sequel

Ella recently published a second book in her language arts class. This time she opted for an autobiography. Here's the text (with a little commentary):

All About Ella

Written and illustrated by Ella Moore

This book is dedicated to my famly and pets of the footur

My Personality

I am active because I sleep in and have lots of energy. I like gymnastics because it is fun. My favorite sport is soccer. (Ella has never slept past 7 a.m. a day in her life. She has also never once tried gymnastics. In defense of her choice, she said, "I can almost do a headstand!")

My Favorite Food

My favorite foods are watermelon, pasta, and soup. I could go on for hours and hours because I love food. (Her stick figure self-portrait is standing at a watermelon, pasta and soup buffet next to a thought bubble that reads, "I see food!")

My Dad

I love my dad. He is so excellent and loving! I love him a lot because he is the best. He gives me horsey back rides all around the basement. (Ella skipped this page when reading it to her class because it was, without question, "too embarrassing.")

My Sister

I like my sister Lauren. She is four and will turn five on August 27th. Sometimes she is mean, but I still love her. She is my best friend. (Audrey, it turns out, "isn't very interesting to write about.")

My Mom

My mom is fun and also funny. She makes the best lasagna! I love her because she is nice to me.

My Grandma and Grandpa

My grandma loves cooking with me. My grandpa loves fishing with me, but I never catch one. I love them!

My Birthday

I love my birthday because it is in the last full week of school. My birthday is June 12th and it is on a Saturday this year.

Why I Love Being Me

I love being me because I have a home and kind teachers and parents. I have great friends who are so nice to me. I love being me!

A literary masterpiece! I hope I can get my copy autographed.

busy b

For Audrey, saying "b" means a lot of things. Most of the time I have no idea what she's talking about.

Imagine my surprise, then, when Audrey came running into the kitchen yelling, "B! B! B!" then extended her little fist and dropped into my outstretched hand . . . a dead bee.

Nicely done.

sorry, kim . . .

This one will make you sad.

Lauren recently said to me, "Mom, church day is my favorite day."

"Really?" I asked, thrilled at the thought of her growing love of the gospel.

"Yep," she said. "It's the only day I get to see Daddy when I'm not sleeping in my bed."

Tonight during dinner Lauren burst into tears. "I wish Daddy was here for di-i-i-nner!"

I tried to console her, then carried a few dishes into the kitchen. When I came back she had gone into the living room and returned with a framed picture of Kim kissing her cheek. She arranged it next to her plate, then ate a few more peas.

We'll all be glad when these long days apart are behind us.

Update: After dinner it was bath time. I started the water, then turned around to see Lauren holding the picture. "Can we put this on the toilet?"

apology

Ella told a lie. So, I sent her to her room. When she emerged, she handed me a torn out piece of notebook paper with a note written in her jaunty script:

I know it is not good to lie because it can make you sab. I am going to tell the trooth so that you are not sad and I will be not be sad. I am vary vary vary vary vary sory. I even sed a prar to help me pul throu.

green

As we drove past the country club today, Ella said, "Mom, you see that beautiful golf course?"

"Yes."

"Dad said one day I can play a Ladies Masters Tournament on a course just like it. I don't know about that. But," she said dreamily, "to wear a green a jacket . . . that would be an honor."

show & tell the truth

It was my turn to co-op at preschool again today, during -- you guessed it -- "U Week." Lauren knew exactly what she was taking for show & tell.

When the time arrived, Lauren (once again) trotted to her cubby. She produced her unicorn, then stood next to Ms. Lynn, who said, "Ohhh, Lauren. How perfect for 'U Week'! What a beautiful unicorn. Does she have a name?" I held my breath.

"Jewely." I waited.

"Jewely! Wonderful." And then Lauren (once again) paraded Jewely in front of her little friends, who took turns stroking her soft mane and golden horn.

That was it.

Later, as we walked to school to pick up Ella, I said, "Lauren, remember the last time you took your unicorn to show & tell? You told everyone that her name was Louise. Then today you told them it was Jewely. I think it's kind of funny that no one said anything about it."

She shrugged, "I guess they just rec'anized that I have two unicorns."

dream big

Ella is a truly wonderful big sister. She's always thoughtful, sweet as can be. She loves to play and read books with her sisters. She's a happy helper, and a great example. She's a willing teacher, and remarkably patient. But still, sometimes, Ella's little sisters really get on her nerves.

It happened recently, when Lauren and Audrey both (but especially Lauren) had pestered and provoked Ella all day. At some point, bless her heart, she'd had enough and came to me crying.

"Mom!" she sobbed, "I wish I didn't even have little sisters! I wish I just had one BIG sister who was in the fifth grade. That's my DREAM! And it will NEVER . . . COME . . . TRUE!"

lucky

Ella brought home a classroom assignment that required the children to finish the sentence, "I'm lucky because . . . "

She wrote, "I'm lucky because I have a home and a scool and a bed and food and a famly!!!"

A lucky little girl, indeed.

twilight

This post has nothing to do with handsome vampires. So sorry. But it is supernatural.

It was about 7:00 when I decided to sit on the sofa and check email and such for a few minutes between dinner and getting the girls ready for bed. Not long afterward, Lauren came and laid her sweet head on my lap. And now, just a few minutes later, she is sound asleep. Snoring, in fact. This is not unusual for Lauren who, on almost a daily basis, demonstrates her impressive ability to fall asleep nearly anywhere at any time. The thought just now occurs to me that she may have narcolepsy. Or maybe she just takes after her father. But I digress.

