My beautiful Ella Grace is 15 years old today!
Ella has grown into such a beautiful lady both inside and out. She is such a sweet girl and she has such a sweet spirit....don't get me wrong she can have her moments...she is a teenager after all. For the most part she is a joy to everyone around her.
Let's see what Ella's been up to this last year!
For Ella's 14th birthday she had girl friends over for a movie night and a couple friends slept over. Miss Christina bought Ella these flowers and they last for over 3 weeks! They were so gorgeous and I think it was the first time Ella's received flowers...Pa did buy Ella flowers when she was first born, but this is the first time she can remember getting flowers.
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Of course the biggest change in Ella's life this last year has been her relationship with Justine. They volunteered together at the Awesome Easter Adventure at our church. This was when I really realized that it might turn into something. I had a nice chat with our worship pastor's wife that day and she talked about her niece and how her parents had set up boundaries and it really stuck with me. I always knew that we'd set up boundaries, but honestly I didn't think any of my kids would date this young so I figured it wouldn't necessarily be in my control especially if they were dating at an older age. Actually throughout this whole process I've come to the conclusion that I really prefer dating young. I know that seems weird, but it just makes it so we have a say in the whole process. For example, Owen is now 18 so when he starts to date we won't really have much say. He is still living in our home so we will have some say, but he is an adult and he can make lots of his own decisions. It's been so great with Ella and Justine being able to walk through this with them. Sure they still make mistakes and we've had to address things, but that's what I mean we have been able to lead and guide them.
After the Easter Adventure Justine came home with us for the first time. Sea glass hunting is one of Ella's favorite things to do. It definitely takes a certain person to enjoy it too. It's a lot of walking up and down the beach looking for teeny tiny pieces of glass. I've tried to do it and my back ends up killing me, but Justine just jumped right in. He and Ella spent hours looking for Sea glass this last year.
The other most important person in Ella's life is Logan...her BFF since they were babies!
Logan happened to be over here on Easter Sunday and we were able to meet up with them just off the freeway on our way down to Ga-Ga & Pa's. It was a super short visit, but still sometimes you just need to hug and laugh with your bestie!!! Logan had just gotten glasses and she looks so cute with them. I love these girls and their relationship so much!
Addison, Ella and Anna have grown up into such beauties!!!
Ella's friend situation is kind of unique. All her friends accept Caitlynn live at least 30 minutes away or in Logan's case....4.5 hours away! Since she doesn't go to public school she doesn't really have a lot of friends and that's okay. I'd rather her have really strong friendships than just multiple acquaintances. The best part about her friendships is it doesn't matter how much time goes between them seeing each other...they always pick back up right where they left off. Ella even has a long distance friendship with a girl that use to go to our church. Ella and London hung out a little bit while they lived here, but not too much. Now London lives a few states away and they are texting buddies.
After Justine came over that first time he started coming over every Sunday. This was the getting to know each other outside of church phase and the us getting to know Justine phase.
After a few weeks it was very clear that they wanted to start dating, but nothing had officially happened. Ella told me that they held hands once and I was like...."Nope! Only boyfriends and girlfriends hold hands and he hasn't asked you yet so that's off limits." That was when we felt it was time to sit down for the boundaries talk. I figured we would give the talk and then he'd ask her to be his girlfriend another night, but it all happened on April 21st.
He asked us if he could date our daughter and then he and Ella talked on the deck and he asked if she would be his girlfriend.
Officially dating!
Ella's spring choir concert was held at Gospel Russian Baptist Church. The choir was so big and so many people wanted to come they had 2 performances. There are two sessions for her choir each year. The first session of the year starts practicing in September and ends with a Christmas concert in December. The second session starts practicing in January and ends with an Easter concert in April .
Katie and Ernie came to the Thursday night performance. They are just the sweetest people ever and they love our kids like they are their grandkids.
Ga-Ga, Pa, Papa, Ruth, Logan, Justine and our family all came to Ella's Friday night performance.
