Ella Is 14 Years Old!!!

Ella Grace is 14 years old today! 

Her first year of being a teenager was a big year filled with lots of changes. 

To celebrate her birthday with family we just had a nice dinner at our house.

To celebrate with friends she wanted to go bowling and mini golfing so we went to Tower Lanes. Logan ended up being in town that weekend so it was an extra special birthday. 

This sweet girl of mine. I absolutely love this selfie of us. She's such a beauty! 

On March 21st, after over 2 years it was finally time for the braces to come off! 

You can see Ella's little teeth here. This was a stressful day since we had to go back and forth from the orthodontist and the dentist and it all had to be timed out just so. 

Tiny teeth all fixed! 

She was so excited to be able to eat an apple without having to cut it up. The funny thing is now she likes eating them cut up into slices, but I guess when something's taken from you for 2 years you want what you can't have! 

Easter basket at Ga-Ga & Pa's. 

Addison loves to braid hair so she braided Ella's hair into these beautiful braids. 

On April 19th, my sweet girl and I went on a field trip with friends to a the Tulip Festival up north. It was a first for me and it was so fun to share that with her. 

Easter Choir performance with the Cantate Homeschool Choir. Ella loves being a part of the choir. 

She also loves getting to hang out with friends. 

Ella and Aidry in Kid's Church. This was probably one of the last times Ella was in Kid's Church. She now likes to be in big church with us, but she does volunteer with me in Kid's Church once a month to help out. 

In June when Daddy and the older boys went on the Rafting Trip we decided to go out to eat at Red Robin. 

This cute girl was all giggly for some reason. When she gets giggly it can be hard for her to stop. 

Last summer Aidry had a pass to Wild Waves so she came with us a few times. I did notice that the kids weren't as excited about going so I didn't end up renewing our passes for this upcoming summer. 

On June 15th, after months of talking about it, Ella and I went to see my hair stylist to get our haircut. We had 3 people in our lives that were going through cancer and we really wanted to do something to support them. Thankfully all 3 of them are doing quite well now...PTL!!! We figured donating our hair would be a nice thing. 

Ella ended up cutting off 12 inches!!! It was a such a huge change for her. 

She absolutely loved her short hair! 

Finished up with 6th grade and headed into 7th! It's so crazy to think she was only in 4th grade when we started homeschooling. 

Cute sassy girl that likes to take my clothes. So many of Ella's tops that she wears are mine. She also loves to take any jewelry I'll let her have. 

She also loves to match Daddy! When he came home with an 811 sweatshirt that was in her size she was so excited! Now whenever venders come into Michael's office and he gets sweatshirts he always makes sure to bring home one for her. 

Camping in Ephrata is a highlight of the year for everyone! Unfortunately this year we have a lot going on so we aren't going to make it out to Eastern Washington to camp! :(  

I look at these kids and think when did they grow up?!?!

This was when my sweet girl was not feeling well on our camping trip in Eastern Washington. Last year was especially hard for Ella trying to figure out why she kept getting migraines and throwing up. It was a trying time for sure. 

Camping with friends is even more fun!!! 

The girls had so much fun being creative with their picture taking at the beach. 

Mother Nature sure made for a fun backdrop with all the mist. 

Ella is such a cutie! 

Ella LOVES to spend time with her friends! 

Does matter what she's doing either. She'll serve and help when needed. She a very hard worker! 

These sweet girls have grown up together! They were just babies when they first met! Such precious friendships! 

Ella made another 4th of July shirt last year. This last year Ella wasn't as into crafts as she has been in the past. Her favorite thing to do creatively is probably color. Miss Ellen gave Ella a ton of coloring books and pencils and she's been really enjoying them. 

I never noticed before how much Ella and Anna look like sisters in this picture.

Silly Jelly Beans! 

In July Ella and I set out on a road trip to Eastern Washington. I love going on road trips with my girl, but unfortunately she was still struggling with her health. She did make the best of the time she felt good though. 

Swimming at Papa Ed & Grandma Penny's house. 

At Silverwood...we love this tradition with Jen & Logan! 

Looking good in our shades! 

Saying goodbye is always hard. Logan's house is like a home away from home for us. These girls year after year just keep their friendship alive even though they only see each other a few times a year. It really is a beautiful thing! 

 

All the work Ella finished during her 6th grade year. Ella is still trying to catch up, but she sure is trekking along. She made really great progress. She is at grade level in Word Building and by the end of her 7th grade year if she finishes everything that's planned she'll only be 2 PACES behind in Math & English and 4 PACES behind in Social Studies. Even if she isn't able to finish everything that's planned I'm sure she'll be fully caught up by the end of her 8th grade year. She's such a rockstar when it comes to school work! 

Summer camp! 

This was Ella's last year being able to go to Kids Camp. However, we are going to see if she can go this summer as a junior helper. She is not interested in going to the youth summer camp at all. They stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning and Ella does not like that. She is a younger 14 year old in comparison to girls who go to public school. She also has such a heart for younger kids. She loves helping out. 

