Really? Nothing since Thanksgiving....

Obviously, I've got to get on the ball. I will seriously try to update more (we've all heard this before, right?) with both pictures and stories.

I guess the biggest story in our life right now is that Ella has now reached the age of lying. DRAT! It's been building for awhile--little stories here, a white lie there. Well, last night she got caught in her first ever boldface lie. I told her to put shoes on before she went outside. A few minutes later she comes running through the front door and proceeds into the living room with no shoes on her feet. I said, "I thought I told you to put shoes on before you went outside." She says "I took them off as soon as I came back inside." Fast-forward to us getting ready to leave for church. Her shoes are no where to be found because they were in the car where she left them after school. UGH! Sad moment for Mommy. I've been hoping to avoid the first actual lie for a bit longer. She was disciplined for disobeying and disiplined further for lying. To her credit she was heartbroken that she would have to earn our trust back. She bawled and said, "You don't believe me anymore!" I'm very proud of her for realizing the truly serious part of telling a lie.

To end on a good note, I will also say that I think five is going to be a good year. We went to the play structure at Chick-Fil-A the other day. I hollered to Ella that it was time to leave. Cue the whining, cue the crying, cue the arguing. Huh? There was NONE! In its place I heard, "I have to go now. It's time for me to go home. Just a second Mommy. I'm not at the slide yet." A few second later she appears at the bottom, grabs her shoes, puts them on her feet and says, "Come on Brenna. It's time to go home now." So that's what gaining maturity looks like. AWESOME!