After the concert we introducing Justine to Crumbl Cookie...I've taken the kids here twice now.
Celebrating their one week anniversary by playing Boggle and Farkle.
This was the first time I saw them holding hands we were walking to the park in our neighborhood to play volleyball. While Ella was practicing for her choir concert, Justine, Logan and I found a volleyball outside so that started our fascination with volleyball.
Our church puts on a Women's Tea right around Mother's Day every year. Mom and I hosted a table. This year Ella has decided that dresses aren't that bad. It's been fun seeing her get dressed up.
She's actually wearing one of my dresses here. I have passed on a bunch of clothes to Ella. She has definitely gotten more opinionated in regards to her clothes. She's always been opinionated, but it's gone up a notch. She is seeing other girls and what they wear and wants to be 'on trend' a bit. She knows she can't wear crop tops or shorty shorts, but she has been trying out new styles this last year.
Sometimes Ella can be so serious, but I love how she can be goofy too. Justine definitely brings out the goofiness in her!
Me and my girly. We both love a good Boston Cream Donut!
This is another one of my outfits. She's so much smaller than I am she just had to tie the shirt and the skirt. I think it looks better on her than it does on me.
Unintentionally matching....now they try to match almost all the time.
Ella has gotten more mindful of what's in her room and how it's decorated. She likes the minimal look and has gotten rid of a bunch of stuff. She did want to get some pictures printed and put up all her favorites. She couldn't find a picture frame that she liked so I looked around on Pinterest and we saw that someone put the pictures on the wall in the shape of a heart. She liked that so I ordered sticky tack and we used that to put the pictures up.
Ella and Justine celebrated their monthsarry's every month with letters. This was their first monthsarry. They weren't going to be able to see each other, but we were coming home from Taekwondo and it was only a tiny detour to stop by his house so they could hug each other. We did decided to run to 7/11 to get slurpees. As you can see she's pretty stoked to get a hug!
For Jack's birthday he wanted to go to an Escape Room. There was 8 of us...Ella and I were the only girls. It was a lot of fun!!!
On our way down to the rafting trip we stopped at a restaurant called Cousin's. They had all these animals and farm equipment set up outside for photo ops. Ella is doing some mutton bustin'!!
Ella noticed that her RX for her glasses wasn't strong enough so we got her eyes checked. She looked around at other glasses that they had. Her normal pair are on the left and the ones on the right are the closet pair we could find to those. They just had gems on the outer corners and were a little teeny bit bigger. She wasn't sure if sparkles were her thing so she had to think about it for a bit. The guy that works at the Ophthalmologist said that she could just get new lens and he would put them in her old frames so that's what she ended up doing.
Moving onto 8th grade. However...Ella does not like that she is going to graduate at 19 due to the fact that she had to do Kindergarten 2.0. I knew this day would probably come, but instead of getting upset about it it's just motivated her. Her plan for the the next 4 years is to finish an extra quarter worth of school work each year so in 4 years she can shave off a whole year and graduate at 18 with her original graduating class. Ella is honestly the most motivated, determined, perseverant person I know. If she sets her sights on things she's going to achieve it. In order to achieve this goal she has to finish each of her PACE's at 1099. She is on track to do that in Science. In Social Studies she's going to finish at 1100. In Word Building she's going to finish at 1102. The only two subjects she's not going to reach her goal is Math & English...she's going to finish both of those at 1097. Although if she just works a little bit in the summer she'll get those finished up before the next school year starts.
Ella has definitely gotten more interested in doing her hair this year. She loves to either straighten it with the straightening brush I got her or she uses this curl cream the hairstylist recommended to enhance her natural curls.
Ella is a Pa & Daddy girl!
This was our first camping trip last year and it was the first time Ella and Justine had to go any amount of time without talking. We were camping at Seaquest State Park which has almost no cell reception. We told the kids that they were going to be okay without talking or texting for a few days. We actually ended up having service, but I didn't let Ella text. They were so funny....they actually recorded messages and sent them through text so they could hear the other person say goodnight and I love you.
