We had fun along the way ...

Ellie is almost used to the house hunting trip by now.  She says she recalls the one we made to Bloomington from Charlottesville nearly three years ago.  This one she'll remember for sure.  She was a  real trouper allowing us to combine her birthday celebration with all the events of our trip!

She is eager to get back to the new house.  Can't wait to go to her new school, Whitt Elementary, where she'll happily tell you she'll be one of the Whitt Wolves!  She met the attendance person, counselor and the principal already.  And we know how she is with all those authority figures at Grove!

She's also thrilled to be a part of the summer program at Children's Lighthouse!  She will begin at the Wylie location and move to the Sachse location as soon as the building is complete in June.  Imagine having a brand new school to look forward to for summer program!  They'll be field trips to museums, a petting zoo, to go bowling and to the movies!  She can't wait to meet new friends!

Playing basketball at the hotel

A new companion to remind her of Texas.  Riley was happy to return to IL for a few weeks!

Her first Texas treat - a waffle in the shape of Texas!

We Bought a House, not a Zoo!

Our new house in Sachse, TX

Ellie was happy to be the one to put the SOLD sign in the ground!

In her kitchen, with this very long island!  She can't wait to begin to cook here!

Happy 8th Birthday Ellie!

Catching up on blog postings this weekend .. with the pictures from our trip to Dallas.

Here's the birthday girl the day before her birthday.  She wore this special shirt to school with a special lunch, knowing that we were picking her up at school to get on the road for our trip!

Ellie celebrating her 8th birthday at Main Event - bowling, arcade games and prizes!

Birthday Dessert!

It's coming ...

The big trip to Dallas, buying a new house, AND Ellie's 8th birthday … all happening at the same time.  It's no wonder she's exhausted.  She's curled up with her golden puppy, Kingston.  He's nearly the length of her - good practice for the real thing she tells me.  Because of course, when/if there's a dog in our family he'll sleep with her.

She said the other night at bedtime, "Mommy, I don't think Daddy is on the same page with us about getting a dog."  I explained that right now we had some big stuff ahead of us to get through and after that we'd talk about it again.  And I also shared that if we decided it was something really important to Mommy and Ellie, somehow Daddy would come around …. and she smiled.

"Let's get through our trip and our move to Dallas, and THEN we talk about it again," I told her.  She seemed to be happy enough with that.

Ellie and Kingston sleeping soundly!

Hurry up, Opening Day!

Can't wait for Opening Day this year!  Seems like the winter has been doubly-long and we are SO ready for baseball!  This just may be the year that Ellie gets to visit the new Yankee Stadium.  Only time will tell ….

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Although the luck of the Irish isn't with us so far for the sale of the house .. we did celebrate St. Patrick's Day today!

Ellie wore her green and pinched Bill for not wearing his - somehow she learned that's what your supposed to do when someone doesn't wear theirs!  And we used her Kids' Club coupon from Barnes and Noble on the way home for her birthday cupcake too!

It was quite a day - and it's only Monday!

"I make my own good luck!"

Ellie and her Chocolate/Chocolate cupcake - happy to dive in!

Grove Family Fun Day

Ellie and her principal, Mrs. Fogal.  Can you just feel the love between the two of them?
Mrs. Fogal told us she will truly miss having Ellie at school, and can't wait to get updates on all her  achievements!

With all the excitement of preparing for our move, I haven't posted much about our adventures.  Not to worry - lots of adventures to come for us!  It has been a week filled with finding realtors in Bloomington, contacting appraisers, contacting the realtor in Dallas, and most of all preparing our home to go on the market!

Saturday morning, our friend Lisa Lockenvitz was here to take pictures and prepare the listing!  The sign for the front yard appeared in the afternoon and we are officially on the market.  In the meantime we had Ellie's annual school fundraiser to attend - Grove Family Fun Day.

You may recall its an afternoon of games, prizes, noise and excitement for K-5 and their families!  She played tons of games, saw lots of friends and unhappily didn't win ANY of the prizes.  Although I explained that I understood her disappointment - she did have a birthday coming at the end of the week so there were prizes headed her way!

Waiting patiently for the tattoo to be applied.

Glitter tattoo of a lion on her arm made Ellie smile!

Action shot of Ellie playing one of the many games

So we're off to Dallas...

Yes, you heard it right.  We're moving to Dallas.

I'm not sure which one of us is more excited…. Ellie couldn't wait to share with her friends and teachers today - since today was the day of the formal announcement at work.

I've been selected as a Manager in the Dallas Customer Care Center - and I start on May 12th.  Plans are still being made and dates being defined, but at this point we're pretty sure Bill and Ellie will stay in Bloomington until the end of May in order for Ellie to finish the school year.

And we'll forego our vacation during Ellie's Spring Break this year in order to house hunt in Dallas instead.  We figured how would we possibly relax for a week at Gulf Shores with all this in the works.  We'd rather postpone a vacation and take it at a better time so we can use her time off accordingly!

Bill's job will transition to Dallas - so he'll be doing exactly the same thing from the new location.  Great news that he won't have to look for a different job - just continue his current one!

We're happy to already know people in Dallas.  We have Aunt Di and Uncle Bruce four hours away in Houston … and most of all Ellie cannot wait to move!  She's so excited for her new adventure!

More to come .. just wanted to make it official!

Report Card time!

Ellie's second trimester has just ended, and Friday was report card day!  She is doing so well.  Her grades for Art, Music, Language, Reading, Social Studies, Science, PE and Writing are all 3 out of 3!  Only the subject Math is at a 2 as she works on instant recall of addition and subtraction.  And, boy, have we used those flash cards a lot!

Here's the best part .. the comments from her teacher, Mrs. Kimmel:
" Ellie continues to show growth each day in her leaning!  I am proud of her progress.  She comes to school with a smile on her face and an enthusiasm for learning!  She interacts positively with her peers and is very respectful.  Good job, Ellie!"

We are so proud of her being such a kind and positive girl!  We've assured her that with hard work the Math will come - and how much it means to us that Mrs. Kimmel recognizes all the wonderful things that we love about her too!