Over Labor Day weekend, Jen called me and said that her and Logan would like to surprise Ella. They only had a few hours to hang out with us so we decided to make the best of them. 

We celebrated by getting Ella's 2nd piercing in her ears. 

She had been wanting to get her second piercing for quite some time so she was a happy girly. 

A couple days later when she ended up in the ER we had to take them out so she could have an MRI. I was able to pierce them again using her earrings once she was done with the MRI. They were only out of her head for 3 minutes and they had already started to close up!! Unfortunately due to this she's kind of had a bit of a struggle with them getting infected over and over. They haven't caused her trouble in a few weeks now so I think they are finally healed up. 

Precious friends! 

They are so cute they've already decided that when they get older they are going to live together in a house by the beach. Ella said that their husbands are just going to have to understand that they are all going to live together. 

Later that same day we had the Back To School Bash at Red Robin. 

This year Papa & Ruth were able to come with us. Ga-Ga & Pa were on a long road trip and didn't get back until October! 

Two days later on our first day of school last year, Ella ended up having one of her throwing up episodes. I had already taken her to the Neurosurgeon and he couldn't find anything wrong. He was concerned that she's had such bad throwing up episodes and I haven't taken her to the ER so this time I took her to the ER. Of course this particular time they gave her Tylenol and anti-nausea meds and she started feeling better. They did another MRI and her shunt was functioning properly so that's was good news. However, there really weren't any answers! It's so maddening to watch your child go through something like this and have nothing to go on. 

I will say this is what really kick started us into figure out what was going on. I ended up making an appt for Ella to see my Naturopath and see if we could look at her overall health instead of just focusing on her Hydrocephalus. 

Since Ella wasn't feeling great on the first day of school we postponed school pictures to the second day, but I still left the sign so it said the first day of school. In fact that sign still says the first day of school almost 5 months later! :) 

My sweet girly! I love her so much! 

When we went to the Corn Maze this year I was paired up with Ella and Zeke while Owen and Jack ran off on their own. While we were walking in the maze Ella ended up finding a $20 bill and no one was around at all!!! It was in one of the areas where people cut through the cornstalks instead of using the pathway and Ella said it served them right that they lost their $20 bill! 

We ended up beating Owen and Jack so we just sat outside the maze waiting for them to be finished. 

This girl is thisclose to being as tall as me! Years ago the doctor predicted that she would be 5' 5" tall, but she has basically stalled out in her growth. She's so silly though because she wants to be taller than me and at the same time she doesn't want to grow anymore. So I guess she wants me to shrink! 

Owen and Ella worked together to run the Axe Throwing game at our church's Fall Festival. She ended up throwing the Axe so much her whole arm was sore for days.  

This year Ella developed a crush on someone in this picture. I'm not going to name names though. He is a very sweet guy. She even wrote him a letter telling him she liked him. After that he sort of got weird and stopped talking to her. Just recently they started talking again so that's been nice. 

This cute hippy girl did not get to go trick or treating since she was having another throwing up episode, but I had her put on her costume the next day so I could take a picture. Thankfully this was the last time she's had a throwing up episode. PTL!!!! 

Ella met with my Naturopath and she listened to us tell her Ella's whole medical history. We decided to do a food sensitivity blood test. At this point Ella had already lost too much weight so we didn't want to do an exclusion diet and have her lose more. The blood test came back and showed that Ella has a level 4 (highest level) sensitivity to dairy...even goat milk. She has a low sensitivity to gluten and eggs, but since we knew taking dairy out of her diet was going to be hard enough we decided to focus on that and then possibly exclude the others at a later date. 

Thankfully milk ended up being the culprit and after a few weeks of no dairy we started to really see a decline in her headaches. We also figured out that Excedrin Migraine is just the best medicine in the world. My Naturopath also put Ella on magnesium since that can help with headaches as well. We also decided to lower her dose of Topiramate which is her migraine meds that her Neurologist put her on. These throwing up episodes increased in number when he increased her meds even though her Neurologist said that shouldn't be the case. 

In all honesty I'm super irritated with the medical world right now. Not once in all the times we've dealt with Ella's headaches did any of the medical specialists tell us that something as simple as magnesium could help. They also never once recommended caffeine which is the main ingredient in Excedrin Migraine. We've had multiply appts with her GP, Neurologist and Neurosurgeon and they've never truly listened to me the way my Naturopath did. They just kept focusing on her Hydrocephalus and they couldn't see past that. They also just wanted to keep throwing more pharmaceuticals at her which I get because they're doctors, but it really shows where their loyalties lie. 

Ella is going on 3+ months of no throwing up. She's had a few headaches, but even those have drastically lowered to maybe 1 - 2 a month. All she does is take her magnesium and an Excedrin and she's good though. After 2 months of no dairy we decided to slowly start to incorporate dairy back in. She now has one milk product a day and she hasn't noticed any increase in headaches. I'm contemplating reducing her Topiramate even more. I honestly don't think it's been helping much at all. It was suppose to help with migraines, but she was still getting them. Right now she takes 25mg in the morning at night so it's not a high dose at all. I think we'll go down to just once a day and see how she feels. 

