Getting to know our family - Ella

I will start with the oldest child of the Ray family. Ella, Ella-Belle, Elle, Ellie Pat, Lil' Bit...

Ella is an intelligent, vibrant, funny, sensitive, energetic, helpful five-year old girl. She is the sunshine of our eyes! The things she has taught us over the past five years have been priceless. She can bring a smile to anyone's face and is a joy to be around. She is so stinkin' smart, too!

Ella is finishing up the first half of her Kindergarten year. Her teacher says she is doing exceptionally well, especially reading. Every morning she is anxious to get to school and her favorite part of the day is "recess", of course. Ella is doing a fantastic job with her reading. She can read several full books. It is awesome to see her eyes light up when she sounds out a word and then finds out she is right. Way cool to experience that joy with her!

Some of Ella's favorite things to do when not in school are play with her little brother, do puzzles, read books and any kind of crafts, especially drawing! This girl LOVES to color and draw! She can spend hours with her tablet of paper and crayons! The only problem - what in the world do I do with all those creations?? She is absolutely heartbroken if she sees one "accidentally" placed in the recycling bin. :-) But seriously, we have gone through two whole pads of paper in a week! That's a lot of drawings to have to keep.

If you asked Ella today what she wanted to be when she grows up, she would tell you "an animal doctor". I think the one thing she loves more than drawing is her stuffed animals. We have what feels like hundreds of them! We have tried weeding through them, but she just can't seem to part with any. I once told her that we don't need to keep them all because she couldn't possibly play with every single one. Boy did she prove me wrong. For the next week, she had every single animal strung out around the upstairs. She had them grouped into "families" and by sizes and colors, etc... It was actually pretty neat to see how she categorized them in so many different ways. She sure does love her animals!

I am so excited to see this little girl grow in the next several years! She blows my mind everyday with something new she can do. She is constantly learning (and teaching)! She is a joy to be around and I love her with all my heart!