What is truly amazing about what has just happened is that when I looked down to see Lauren asleep, I noticed Audrey. As I type this, she's lying on the living room floor with her head on a pillow. She's clutching her furry blanket, and her binky is bobbing. She's sound asleep.

I'm not sure what's going on here. But I like it.

Ella is out on the front steps enjoying the last rays of this balmy day and (what else) reading. I think it's time to tell her she's out of daylight.

play date

Ella informed me, "My friend Kylie asked me if I wanted to have a play date Friday or Saturday."

"What did you say?"

"I just said, 'Nah.'" I was horrified.

"Ella, think how you would feel if you invited someone to play and they said that to you. Why would you do that?"

"Well," she whined, "I have Olivia's birthday party on Friday."

"And what about Saturday?"

"Saturday I'm reading."

"Reading?"

"Yes."

"All day?"

She hesitated. "Yes?"

"Honey, you can't read all day." She burst into tears.

"But all I want to do is read! READ, READ, READ."

I decided to finish the conversation another time.

Ella brought it up at dinner. "Mom, I don't think you would want me to have a play date with Kylie if you saw her."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because sometimes she wears a pink bandana on her head, and it has a BLACK SKULL and CROSSBONES!" She winced. "I can hardly stand to look at it. AND," she continued, "she has BIKINIS. I don't even like the way it sounds when I say the word . . . bikini."

Lauren stopped pushing the food around her plate to look at me and whisper her agreement, "Neither do I."

So, we had a little chat about how friends might sometimes dress differently than we do, but are still good people.

And we talked about fun things to do with Kylie when she comes over for a play date.

a tribute

This is a tribute to Kim's Aunt Jan (and mine), who died early this morning. She was a wonderful person. Her family, though small, was everything to her. She loved to laugh, especially at herself, and she had a way of making everyone around her feel better about themselves. I'm sure she thought more of Kim and I than we deserve. I had the feeling all day that if I wasn't careful, and lost my temper or something, Aunt Jan would realize her mistake.

I'd been writing The Kitchen Notebook for a few months when I decided Aunt Jan might enjoy it, and sent her the link. Within hours, I got this reply:

Linds, I was reading your blog while eating my lunch [Note to self: do not eat while reading Lindsay's blog. Salad dressing is hard to get off the monitor.] You have to publish that stuff. I loved the titles as much as the content. I must say, I am concerned about your children's lack of vocabulary--cauliflower, persevere--honestly now. Do I catch a little Scottish in their speech? I hope your parents can still fly free because if I were them, I'd be on an airplane every week. I miss you all so much that I went over my lunch time so I could read the entire blog, alternating laughing out loud and crying. It was like a time machine in reverse, and I loved it all. You are doing such a good job as a "Mama." No one is perfect, but you're getting pretty close.

You see what I mean.

When we called her last night, after being informed that she only had hours left, one of the first things she said was, "I don't know what I'll do without The Kitchen Notebook."

"Maybe they'll let you read it," I sobbed. We laughed together.

"Maybe they will."

Or maybe she'll just get to see it in real time, imperfections and all.

We love you, Aunt Jan.

hopping trip

I was headed out to run some Saturday errands when Ella said, "When you get back, tell me if you saw the Easter Bunny."

"Why would I see the Easter Bunny while I'm shopping?"

"He always leaves the price tags on everything," she said, "Even the Peeps!"

spring break

April 1st and 80 glorious degrees. It was one of those days you have to make the most of. And we did.

We started at 10:30 with an egg hunt at a friend's house. Brunch buffet, a pack of preschool friends, friendly parents, green grass, singing birds and sunshine. Oh, and a field full of hidden eggs filled with candy. Could it get any better than this? We intended to find out.

At noon it was on to Parkhurst Park to meet up with three friends and their combined total of 10 kids for a picnic lunch and an afternoon of lazy fun. The park was just improved and now features a big gazebo with picnic tables, a climbing wall, and a rope walk. But all of that may have been invisible to the girls and their friends. They spent our entire four hours there playing in two natural sand areas that feature old-fashioned water pumps. Moat digging, dam building and sand castle construction kept everyone happy as could be.

As the afternoon drew to a close, I decided to let Ella in on the rest of our plan. "I didn't tell you about it before now," I said, "but you know the author who wrote When You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and When You Give a Moose a Muffin, and all of those books?"

"Yes," she said.

"Well," I told her, "She's coming to our neighborhood today and she wants to read you her new book." Ella squealed, put both hands to her mouth, danced a little, then ran to tell the others.

I changed the girls into clean, dry clothes and piled them into the car. We were surprised to arrive at the book reading and discover it was also a giveaway. Each of the children got their own copy of Laura Numeroff's new book, "The Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza." She read it, and then signed each book to each child individually. She told us how she came from a family of three little girls, and that it was nice to meet us and remember how fun it was growing up. Ella beamed.

Since it was already dinner time, I decided to stop and get happy meals. Oh, the celebration. On the way home, Ella informed me, "This was my best day ever!" Then added, "And you're the best Mom ever!"

"You are!" Lauren chimed. "The best mom ever!"

"Thanks, girls," I told them,"I try."

Before we ate our dinner on the screened porch, Lauren offered to say the blessing. Right in the middle of it, Ella leaned over to her and whispered, "And thank you for the absolutely, positively best mom ever."

I think it was one of my best days ever, too.