Birthday Greetings!

We have been on the road, so I'm a little behind - but belated greetings to Taylor for a happy 24th birthday!!

 

A combined celebration 2 years ago!!

 

Happy Birthday today to Ella!! 

Love these ladies - and hope the year ahead is the best ever!!

The lovely Miss Ella - Sweet 16 today!

I scrolled through my trove of photos and selected 16 - mostly because I thought they reflected our own Miss Ella Sophia. 

Ella is a delight to know and love.  And she's a lot of fun to work with, shop with, play games with, watch movies with, hang out with, go to church with, go to the beach with, go out to eat with, sew with, talk with, travel with - I've never not enjoyed any time I spend with Ella!

She's the best and we love her dearly!

Happy day to you - and all year through!!

Tooth Fairy

It is so gratifying to see evidence that my children do listen every once in a while to my lectures. A little background: At our house we don't really do allowances. But we do pay the children $2 each day they pack their lunch. I consider it a deal, since school lunch costs $3 and a home lunch is much healthier. Anyway, I explained to the girls that it was their responsibility to keep track of their days and bill me every week or every two weeks, with the dates of lunches included.

So I think it is awesome that Ella took that information and ran with it. Obviously the tooth fairy has been busy, as poor Ella has been neglected. Hopefully that will be remedied soon.

Happy 12th Birthday to Ella!!

So, can we believe that this little munchkin is on her way to Young Women now?? Holy Hawkeye, where did the last dozen years go??

A birthday queen in the making - with Granny Babs - such a sober little girl!! (Ella that is!)


With her Grandpa Bob - always a good listener!! (That goes both ways!!)

With her mom - hmm - see some family resemblance?? (Not just visual resemblances either - she is indeed her mother's daughter!)


With her sisters - the indomitable Little Women!! (The scary time from the fires a few years ago!! These girls are a great team!)


Of course, a shot with Dad - Ella also has lots of his good qualities that become more apparent as she grows older.

Ella loves the babies - and has that "touch" too!

A Terrill Family Party year - Ella gets right into the spirit of things wherever she goes.

A fave photo of mine - the lovely Miss Ella - watch out world, here she comes!

And we don't want to miss out on sending felicitations to her "Birthday Buddy" Sue Cornwall, every Terrill's favorite Seminary Teacher and friend!

Happy Birthday today - and best wishes for a great year ahead!!

Good times with Ella!!

When I looked at this picture up close, it looked like Ella and Grandpa were having a prayer!! But they were waiting for me to deal in Phase 10!! (I won, thank you very much!!) Dad and I actually enjoy games, but seldom play. It's good to have kids around who will get the ball rolling, so to speak!

Ella forgot her bathing suit, but she figured out how to have some fun in the water with Miss Isla.

It was 101 degrees today - and this hot tub is not heated. Miss Isla loved dipping her toes in.

Of course we hit up Urbane - they are starting to know us all by name!!

And we rounded off our visit by making the famous elastic waist skirts that Hannah posted about. We did one for Ara too.

I forgot to take any pictures while we were working on my classroom - and that's too bad, because Ella was a Class A helper - no pun intended!! She did two bulletin boards for me, figured out how to get my computer up and running, helped me move book cases, tables and chairs, hooked up my cordless phone, filed student folders alphabetically, and generally made a usually tedious task lots of fun. She even came up with a "getting to know you" game that I'm going to use on the first day of school!!

Bonny's coming for her in the a.m. - so it's back to the grind for me!!

(She's making progress on Mockingjay, but probably won't finish before she leaves. But she will get a turn to finish!!)

more .......

school pix

Interview in the School Paper

Ella has always stood out in the school community, but now she has the important title of school treasurer. A student in Ms. Cook's fifth grade class, she is a dedicated and hard working student.

All her classmates agree math is her best subject. "I enjoy math and counting money. I thought it would be fun to be a part of Student Council and run the Student Store," states Ella. She made the decision to run for office on her own, but talked to her parents about it first.

"My parents said I would make a good treasurer. So, I decided to run because it would be fun. They made me confident to run," states Ella. Our treasurer is a smart, funny, creative leader and responsible.

Ella and Shamu

and still more...

more party pix