This was Filipino Cultural Night at our church. Ella has gotten to try a lot of Filipino food this year and she's learned a few words. Sometime during high school she needs to learn a foreign language. She's told me she'd like to learn sign language...which unfortunately Rosetta Stone (which is what our homeschool program uses) doesn't offer sign language so she'd have to go into high school to be able to learn that and have it count towards her credits. She's also mentioned learning Spanish and Tagalog. She'll have to make up her mind eventually.
One of the many times going sea glass hunting. I'm sure there will be more of this next summer!
Ella and Zeke are still the dishwashers at our house. Since Owen and Jack have jobs outside the house we let them have the easier jobs at home which is vacuuming and sweeping the floors. In the beginning of their relationship Justine would help her with the dishes. It's his job at his house so he's had his fill of dishes so now he just watches her work. Hahaha! She hates this picture because the tag on her shorts was bugging her so she was trying to fix it.
Our Worship Pastor started a youth band that would play/sing on the 5th Sunday of the month. It was so awesome seeing all these teenagers and kids up on the stage worshipping the Lord. Since there aren't very many 5th Sunday's in a year, he started incorporating the youth in with the band on a more regular basis. Ella has sang on the worship teams multiply times now.
Most of the kids come with me to Costco to do our monthly shopping. Usually Ella is the one that holds my phone and marks things off on my list as I put things in the cart. Owen usually pushes the cart, Jack helps put things in the cart and Zeke usually gets in the way of the cart. :) On this particular trip I just had Ella and Justine with me and we had to buy a lot of big stuff so I had each of them push a cart.
This was the start of the matchy matchiness!
This year Ella started wearing make-up more often. She still goes plenty of days without wearing any, but she will put some on when we go to church or to an outing where there will be lots of people. She knows she's a beauty without it...she just likes to wear it for herself not anyone else. She's really good at applying it and doesn't overdo it. She does sometimes forget to remove it prior to going to bed and then she looks a little interesting in the morning.
These girls are so cute and have such a fun time together when they see each other. This last year we haven't gotten to see the Kuch family as often, but when we do get together it's always a wonderful time.
For the most part Justine comes to our house, but there have been a couple times that Ella has hung out with Justine's family. This time she went home with them after we had been swimming at the community center. They were being silly in the car.
This pictures is the best ever...at the Youth BBQ on July 3rd, Justine said to Ella that when they get married they are gonna have a rice cooker. Ella thought he was being sarcastic and was saying SHE was going to be the rice cooker. She got all sassy and then I realized she didn't know that a rice cooker is an actual appliance. I just cook rice on the stove! We all had a good laugh about it. A bit after that we were at Value Village and they had a rice cooker. I had to buy it! Of course when I got it home I realized that it didn't have the lid. Thankfully I was able to buy a replacement lid on Amazon. Since then Ella has become quite the rice cooker. She actually makes the best rice ever!!!
We visited Daddy at his work on his birthday since they were having a BBQ for him. Since Michael's work Christmas party is no longer at the shop and it's adults only his co-workers don't get to see the kids very often at all. When they do see them they always comment on how grown up they've gotten.
One of the things that I really like about Ella and Justine's relationship is how he can get her to come out of her shell. Sometimes she can be a stick in the mud and not want to cut loose and have fun. He's good at coaxing that side out of her.
Getting ice cream at Cold Stone...yummy!
This was the first year that Ella went to the youth group summer camp. At first I wasn't sure if she'd want to, but she did and the best part was the camp was near Spokane so Logan was able to come too.
Camp ended up being fun, amazing and stressful. It's a lot when you are in a new environment, it's HOT and you aren't getting a lot of sleep. It's also hard when you have your best friend and your boyfriend there...issues can arise sort of like a tug of war. There were lots of discussions afterwards and it was honestly a great thing to talk through with the kids.
