Stories from Ella

Autumn has not officially arrived, but we are having beautiful weather here in Chicago. We hope it will be nice in two weeks when we're having Ella's birthday party outside! Our travels are over for now and it's good to be home, but hard to adjust to small quarters after visiting so many suburban size homes. We had an eventful return from California that included a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call, alot of cancelled flights, a $160 - 75 minute cab ride (thankfully paid for by American Airlines) to the Palm Springs Airport, a 5 hour wait at the Palm Springs airport, and then about a 4-hour flight home that included more delays and holding patterns. Let's just say it was a long day.

Ella's language skills are developing rapidly and she has finally mastered the use of pronouns and first person. We were getting tired of hearing her refer to herself in third person all of the time, so it's nice to hear her say "me" and "I". She doesn't miss a word of any conversation going on around her, and she has an amazing memory--often recounting stories and events in great detail from months ago. Two of her favorite stories to tell over and over again are "Pa's card" and "Gracie fell down". Her mind is truly like a sponge that absorbs whatever it is exposed to and we are trying hard to make sure she soaks up only good things.

A bittersweet story from this morning: Ella was climbing on the hope chest at the foot of our bed. And as always, I had to remind her not to do this because it is a very special piece of furniture. I said, "remember this trunk is very special because it came from Grandma Earnhart." Ella promptly replied, "it came from heaven!" I assume this is because we talk about her Grandma Earnhart and her Great Grandma who are in heaven with God. I thought it was a beautiful reminder of how much she really understands and does not understand.

Later today we will make a trip to the fabric store. I have enrolled in a basic sewing class and will attempt to learn how to sew some basic garments. Wish me luck!

At the end of the week we will have a visit from my Aunt Faith, Jesse and their son Caelin. Ella is excited to see them and have them visit us in Chicago. It's not often that any of our family come visit us, and we love it when they do. (YES THIS IS A HINT!)

With our camera basically out of service, I was only able to take about three or four pictures in California, some of which didn't even turn out. We're trying to work a new camera into the budget, so hopefully pictures will be more frequent again. I will post the few I have for now, of Ella wearing her sunglasses, jammies, and beach shoes inside on a rainy day, Ella and July the cat in California, and Ella showing baby the Chihuly sculptures at the Palm Springs airport last week.

Hope to see and hear from you all soon--as always feel free to leave comments. I will try to e-mail this post to alot of people, as I've been told by many they thought our blog was over because of my problems.