These kids are growing UP! 

In November all the kids tested for their next belt in Taekwondo. Ella is receiving her new low green belt from Master Kelsey. 

Even though Ella sees Anna & Addison every Friday at Homeschool Choir they don't really get a lot of time to hang out. The holidays are always such a nice time for the kids to get to just be with each other. 

Grandparents!!! 

Ella is in a huge flannel wearing phase. She has at least 6 different flannels and then she usually asks to borrow mine as well. 

On December 1st, Ella got to attend the Women's Christmas Dinner at church with me. Earlier in the day she had gotten her RX glasses. She was amazed at how much better she can see. She looks so cute in glasses. She also looks adorable with her hair straightened. I love her curls too though! 

Christmas Choir! 

I attended the first night with Papa & Ruth. We sat on the left side in the middle so we could see Ella's face. At the Easter Concert we could barely see her. 

Michael, the boys and Ga-Ga & Pa attended the second night...I wasn't feeling well. They didn't sit far enough to the left so Ella's face was covered the whole time by the person in front of her. What was funny was the girl that was covering her is named Ella as well. In fact she's Ella Martinez. 

Ella and June haven't been able to see each other nearly as much this year since they haven't been in the same choir. June is in Cantate 1 while Ella is in Cantate 2. They have become pen pals though so they mail letters back and forth to each other which is so cute. 

Beautiful ladies!!! 

My Christmas Babies picture is my favorite picture of the whole year! They aren't babies anymore, but at the same time they'll always be my babies. 

Zeke picked Ella's name this year. She is all about make-up, jewelry, shoes and clothes. 

Here's she is wearing another one of my shirts. She's so cute and I love that she likes to wear my clothes. I was never able to wear my mom's clothes growing up and I was always bummed about that. Papa & Ruth gave her these cute hippy glasses for part of her Christmas present. She can totally pull them off! 

Ella Grace loves her Daddy! Although she doesn't love when he kisses her cheek when his facial hair is too long. She complains that it's too pokey! 

Trying out sparkling non-alcoholic wine on New Year's....it was a no bueno for all the kids. 

At the end of the year Jen texted me and asked if Ella and I would like to use their buddy passes to fly over for New Years. I knew that wouldn't work out, but we made plans to come over on MLK JR weekend. This was my first time flying stand by without an Alaska Airline employee with me. I was a bit nervous, but it work out and we got the flight we wanted to even though it was delayed by a couple of hours. 

All the kids have flown once, but they were all so little so they have no memory of it. I was right around Ella's age when I flew for the first time. It's funny how you project your experiences onto your kids. I was sure she was going to be freaked out about flying like I was. When we were getting ready to take-off I asked her if she wanted to hold my hand. She looked at me all confused and said, "Why?" I guess she was just fine with flying. :)  

Reunited and it feels so good! 

While on this trip it was extremely cold. We were in -9 degree weather at one point. 

We did have to keep up our tradition of going to Cracker Barrel and we all got the Lemon Pepper Trout as well! 

The girls decided to put make-up on and do their hair all cute. These girls are just gorgeous. I remember what I looked like at 13 and 14 and this was not it! 

At the beginning of February, Michael had a work conference at Great Wolf Lodge and we got to tag along. They have a dance party at night and I just love to dance. We made the kids stay with us and they all looked miserable while Michael and I were dancing. You would think out of 4 kids that at least one of them would be like me and be outgoing! 

Youth group was on Valentine's Day this year and the boy that Ella likes ended up giving her a Valentine's card and some chocolates. She came home beaming! She could not stop smiling! It's so cute! 

My sweet Ella Bean...

You have grown into such a beautiful woman both inside and out. You have such a kind and giving heart. You always want to go above and beyond. It's been so fun to see you thrive this year and really come into yourself. You know what you like and when you like something you really like it. Surprisingly, you even actually really like jeans even though you were sure you'd hate them. 

You have worked so hard at your school work. You might still struggle at times, but you never let it stop you. You keep learning and getting better and better. Earlier this year you had to do give an oral report on the country of China and you dove into researching it and really had a great time. Next year will be your big state report and knowing how much you liked learning about China I'm sure you're going to have fun diving into the state of Washington's history. 

You told me recently you'd like to start babysitting. We've told a couple people at church, but you haven't gotten any official babysitting jobs yet, but you have watched a couple kids at church for some friends that were in a Bible Study class. You did get to work for a lady at church stuffing envelopes. You made over $140 in 2 days. It was a really good experience for you! 

My darling girl it's been so cute watching you develop a crush. While I love seeing the smile on your face! I also know that one day you'll have your heartbroken and that hurts just thinking about it. I'm not under the impression that you've met your spouse, but God does have someone special in mind for you. I pray that through these likes and crushes that you're bound to have that you'll remember that Jesus should always be the most important guy in your life. We've always said that anyone you kids decide to go out with has to love Jesus more than they love you. It can be super easy to get wrapped up in what a guy thinks of you and your focus can be pulled away from the Lord so I pray that you keep your eyes fixed on Him always! 

I love my Ella Bean! 

Happy 14th Birthday!