She's entered the selfie phase. Thankfully there are no duck lips present just pouty lips! Speaking of lips...where did this girl get her amazing lips. They are so full! Neither Michael nor I have amazingly plump lips. Girl is blessed for sure!
Ella has definitely become a pajama girl this year. In recent years she would sleep in whatever....shorts, leggings it didn't matter, but now it has to be pajamas. She has quite a collection. She also loves to change into pajamas once she's done with school as long as we aren't going anywhere. On this particular day she was in pajamas because she had a cold and wasn't feeling well.
This last year we wanted to go on more hikes. I knew that in order for us to have a good time I needed to bite the bullet and just buy each of us a water pack. Oh my word...game changer. All the kids can carry there own water and food. It's made hiking so much more fun!
This was the second time Ella Bean had been out on the paddleboard. She's like the mermaid on the front of a ship. She likes to sit and enjoy, but she doesn't paddle.
Even though they don't really like to admit it...these kiddos do actually love each other!
It's so fun to watch your kids get older and go from being at an event as a participant to serving at the event. All of the kids volunteered at VBS this last summer. They helped with setting up some of the decorations and then they each had a job to do during the week. Ella was a teenage co-crew leader, Owen ran the projections, Jack was a co-leader, Zeke helped out with games and he rans the stage lights and Justine ran the sound board.
Sometimes they have enough of the mamarazzi! But I know they love that I take all these pictures of them together. I even created a Google album named E & J and whenever I'm slow to upload the pictures I've taken of them I hear about it. :)
We spent numerous hours at the community center swimming during open swim last summer. I would sometimes wear my phone in the waterproof case, but most of the time not. On this particular occasion I took pictures and video. Justine's mom is the one giving them bunny ears. Afterwards I showed her the picture of them and she said...."Those two are coffee and sugar!" I loved that description of them.
The community center bathrooms were being remodeled so they had a big tent area set up with those trailers that are bathrooms with showers. This picture is on the way out from us getting ready to go home.
In August, Ella and I went over to Spokane to see Logan and Jen. One of Logan's friends from school has a farm so we walked over to visit them. We got to hold kittens that were so cute! There were chickens running around everywhere and we got to see cows and pigs. It was fun! Ella loves cats, but she is a dog girl at heart. I know that my first grandbaby from her will be a dog!
Since Ella is homeschooled she isn't exposed to all the trends they have at public school, but she does get to see some of them from other girls at church. She saw some girls walking around with crossbody bags and then she noticed that Logan had one so she decided she needed to have one as well. We went shopping at Target and TJ Maxx and found her one she liked. It's been really nice because she hated carrying a purse, but she will wear her crossbody....as long as there isn't something on the shirt that she doesn't care if it gets covered up.
While Ella and I were at Logan's we decided to go check out a church they'd gone to before. It was awesome....we got to see all sorts of people get baptized. They had this really cool looking wood wall so I decided to take pictures of the girls since they looked so cute!
Logan braided Ella's hair and it looked so good. Whenever they are together they take a long time getting ready to go someplace.
Whenever we go visit Logan we always go up to her grandparents house and spend the day with them. Ed & Penny are such sweet people in fact we are going to take our tent trailer to their house this July so we can go to Silverwood with all the kids. On this day Penny made lunch for us and she had oil and vinegar for the bread. Ella had never tried it before. I thought she looked so cute with her hair in braids I just needed to take her picture. She thinks I'm weird!
Besties!
Annual tradition of going to Silverwood. I love that we've been doing this for so many years we have a routine down. We know exactly where we want to set up our towels and where we want to go....Lazy River here we come! It's just so easy and comfortable!
As well as getting a crossbody bag Ella also needed a pair of sunglasses so she got these ones. She doesn't wear sunglasses except in the summertime and only occasionally, but they are super cute!
Ella loves this picture! Miss Jen is just the best and we have so much fun together. I swear this picture looks like Miss Jen could be Ella's mom!
