4 Months in One Post!!

Halloween

Ella with her birthday crown from school

At the beach

At the dentist

School play

First week of school

So much has happened in these last four months!! I can't believe I never even got on here even just for a little update!! I successfully passed my first semester of nursing school!! It was very challenging for me, but was able to get through it. I have a harder time with the pharmacology than anything and thankfully I only have one more semester of that left. I still have a couple more weeks on my break in between semesters. I have enjoyed this time off being with family and trying to rest up for next semester. I have had a lot of fun with Ella. I've also been trying to catch up with some of my friends over the break. I feel like I have so much free time on my hands. I even have begged co-workers for some more hours. I feel so useless having 4 whole days off in a row. Soon enough it will be 0, so I better enjoy it while it lasts.

I'll try to go in order of these past few months with what I remember:

Halloween: Ella was Cinderella and was very excited this year to go trick or treating. We went over to Auntie's house and she went around the neighbor's houses with her cousins.

Christmas: We had my family over for Christmas Eve and Ella went to bed about 2 am. We woke up on Christmas day at 8 am and Ella was so excited to open all of her presents. Then I had to work from 10-2 and met them at my in-laws for dinner. This was Ella's favorite Christmas yet because she finally could understand what was going on.

This week Ella had her 3rd dentist appointment. The last few times we went, she screamed and cried and wouldn't let them clean her teeth. We prepped her as good as we could for this visit. I even wore a mask when I brushed her teeth a few days before, read her a visiting the dentist book, and bribed her like no tomorrow. It ended up working! She was so good the whole time. I think just the age difference of being 6 months older really helped. She got all kinds of prizes and then I took her to lunch, ice cream, and the beach.

Her 4 year birthday is this Sunday. I'm really glad she is a part of my life and I get to spend at least part of my day with her everyday. She gives my life much more purpose.

I Made It

Well, it's finally that time... It's the night before I start nursing school. I can't believe it is finally here. I've been waiting for this day for about 3 years now. I'm nervous, but excited to start because the sooner I start, the sooner I will finish. I went down to just weekends at work so that I can devote my entire week to school.

Ella started school 2 weeks ago. She is going to a pre-k class at a catholic school. She really seems to be enjoying it there. There are no fights over clothes in the morning because has to wear a uniform. We got her lots of cute tights to go with her skirts.

We just had our last camping trip of the summer last week. We both took some time off and stayed for 2 nights. The river was pretty nasty, so we just stuck with the pool. Ella had a blast swimming for hours. My favorite part was napping in the tent both afternoons. I was so refreshed after that trip.

Ella had her first ballet performance last month. It went really well. Her class was the first to perform. They were so terrible that it was adorable! Charley and I laughed so hard we cried. She had a blast doing it and worked very hard practicing for months.

We took Ella to the water slides for the first time at the end of June. She played for hours in the little kids' section. I was able to relax and just read a book in the sun. The next day we went to the Turtle Bay Museum and looked around. It was quite hot and I was pretty miserable, but she liked looking around at all the stuff. Her favorite part was the butterfly house. They have one in one of her strawberry shortcake books, so she was thrilled when she got to visit a real one.

We've made a couple river trips and plan to take a couple more. We are planning one more camping trip as well. A two night stay this time before school starts.

Ella went to a kids' camp with grandma, auntie, and her cousins. She was gone for two whole nights. It was a nice break for us even though we missed her bunches. They did lots of activities and played in the water.

School will be here soon and we are still trying to figure out all of our schedules and how we are going to work it all out. I guess we won't know for sure until we get there. I decided to only work the weekends at work while I'm in school. It will be nice to devote my week to school and pick up extra shifts when I have a little extra time. Ella will be going back to preschool 3 days a week. We have been looking into a more advanced preschool for her for next year, which would be her third year of preschool. She seems very eager to learn and we want to make the most of that.

Summer Time

Well today is the day of Ella's first ballet performance. I'm really looking forward to seeing her perform the dance she's been working on for months. I am taking her to get her nails done today because she loves to have them painted. It will be her very first manicure.

