Grad '10

Not every kid gets to graduate from camp EACH summer!  It's just another reason why Ellie is so very special.  As promised, here are some pictures of that ceremonial day...

Waiting for the show to get on the road...

How am *I* the mother of a boy-crazy 5-year-old?!  Here she is, flirting with yet another boy.  Good grief.  We're gonna have to lock that girl up!

Cheering on her sweet buddies as they receive their diplomas.

Now it's Ellie's turn!  Here come the pretty purple/pink canes!

We tried to pump Ellie up for DAYS before the graduation ceremony, telling her how AWESOME and AMAZING and COOL and FANTASTIC it would be if she walked with her canes by herself on her way to get her "special paper" from Gemma (one of the conductors).  I was so nervous when I saw her stand up in her canes, gettin' ready to head to the center of the room!

...And she did GREAT!  

Her conductor, Anne, watched closely as Ellie slowly walked solo with her canes...

There it is.  The very special paper.  The "Pidoma", as Ellie would say!

Oooh, brave girl, taking her hand off her cane to shake Gemma's hand!

Showin' it off!

And the very best part of the day is getting to see Grandma, who came bearing a whole bunch of graduation gifts!

It was truly an amazing month and Ellie once again surprised us with her determination and spirit.  It makes me dream about what she's going to accomplish next summer!

Onto August...

Hi friends!

I'm baaack!  Did ya miss me?!  With a smiling heart, I can tell you that Miss Ellie sure did!  I took off for 9 days to the Windy City of Chicago, sans Ellie and sans Richard.  THAT is why this blog has been so neglected!  I hauled 11 teeny-boppers with me, on a short term missions trip.  It was un-stinkin'-believable.  If you want details, let me know.  It was lovely to come home to smothering kisses and repetitive reminders of, "I missed you, Mommy!"s.

Of course, this blog is about Jelly B'Ellie, so I'll refrain from spewing all of my news...

My little munchkin finished her month of intensive conductive education therapy camp at the end of July and we were once again thrilled with the results.  As you saw in the previous video, she is starting to slowly (but surely!) walk solo with her canes.  This is a major milestone!  I have a whole bunch of "graduation" pictures to download, but you'll have to cut me some slack.

For the month of August, Ellie will be receiving her physical therapy at Children's Hospital (2-3 times per week), and LOTS of stretching and cane-practice from her resident honorary PTs (aka: Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Steph, etc...).  Lucky girl, huh?

As you wait for those grad pictures, I'll leave you with a few of Ellie and her new boyfriend.  Richard is ready to sit on the front porch with his shot gun, waiting to scare Ellie's suitors (that is, if we had a front porch and if I actually allowed Richard to own a shot gun), ha!