Saying goodbye is always hard, but thankfully they can text each other now...even though they don't very often.
Such a hard working girl! These are all the PACE's she finished during her 7th grade year!
This picture from one of our hikes is so hilarious to me. Justine's face is like "I have to deal with her forever!" Ella's face is a little miser that isn't going to share her water and Jack's hand is over Ella's arm, but the shading makes it look likes it's Justine's even though that's not physically possible.
Whenever Justine is over this is where these kids will be half of the time. Ella always brings the Google Home Hub out there...you can see the screen in the background. They can jam out to Christian music and have a little "alone" time. As alone as being in the garage is when we make them prop open the door and we check on them all the time.
During summer break, Ella & Caitlynn were able to spend the night at their friend June's house. Ella and June are such cute friends. They usually only get to see each other for a couple hours on Friday at choir, but they enjoy every minute of it. The interesting thing is June is actually younger than Zeke, but she is so mature for her age. I know it has to do with her birth placement...she is the oldest child in her family while Zeke is the youngest.
This is the view I have of Ella everyday. I sit on one side of the computer desk and she sits on the other. I have no clue why I took this picture, but it was most likely because I was annoying her which is something I do on a daily basis!
Bunch of weirdos!!!
First concert for Ella and Justine. Lauren Daigle was so good! I've already started looking to see if they have the concert info up for the fair later this year. So far they only have one artist signed up. I'm hoping they have another awesome Christian artist. I would love to see Micah Tyler in concert!
Starting a new school year heading in to 8th grade, but planning on finishing some of 9th as well.
Ella and Justine exchanged letters every month for their monthsarry. For their 6th monthsarry, Ella wanted to do something special. Since I am their personal mamarazzi, she picked out a bunch of the pictures I took and I ordered them. She bought a book at Value Village, some adhesive from Walmart and then she used a bunch of my old scrapbooking supplies and she made him a book that consisted of their first 6 months together. It was really sweet and she worked on it so hard....of course she did have a little help.
Ella & Justine both made a wonderful decision to get baptized for a second time. It's hard when you grow up in the church and you get baptized at a young age. I made sure that all the kids knew what they were doing and they were not pressured by us at all. It was all on their own time, but still sometimes it can be hard to remember things from when you are so young. I'm happy that they both felt comfortable getting baptized again and made that decision for themselves and it's going to be one they remember for the rest of their lives.
Ella got to join Justine's family at his house to celebrate his 16th birthday. Ella and Justine are 1 year and 4 months apart in age. Justine wanted a pajama party so Ella brought jammies with her to change in to.
Here's when Ella gave him the book she made. After this she actually had to get it back because they were technically baptized prior to their monthsarry, but the pictures couldn't get here in time before their monthsarry happen. Once those pictures came in she got the book back and it did take her awhile to get around to actually putting them in the book, but once she did she gave it back to him.
Ella got to see Logan so many times in 2024...we flew out in January for a visit, we got to hug and chat for a few minutes on Easter Sunday, she came for a visit in April & June, they went to summer camp together, Ella and I went out in August for a visit and then she came for another visit in October. 7 times in one year! It was just awesome! So far in 2025 they haven't gotten to see each other once, but were hoping that will change. In the future, Logan has talked about attending the UW so she'll be over here all the time. I know both those girls will love that!
These two volunteered at the Fall Festival to run the Pop-A-Shot game. This was the only good picture I got of them the whole night. They were both in a mood and were being poops in general. In any relationships there are going to be ups and downs...good days and bad days.
Justine has an Aero zip-up hoodie that Ella loves. She wanted to find a matching one online, but we couldn't find an exact match so she used her money and bought Justine a new coat and then I bought her a matching one.
Sometime Charlie will visit Ella because he will feel left out and needy. He'll sit right down on top of her work so she has to pay attention to him. When she's eating her lunch he'll also try to come visit her and she uses her book box to block him so he won't try to steal any of her food.
