As witnessed by my utter lack of posting here the last few months, I've been uber-busy with other projects. So today, as Ella turns 5, I'm saying good-bye.

Thanks for all the comments, visits, and just for reading.

Especially thanks to the readers who stayed thru all my emotional rollercoasters when Ella was Paris and I lost my mom.

Most of you know where to find me, but if you don't, just leave a comment. Not to mention that I'll still be on Flickr.

Good luck and see you around!

xoxo,
Roni

Labels: theend

What's happened in five years:

• Paris is now a sassy & precocious pre-schooler who loves to wear dresses and climb trees.
  
• I've changed jobs twice...three times if you count a promotion.
• The hubby has stayed in the same job!
  
• We've added a dog to our family.
• We bought a home.
• My younger sister had the nephew and is in the process of moving back in with our dad.
  
• My youngest sister is now married and step-mom to a teenage girl and a tween boy.
• This blog is rarely updated anymore cause I have a new blog.
• And much, much more than I care to document here. But oddly, life has gone on without my mom.
  

On Mother's Day, the hubby said something to me that made me smile and cry (I'm crying right now) and Ella saw. She asked why I was crying and I said, "Because I miss my mom." She hugged me. Of course, each time she mentions my mom, she adds in, "She's dead right?" Which at the same time pains me but also makes me chuckle because I wonder if she's really thinking that one day I'll say, "Oh, no! Here she is!" Kids...

I didn't do anything to mark her death day yesterday, other than spend quality time with Ella.

I'm getting there. One day at a time. I'm getting there.

It's just so hard to have Mother's Day and her death day so close together. But I guess it's kinda like ripping a band-aid off...do it all at once, quickly, to get it over with.

Labels: family

Ella being silly at dinner
Originally uploaded by roniweb.

Hello...anyone still there?

Here's a new Ella photo from dinner tonight. This is evidence of not just her silliness, but also of her love of soccer. Yes, that is dirt on her face. And yes, I let it stay on during dinner because well, it was hard enough getting her hands clean.

Reason #145,234,109 that we're in trouble - she's competitive and a perfectionist. Oh yes, we knew that, but I don't think we realized how much she was infected until tonight's practice.

See, there's this drill the coach has them do. They run while dribbling the ball as a race. So the goal is to run as fast as you can while keeping control of the ball and then the first one who scores a goal wins. The first time they did this tonight she came in 2nd or 3rd...if she had followed through. See, once she saw that she wasn't coming in first, she quit the drill. And this kept going until she finally won one race and then she completed the drills, even coming in second or later.

There were a few times when she would trip and fall, but she'd get right back up. She ran as hard as she could and only won a few of the drills due to control. Which I hope she understands because she's not the fastest kid on the team. In fact she's close to the bottom in age. We have quite a few 5 and 6yos on the team. Yeah...that's my grrl.

She's strong, fast, smart, and her parents' daughter...dear goddess, we are in so much trouble!