Ella just finished her first year of pre-school and has the summer off. We've been camping two times and she's had a blast. Unfortunately both times the weather wasn't that great. I think we'll wait until later in the summer so that it will warm up. We are heading to the waterslides next week. I remember going there when I was younger and having so much fun. I'm sure Ella will love it just as much. We will also try to make plenty of river trips as well.

School is getting closer and closer for me. I had my orientation meeting and met my instructors. We were able to talk to current students in the program to kind of find out what we are about to get into. I ordered almost all of my books and I can only imagine how much work this program is going to be. It won't be long before it starts. I'm just going to try to make the most out of my summer because my life is about to change completely.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is my third Mother's Day and I just can't believe how fast it has gone by. Ella and Charley picked out a pretty "Mom" necklace for me that they gave me last night. I spent most of the day at work. After work I went to the gym and picked up Ella. Then we went out to sushi and ice cream. I feel so spoiled especially since I haven't been able to contribute much lately.

I successfully ran and finished my first marathon last Sunday. It took me just over four and a half hours. I felt great the first half. The second half was much harder for obvious reasons. By the time I got to mile 20 I was ready to be done. I pushed through five more miles and by mile 25 I got another little jolt of energy. I was excited to be so close to the finish that I picked up the pace so I could finish and finally be done. My Mom and Dad were waiting at the finish line for me. I'm glad they came down to watch because I ended up having my Dad drive my car home. I was having a hard time even walking to my car. Even though I encountered a lot of pain, I am proud of myself for accomplishing such a difficult thing. I invested months and hours of training into this marathon. It was almost like my part-time job! It's something I would have never done if my sister didn't convince me to. I'm glad I still ran it even though everyone else ditched out. I am thankful I was able to get through it smoothly without injury. I am still trying to recover. My legs are still a little weak, so I'm trying to ease back into my routine.

I've begun to get ready for school already. I got my physical and am getting caught up on my vaccines. I signed up for my CPR course and have a mandatory meeting at the end of this month. It won't be long before I start classes.

Ella is still working on her ballet routine for her big performance. I try to practice with her, but I think I'm just as bad as the toddlers! She's wrapping up her first year at preschool and getting ready for summer. It's almost time to start planning our first camping adventure!!!

At Dad's birthday dinner.

I know it's been quite a long time since I've posted, but there hasn't been much excitement on our end. It seems like all we do is work and live day to day.

Ella got a killer ear infection a couple of weeks ago. It was her first one in almost a year. We were up all night and Charley ended up taking her to urgent care the next morning. She is all healed up now and is having her hearing checked this month. She also had her 3 year check-up and is healthy and growing right on track.

I'm still training for my marathon and have one more long run before the real thing. The marathon is less than a month away. I can't believe how long I've been training for this thing.

Ella is still taking ballet. Her class is practicing for their big performance in June. I can't wait to watch her. It's going to be so cute.

February

February is almost over which means we are getting closer to turning the clocks ahead. Ella is getting very excited about summer. Every night she wants to hear a story about our future camping trips in the summer. We're looking forward to taking her on her first camping trip. This year she'll finally be old enough to somewhat control. I hope it doesn't turn into a disaster!

Ella started a ballet class 2 weeks ago. It's a half an hour class on Saturday mornings. She seems to listen to the teacher, but does start to get a little wild at times. She is not all that graceful. She really likes to just run around and laugh. I think she'll be good at soccer. We'll probably sign her up for that when she's old enough.

We made valentines for our first time this year for Ella's classmates. She had fun sprinkling the glitter onto the valentines. It was a stressful project, but I think she enjoyed it since she likes doing crafts like that.

My schedule has changed at work again. I am pretty sure I will be working Fri-Sun days and Mon-Tues nights. This will be nice because then I'll be able to be home most nights. I just hope I end up getting to keep it that way until I figure out what shifts I'm going to work when school starts.