On Halloween it had officially been a year since Ella last threw up. During this last year she kept her migraines at bay, by avoiding large amounts of dairy, using her Zok when she feels pressure in her head and then using her Cephaly device as a preventative measure to avoid ever getting a migraine. It's been amazing seeing the transformation with my sweet girl and her health. Something we were just talking about the other night was how she can now stay up late. Prior to all this she was going to bed around 8:30 every night and that made it really hard to do things especially in regards to youth events that go late and then at summer camp when you stay up really late. If she tried to do that before getting her migraines under control she would have been miserable. Now that she's taken charge of her health she's able to stay up until 10:30 or 11 each night and she's just fine. She was also able to stay up late chatting with the girls during summer camp and it didn't bother her one bit.
She has also decided that she is done dressing up for Halloween. She is now so grown up the scariest costume she can wear is her own face....according to Zeke.
Ella has turned into a bit of a germ freak this last year. I'm sure it has something to do with a certain boy who's mom works as a nurse at an urgent care. Now she's all about carrying around antibacterial gel and she even gets freaked out if I lick her chocolate.
Ella loves kids...she helps out in Kids Church once a month with me. She wants to eventually lead or be a co-leader in Kids Church, but she can't do that until she's an adult.
Sometimes if Ella's not feeling good I'll let her change into her jammies so she can do school. This is a super rare occurrence though. I like the kids to get ready and dressed for the day. I feel like they accomplish more that way.
Both of these kids' love languages are physical touch and quality time. Like I've stated in a previous post they are allowed to hold hands and hug. We did have to address a couple things back in September, but it wasn't because they were doing anything wrong it was just that we weren't comfortable with it. They have honestly done great with the boundaries we've put in place. I know they are looking forward to the day when they can kiss each other and show love in that way, but I'm so happy that they are committed to each other and are doing great with what they are allowed to do right now.
On Black Friday, Ella and I went shopping with Ga-Ga. Our last stop of the day was Old Navy where Ella bought her and Justine matching jammies.
This is hands down my favorite picture of the two of them. I love how the background is out of focus and how playful they are being.
My sweet girl and I have had a year of growth. She is my sweet girl, but she's also growing into her own person and that's been hard for me. The boys growing up haven't nearly impacted me as hard as Ella growing up. There are times it literally hurts my heart...like a physical ache inside. One day she's gonna get married and I'm not going to share in her day to day life like I do now and that just kills me. I remember when the kids were younger I was looking forward to the growing up years, but now that they are here I'm not ready. Of course that's been my job all along...to raise them right and help them be contributing members of society. My job has been to work myself out of job....I know that in my head, but heart isn't on the same page yet.
This girl is never cold or at least she won't admit to it. She will wear ankle jeans and a short sleeve shirt all winter if I let her.
Ella started working out more regularly this year since the place they were doing Taekwondo at closed down. She's just trying to be mindful to make sure she's moving since she does a lot of sitting during the day at school. When it comes time for the kids to give their siblings a list of things they'd like for Christmas I take them to Walmart so we can walk around and get pictures of what they want. Ella has wanted a pull-up bar for a long time so she added that to her list. Zeke did not want to buy her anything workout related because in his words she doesn't need to workout!
Ella and I attended 6 of Justine's wrestling duels and 2 tournaments. It was fun going to different schools, learning about wrestling, cheering on the guys and seeing Justine do something he enjoys.
See all of us are bundled up in coats and theirs my girl in her short sleeve shirt. She did bring a coat though....I always make her at least have one on hand.
During the last few months Ella has had the opportunity to get to know Justine's sister, Micah. When it came time for Micah to have her birthday party she really wanted Ella there. The funny thing was Justine wasn't going to be there because he had a wrestling tournament that day. I thought it was awesome that Ella was still gonna go and hang out with his sister even without him.
Justine actually ended up getting back from the tournament at a decent time so he was able to be there for most of the party. He even won a 2nd place ribbon which Micah is holding. Michael and I got to hang out for a little bit once we came to pick Ella up. Of course the moment we showed up at the door she was like..."No, I don't want to get picked up yet!"
