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.

Ella's 3rd Birthday

I think I can finally write about Ella's birthday without becoming emotional. I threw a fiesta that I had been planning for 6 months. I spent hours making tissue paper flowers for decorations. I had cute little lanterns hanging in the tree outside, everything for dinner on the counter (Charley cooking the carne asada on the grill outside), child sized sombreros, pin the tail on the donkey game, a big chili pepper pinata I had bought almost a year earlier full of candy, a bouncy house in the driveway that the kids were all having so much fun bouncing around in.... I was up the night before until 1 am trying to perfect a tres leche cake that would not rise, so I ended up calling a bakery at 7:30 in the morning the next day and they had it ready for me by 3 pm. Ella and I both had Mexican inspired outfits that I got just for the party. The party started at 4 pm on Saturday January 9th which is Ella's actual birthday. I was so excited that her birthday fell on a Saturday so that we could celebrate on her actual birthday. Most everyone had finally arrived and then... A 6.5 earthquake rocked the house like no other. My big sister fell to the ground with baby Luke, things were flying out of the cupboards, glass was breaking all over the ground. It was traumatic to say the least. I could not believe what had just happened. The power went out and the bouncy house collapsed. It was getting close to sun down and the house was getting dark. Everyone left to go home and check on their families and homes. We let Ella rip open her presents quickly before the sun went down. My big sister had power at her house, so we literally packed up everything and just headed down there. We had a great meal, some yummy birthday cake, and then we let Ella crack open the pinata all by herself. I don't know what I would have done without my family. I was so upset and could not stop crying. I invested so much of my time and energy into the party and I was devastated. It is definitely a birthday we will never forget. I'm thankful that everyone was safe and we didn't have any major damage. I would have never expected that of all things to ruin her birthday party. Ella had no idea what had happened and still had a great time which is much more important than anything.
I successfully took and passed my entrance exam for the nursing program at the beginning of the month. I'm glad to have that out of the way. I'm getting more and more excited to start school in the fall. Right now I'm trying to focus my time on Ella and working to save money for school. I plan on waitressing through the program because financially I have to work. Plus, I enjoy my job and it will probably be a nice break from the stress of school and everything else.
Charley just got back from working out of town for a week. It was lonely not having him around, but I think Ella and I really had some good mom and daughter bonding while he was gone. Thanks to Charley's family for watching Ella late into the night while I was at work!
Charley's schedule at work is now officially Monday-Friday. Kind of a bummer because now we don't have a day off together ever. Maybe somehow things will work out and we'll manage to get a day together.
Ella is really becoming such a little person with a bubbly personality. She's having a great time at preschool and learning all kinds of new things. She loves to sing, read books, and do any kind of art project. She's a handful and it's hard to keep that girl entertained!
Marathon training is going good. I'm right on schedule and running 16 miles on Saturday. Should be fun!