Ellie at 7 and a half!

Ellie turned 7 1/2 yesterday and Chad picked up this cookie cake for her!  Thought it was cute and it was very yummy!!

Ellie continues to amaze us and challenge us as parents.  When she turned 7, I thought things might finally be settling down with her, but it turned out to just be a quiet phase, I guess.  (I will be writing more about things that have helped me with raising a strong willed child, but that's for another day)  Ellie is amazingly brilliant.  She is quick to pick up on things, quick to analyze things, and quick to come up with her own conclusions.  She will by far pass her parents on the intelligence scale.  She is very talented at art like her daddy.  (I have no artistic abilities at all).  However, I do think she has a knack for writing and maybe she gets that from me (or at least from her Mimi who is an excellent writer).  

Ellie has adjusted well to her new school, has made lots of friends, but still misses some of her old friends.  We have had many discussions lately about friendships and boundaries.  With this age, comes lots of DRAMA!  I saw it in my classroom when I taught, and I see it with my daughter and her friends. These girls are very sensitive and someone is always feeling left out or getting their feelings hurt.  Oh my!  Ellie and I have been reading a bible study together every night for girls.  It has been so nice for us to have that quiet time together and to talk about the topic each night.  A lot of it has been about friendships and how to treat others, so it's been perfect for us to talk about the stuff that's going on in her life.  I always ask her if anything's bothering her and we pray about that as well.  It has been bothering her that we are going to move again and she won't be as close to some of the friends that she has made on the street. At least, we have plenty of time to pray about that before it actually happens!  Plus, I keep reminding her that her friends will want to come over and it's not that far!

Right now, Ellie is taking Jazz and is participating in Girl Scouts.  She was in gymnastics, but we are taking a break this semester.  She would like to play basketball and she has even been talking about playing soccer again.  Ellie is athletic and she has some good dance moves!  Her nana gave her a Sing It Wii game for Christmas and surprisingly (because she is usually on the shy side) she has been singing in front of her friends and other people !  I may have to sign her up for choir next year.  Ellie has great determination and can succeed at whatever she puts her mind to, however, she gets bored easily.  She doesn't like routines and doing the same thing everyday.  She has been complaining about school being boring since she was four years old.  Not being bored with the material she is learning (she loves to learn) but being bored with the routine.  She just became eligible to participate in a special class that will be a great outlet for her at school to use some of her creativity.  They already made small, hot air balloons in the class and her balloon went the farthest.  She was very proud and told us all about it!  We are very proud of Ellie and know that she will do great things will all her many talents!