For the first session of the 2024 - 2025 year the Cantate Homeschool Choir had some big changes. For one we were meeting to practice at a different building since the church moved and the choir moved with it. The other big thing was they started having a Thursday choir and a Friday choir where there used to just be the Friday choir. This meant that more kids could be involved. So for the final concert the choir was too big to fit at the Gospel Russian Baptist Church so they had to have the concert at the Federal Way Performing Arts & Event's Center. There were 192 kids on that stage. It was so amazing!
Ella's fan club is always so proud of her!
I had to drop off Ella early for rehearsals and then we went and picked up Justine to bring him with us. I noticed right away his voice sounded funny. He had a cold!
The very next day we went to one of Justine's wrestling duels and he still sounded sick. I drove through the drive thru at MCD's to get him a bite to eat afterwards and of course they shared food. The whole germ thing doesn't really apply to each other I guess.
The very next day after that Ella had a follow-up appointment with her Neurologist. She sometimes has pain with her shunt. It's nothing terrible just hurts every now and again. The Neurologist told us that if it's anything to do with her shunt we need to contact her Neurosurgeon. We've talked with the Neurosurgeon about it before and he said aside from doing exploratory surgery that's not really something they are going to be able to figure out. I mean maybe her shunt is right next to a nerve and every now and again it grazes the nerve and it hurts....who knows. As of right now her shunt is functioning, her headaches are under control and she's thriving! Yay!!!
Later that night I got a text from Jhaycee...Justine's mom. Justine had tested positive for Flu A. Ella had started to not feel very good later in the afternoon after her Dr. Appt so I was sure that she had the flu as well.
The next morning her and I went to the urgent care near us and they tested her for the Flu, Covid and Strep. Thankfully all of them came back negative, but I seriously have no idea how since they had just been sharing chicken nuggets a couple days before. When I say sharing I mean he takes a bite and then feeds the rest to her. Definitely sharing germs!
Ella ended up only doing a little bit of school on that Friday and then she rested. By Sunday she was already feeling much better.
I love this sweet girly of mine.
None of my kids are too excited about learning how to cook, however, they will help me if I need it. I'll ask them to go get me this and that from the frig or the freezer out in the garage and they almost always know where it's at. It helps that I have them unload everything and help put it away when I do grocery shopping.
Matching with my girly!
Beautifully dressed, festive girls!!!
We did find out some sad news...the Kuch's weren't going to be joining the Homeschool Choir for the Winter session because of obligations they have with their Speech & Debate group. It was always nice for Ella to get to see the girls at choir almost every Friday and for me to get to check in with Christina every now and then.
Ella and Justine exchanged gifts on Sunday, December 29th. For Christmas I bought them 3 matching shirts so they don't always have to wear the same ones over and over.
Ella is definitely our most adventurous eater. She will try almost anything especially if someone else is willing to try it. Michael and and I recently went and had oysters and I loved them. Michael thinks he got food poisoning from them, but I ate the oysters too and I was fine so I don't think that was the case. I really want to take Ella and see if she likes them as well.
This cute girl is being more health conscience when it comes to food. She is just like me and only eats two meals a day. We both skip out on breakfast. She is trying to make good choices, but she also knows how to cut loose and enjoy life. She absolutely loves whipped cream!
Starting the year off right with eating the best pizza ever! All of the kids love Costco pizza!
After Justine's duels we would take him home, but most of the time we would stop and get a bite to eat. This time the duel was at his school so we ate at the MCD's that's just across the street.
These to have at least 11 pieces of clothing that I can think of that match. This was the latest purchase. Justine's school team name is the Royals so I bought Ella a matching sweatshirt. I love the color and it's nice and cozy!
