Last Day of Kindergarten

I can not believe how quickly this year has gone by and the end of Kindergarten is here.  It has been a great year!  Mrs. Delgadillo has been the perfect teacher for Ella's first year of school.  She's fun, energetic, young and sweet as pie!  Ella adores her and comes home each day from school with stories about how fun school was and how much she loves her teacher.  We couldn't have asked for anyone better to share Ella's first year.

"Dear Ms. Delgadillo, You are the best teacher ever in my heart."

And this is Dylan.  We have heard about Dylan everyday for the entire year.  They sat together at the same table and are such good friends, that Ms. Delgadillo ended up separating them because they did all their work like they were the only two people in the class.  They never caused problems, but if they were together, they never made any effort to work with anyone else at the table.  And not in a mean or intentional way, they just had their own little world.  Ella often told me Dylan was her boyfriend, or that Dylan wanted to marry her...cute, but hopefully not a sign of trouble to come in her teen years.  Ron can't even handle this kindergarten crush :)  Lucky for Ella, Dylan is so sweet and such a good kid.  I've met his mom and she is sweet too.  She's told me all about Dylan's love for Ella and that his journal that came home on the last day of school is full of pictures and kind words about Ella.  Here is what she posted about Dylan's journal:

"Dylan's kinder journal is full of hearts and flowers and statements of how much he loves ELLA. Today I told him he needed to practice writing so he wrote a love note to guess who ELLA!!! What am I going to do with this boy. At least Ella is gorgeous sweet little girl so he picked a good first crush!!"

  

Her friend, Alexia who we've carpooled with all year.....

And some of her classmates.....

Country Drive

After the ballet recital, we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and because it was such a beautiful evening, we decided to take Grandma on a country drive.  Love the light, love the Texas wildflowers, and love a chance to photograph Ella with the people she loves :)

Ballet Recital

Grandma came out for the weekend to see the recital and Ella was over the moon....  They did so great on the big night!  Wishing my ballerina good luck before her performance:

Seriously, look at that posture!...

Ballet Rehearsal

The ballet recital this year was beautiful.  The girls did great and as usual, Ella loved being a star.  I know I'm biased, but she really does have the best form :)  In the rehearsal, the girls ironed out the last minute details while the lights were tested.  Red lights, blue background, a photographer's nightmare.  The lighting kept changing so some images just look better in B&W.  After the rehearsal,  we handed out trophies....

...and yes, she thinks she's such a star, she blows kisses to the audience :)

Ballet Recital Backstage

These ballerinas can't get enough of themselves in the dressing rooms.  Walls lined with mirrors lined with lights just like a movie set.  The energy and excitement is alway palpable.   Here they are waiting their big moment... and I was able to catch a few images of Ella waiting to perform in the wings...

Firemen

The Girl Scouts took a trip to the local fire hall and the guys could not have been nicer!  They taught the girls all about 911 and helpful safety tips for the house.  Ella had a lot of fun and is eager to ask questions, answer questions and get in the mix.  She was the only one who asked to wear their uniform and the captain was more than happy to indulge her.  She was also the only one to ask a question about the hoses and so he also let her spray water.  So proud to see her respect the men in uniform and so proud that she's not intimidated or shy and raises her hand in confidence to ask for what she wants.    And of course, there's not much sexier than a room full of firemen :)

Ballet Portraits

This spring, like every other, I did Ella's ballet portraits.  I love her costume and the meadow was a perfect place to photograph my little ballerina...

Mother's Day

A quiet Sunday with the family, all I wanted for Mother's Day were some photos with my little girl.  As a photographer, I'm always behind the camera.... Ron indulged me and we drove out to a near by field at sunset so he could take some photos of us.