goes. . .

The Top Ten Ella Highlights (Too hard to keep it to 8)

10. Ella is finally potty trained! Yahoo! For all of you who are going through this or are about to go through this, the rumors you hear are true. It's a horrible endeavor. But well worth it!

9. Ella loves the Seahawks (hmmm. . .wonder who taught her that). She loves to eat blue pancakes and dress up in her jersey on game days. She is always reminding us that she gets to go to a game when she turns four. Her favorite player is Lofa Tatupu.

8. Ella loves sunbeams and primary. One of her class lessons in January was about Joseph Smith and the First Vision. When the teacher asked her to describe the picture about it she said, "This is Joseph Smith and Jesus and Heavenly Father and Jesus came down and said 'Hey, Joseph. It's nice to meet you."

7. Ella loves animals. She has a fish and now a new frog (a cheer out for old Hoppy). She loves going to the pet store, aquarium, petting zoo, and any other place with animals. She learned about animals from Africa at school this week and asked me today on the way home if we could go there today. Sure, why not?!

6. Ella loves to fly on the JJ Jetplane, especially when we are going to visit Papa and Grandma. On one of the flights she took with Scott, the flight attendants let her carry a small sack and help them collect all of the garbage.

5. Ella is quite the negotiator. She can rationalize everything, especially if it fits her agenda. It keeps us on our toes and we are constantly having to find creative excuses.

4. At night, Ella has to hold onto my middle finger before she goes to sleep. If I try and get her to hold another finger, she knows it and will search for the right one.

3. Ella loves chocolate milk. It's the first thing she wants in the morning and usually the last thing she wants at night. She actually loves chocolate anything. One day in preschool they were studying trees. The teacher asked Ella what she would grow if she were a tree. She told the teacher she would grow "chocolate because it's magic and it makes her happy." Oh, a girl after my own heart.

2. Ella is a real safety kid. If you even start the car before she is in her seat and belted in she goes crazy. Right, Uncle Josh?! One day, uncle Josh tried to back out of a parking spot before Papa had her buckled in. She panicked and screamed, "Stop, Uncle Josh, or I'll freak out!"

1. Ella LOVES to dance. She doesn't come close to get enough of it in dance class so she dances around the house all day. Her favorite place is on our bed where she can see her cool tricks (as she calls) them in the mirror. Last Halloween she performed in her second dance show. Each dancer has a dot on the floor showing them where to stand. When one of the other little girls tried to stand on her dot, she quickly told her that that was HER dot and then hip butted her right off of it. Fortunately, we have the whole moment captured on video. She also loves to dance with her cousin Teegan. They put on quite the show for the whole family when we are together.

What else can we say? She is the center of our world. We love ya, Ella!