It's crazy how at one point Ella and Jack just kept going back and forth a quarter of an inch over and over again in regards to their height. Ella was stuck at 5' 3" tall for the longest time I was sure she was done growing, but then I took her to a doctors appt and she's now official 5' 4" and she's taller than me. Zeke's the only one in the family shorter than Mama now!
I love that you can see the mole that's on Ella's upper lip in this picture. It's just a cutest little thing.
On MLK Day, Owen coordinated a live-action Among Us game at our church. Justine was one of the imposters, but he couldn't let Ella know that. He was busy wrestling with Jack...who had already been "killed"...when Ella told Liam, who was another imposter, that she was watching him. Liam then pulled out his plastic weapon and "killed" her. Justine was still wrestling with Jack and it took him in a minute to turn around...when he did he was all surprised that his girlfriend had been "killed". Later he reprimanded Liam because Ella was his "alibi"!
Ella and Owen were on the worship team at the beginning of February and so were Andrew and Caitlynn. I took them to worship practice since I had a meeting. When my meeting was finished I walked into the sanctuary to these cuties just hanging out together, laughing and having fun.
On Saturday, January 11th we went to the second wrestling tournament to watch Justine wrestle. He ended up placing 2nd in his weight class and got a metal. We hung out until the end of the tournament and then waited in the van for his mom to come pick him up. I love the look in Ella's eyes right here. They have such a good time together and they make each other laugh. It most definitely hasn't been all sunshine and roses the whole time...what relationship is. It's been real which means you go through ups and downs, but you work them out and move past them.
Last weekend Ella went to Caitlynn's Birthday sleepover. Here are the girls the next morning...L to R...Caitlynn, Joiya, Ella and June. Ella just recently became friends with Joiya and she said she's so lively and interesting. I've only spoken to her one time and you can tell she's a spunky girl that is the life of the party.
My Sweet Sweet Ella Grace...
You have grown up into such an amazing young woman. You are kind, generous, loving, strong, determined, courageous, faithful, loyal....in other words you are wonderful my girl!
I have had such a blast with you this year. We have had so much fun going here and there on our adventures. A lot of times those adventures were with Justine and that was just fine with me. You guys are fun to be with! Your year has been filled with laughter, eye rolls and even a few tears, but most of all smiles. Lots and lots of smiles.
You and I still get on each others nerves and are short with each other, but we also have had some really good talks this year. You being in a relationship has honestly brought us closer together. I can't believe you are 15 years old and in many ways you've seemed older than that this last year. You are so responsible and you have such a good head on your shoulders.
You are in the process right now of working with a couple people at church to do some sort of homeless outreach. You have such a huge heart to help and this is something you are doing completely apart from me and I love it. It's really teaching your responsibility and ownership and giving you confidence. I can't wait to see how it all works out. Even thought I'm not helping with the planning I'll most definitely be volunteering right alongside you.
This upcoming year is going to be pretty exciting for you. You are most likely going to apply to be a lifeguard at Wild Waves with Jack. I think that opportunity is going to teach you so many things. Plus it will be nice for you to earn money and possibly make some new friends.
Our plan is to enroll you in 9-1-1 Driving School come September...I can't believe this time next year we will have 3 teenage drivers! As if our car insurance isn't expensive enough! I know you're going to be a great driver!
This last year you were prophesied over twice and told that God is going to use your words for His good. You were also told that you have a lion in you! The first prophesy was spoken over you by Jennifer Smith at the Women's Conference in October and the second time you were prophesied over by a couple that came to our church for a Prayer weekend. I was in tears when they prophesied the same exact thing that Jennifer had prophesied the month before. It was so cool! I know that God has great things in store for you. He has a purpose and plan for your life and I pray that you will follow His leading.
My sweet Ella you are a joy to everyone around you...you bring light into this world by just being here. I know that you get frustrated with everything you've had to go through, but I know that God is going to use that for His good as well. You have a story to tell and it's a special story that He entrusted to you. Keep on trusting in Him and His plan. He'll never fail you!
Happy 15th Birthday Ella Bean!
