14.8.21

Ellie | 9 Years Old

I'm not sure why, but this one seems like she's growing up so much quicker than the other two.  Ellie is nine years old.  This is her last year in single digits.

Last week I was outside watering my plants, and I heard the door slam followed by all kinds of giggling and commotion.  This is what she ran out there to show me.  And I had to catch my breath.  There are so many things I love about this.  A side part!  (She has flat out refused to wear her hair in a side part for the last two years, and I am not a fan of the middle part).  Pig tails!  A bow!  (Her sister wore bows until she was about the age Ellie is now, but Ellie gave up bows at least three years ago.  Oh, how I miss the bows!).

She loves her brother and sister something fierce.  She aggravates them to death, but she always wants to be near them and be a part of what they're doing.  She jumps off the furniture and does cartwheels and flips through the family room.  The carpet in her closet is stained all colors of the rainbow because of all her "experiments" with toothpaste, paint, chalk, koolaid, lotion and gum.  There are probably empty Mountain Dew cans, candy wrappers and chip bags under her bed right now.  The kitchen sized trash bag in her closet is probably full of trash.  This might be more of a reflection of me than her, but I got so tired of losing that battle that I gave up on it a long time ago.  So her room gets a good cleaning out and purging every other month.  Other than that, enter at your own risk.

She loves dogs.  She loves fish tacos and lettuce wraps.  She can make her own scrambled eggs.  She loves to bake in the kitchen with her big sister.  She loves to do jigsaw puzzles.  She loves to watch YouTube videos made by other kids her age.  She loves the junkiest, gummiest, crappiest kind of candy you can buy.  She loves popcorn.  She loves to paint her nails to match the occasion.  She loves to take baths with fancy soaps and bubbles.  She is very independent.  She likes to make lists.  She is always the first one to help.  Her brother and sister boss her around, and she does anything and everything they ask.  She still curls up beside me every night.

This is my favorite recent picture of Ellie.  It sums her up perfectly.  This is Ellie.  And I am so very grateful that the Lord chose to put her in our family.  She is the spark we all needed.