The Graduate

Ella and her preschool friends put on a great end of the year show. They sang "Glory", "Father Abraham", "He is Lord", "ABC's" in Spanish and "the Itsy Bitsy Spider" in Spanish. They also recited Psalm 23 with sign language. It was fantastic! This girl loves to put on a show and is quite the entertainer!



Ella also had her first ever graduation where she received a pre-K diploma. With her end of August birthday, we have decided to wait one more year for kindergarten so she will do another year of pre-K at another sweet preschool and this mom sure will enjoy another year of having her home!

Ella is so proud that this was Greer's first show and has told me what a great job they did singing because Greer slept through the whole thing. She was definitely honored to have Aunt Kristi and Greer there (as well as Mimi, of course)! Here is a pic of Mimi with her girls:

As always, we are so proud of you, Ella girl!

you WILL love each other!

After hearing enough fighting and unkind words ("you're not nice", for example), it was time for mom to intervene. I made Ella and Will say five nice things about each other and thought I'd document what they shared.

Ella about Will:

1. he's kind to me
2. he plays with me
3. he lives with me
4. he sleeps in my room with me
5. he sings well

Will about Ella:

1. she sleeps with me
2. she pushes me on the swing
3. she plays with the carwash with me
4. she lets me go first on the ladder
5. she pushed me around in the cart today at hobby lobby

Just for the record, my strategy wasn't too effective. They were back at their old ways within 5 minutes, but I still enjoyed my 3 minutes of peace and loving siblings!

"That Kid"

I've often heard moms refer to having a kid you can't take your eye off of even for one minute. Now, I have that kid. I know that my others went through busy stages, pulling things out of cabinets, off of shelves, etc. but Cal does so much more. He climbs on anything, dives head first off of things and has no fear (possibly teetering on the line of no common sense)! Just today while I was cooking and trying to watch his every move, I turned my back while at the sink. He quickly pulled the chair out from under the table to climb up onto the table in search of crumbs on Will's lunch plate. He moves so fast he is just a head injury or ER visit waiting to happen. With all of his energy, we still find him charming and so very entertaining. We love this little guy, trouble and all!

Lazy Weekend Days

Just hanging out at home and enjoying some cuddle time. Ella is becoming quite the photographer as you can see in the last picture which she took. Cal missed the cuddling as he was napping. We all sure love weekends with Dad around!

A Proud Moment

As her final event as a Purple People Eater, Ella became the bearer of her very own trophy. She is mighty proud of this trophy and picked a prominent spot for it in her bedroom. She is ready to be a part of her next sports team with hopes of another trophy at the end of the season.

More Convertible Talk

so, today ella and i were unloading the dishwasher together while will was watching veggie tales silly songs and singing "God is bigger than the boogie man". our conversation went as follows:

ella: so, mom, if God is bigger than goliath or a giant, the ceiling must be really high in heaven.
me: God is so big, maybe heaven won't even have a ceiling.
ella: oh yay, like a convertible. that will be great!

you're so right. it will be great, my girl!

Introducing....

Ella, Will and Cal are proud to introduce their new baby cousin, Greer Elizabeth. She was born May 10 at 9:41 in the morning weighing 7 lbs. Greer is a beautiful baby and we are beyond excited to have her in our family. Ella and Will have eagerly been awaiting her arrival and were thrilled to finally meet little G.G.! We love you little Greer and can't wait to watch you grow into a beautiful young lady. Congrats Uncle Bub and Aunt Kristi!

Mother's Day Tea

Ella had a sweet Mother's Day Tea at her preschool today and it was so special. She and her friends had worked so hard to make it a very special afternoon for us moms. For a week now, she's been telling me that she has lots of surprises and she sure did. They had made flower shaped and heart shaped cookies that were delicious and each child served their mom. Ella made a precious card for me that I will always cherish! They put on a great performance of songs about their moms that was very sweet. And, I brought home a special gift that's all wrapped up for me to open on Mother's Day. It was such a sweet girl time for us without any of our boys. We Baker girls love tea parties! Thank you, Ella, for treating your mommy to such a special tea. I sure do love you!

Fun with Mimi and Pop

Ella and Will have a new fascination with convertibles, aka cars without a roof or windows to a very descriptive 3 year old. They quickly learned that all you have to do is ask Pop and he will gladly accommodate most (well, pretty much all) requests. Given that my dad is in the car business, all it took was one phone call to Pop at work and he was ready with a fancy car to take them to Raising Cane's for dinner. Here are some pictures of their fun in the convertible. Next time we'll be looking for an SUV convertible (is there such a thing?) so Cal can join the fun!



Mimi and Pop also joined us for a fun Sunday afternoon at our family's favorite destination, Six Flags. Ella and Will wanted Mimi and Pop to ride everything with them, and of course they obliged. As you can see, Mimi learned to raise her arms too. Michael and I even got to run off and ride the Titan which was a nice change from the Mini Mine Train. Let us know when you're ready for your next Six Flags Day!

Grammie and Poppa, get ready! They're ready for the rides at Sea World!