More on Ellie...

A snapshot of Elliana at age 3:

Elliana is continually showing us that she is her own person. She is very different from Molly, and while she loves to play with her sister, she holds her own when dealing with her. She is not easily bossed around and has her own ideas on how to do things or what she wants to do. Even with that, she is still laid back and go-with-the-flow when it comes to changes in plans, disruptions to the normal schedule, etc.

She can be quiet in large group settings or new environments, but get her on her own turf and she likes to be the silly one. Where Molly has a tendency to be rather serious and contemplative, Ellie loves to make jokes and be silly. It is hard to discipline her at times because she is continually trying to make us laugh! She is most definitely ornery and gets away with more than she should because of this cute defiance.

Ellie loves peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, and pizza (typical kid!). She doesn't like ice cream (although I think it may be starting to grow on her), and eating dinner (no matter what it is) has recently become a struggle.

She loves to play with her baby dolls, dress up, dance and sing. She is also very content to sit and play by herself, but also loves to be with her sister. Although, sharing is a constant battle, so some days with sissy are better than others! She enjoys her gymnastics class and keeps her teacher on her toes. She also is loving her Bible study class this year and is excited to be in a real class versus the nursery.

I love that her middle name is joy because she is a constant (well, mostly constant) source of this in my life! She makes me smile and laugh a lot. Oh, and her snuggles are so good too! We look forward to watching her become a big sister in a couple of months as she just loves babies. I'm sure that she won't always cooperate, but I think she will be a big helper...at least at first : )

I love my Ellie Joy so much and am so thankful that I get to be her Mommy!