Elle's Trip

This post is a little late, but I had to wait for pictures to be developed from Elle's disposable camera and then I had to actually find a time to sit at the computer and make this magic happen! Back in May, Nana called and asked if Elle could go with her and Poppy to a family reunion in north Texas in early June....for a whole week. My first desire was to hang up the phone and unplug it forever and never leave the house again with my sweet baby/oldest child so that she'd never grow up. But, then I realized that that might be a tad bit overprotective and unhealthy so I stalled...I said I'd have to talk it over with Shawn. Before I even hung up though, I knew what our decision would be. We were taking another painful step in the world of parenting and loosening yet another finger of our death grip on our children's lives. It is hard to do. But, as Shawn and I have always said, one of our main goals in raising our children, is for them to desire independence. It's just hard to actually follow through, especially when said child is just 6! Anyway, we said yes, as long as Elle could look us in the eye and say that she understood that she'd be gone 7 days, no turning back. She didn't even bat an eye when saying that to us. We felt pretty confident. The time came, we packed her up, and we said our goodbyes. Both Shawn and I felt a big ol' lump in our throat, but didn't have time to figure out what it was because as we turned back to the house, we had two other little sets of eyes looking at us and not caring that we might need a minute to lick our wounds. The next week actually went by pretty quickly. Ava did ask often if Elle was coming home that day and she was very ready to see her. Finally the day arrived. We made Elle a cake, colored her a sign, and waited. When she finally arrived, and after all the hugs, I couldn't stop staring at her! She looked SO.MUCH.OLDER. I felt like I was getting a glimpse of her as a tween. She just looked so mature and poised. I was unbelievable proud of how great she had done on her trip, never really missing us once and living it up! She said that her favorite parts of the trip were playing in the lake with Hayden, and seeing a baby armadillo up close. I am so thankful to my parents who had the idea and the courage to take one of my kids with them for a whole week! I know it will be a memory that Elle will never forget. Elle had an audience when she was in the water.
Her and Hayden...no fear with water up to their chest.

The infamous armadillo...taken with Elle's camera

Another shot from her camera

from her camera...she said it was inside a restaurant and there were lots of fake chickens above the door and she thought it was funny and picture-worthy.

Poppy, Hayden and Elle at the art museum in Fort Worth.

My mom said that Elle took a special liking to my Uncle Rick...so sweet!

Hayden is such a big boy now! He has changed so much since the last time I saw him!

My grandmother and my uncles with Elle...and a big ol' chicken.

Elle and Nana..sweet picture.

Daddy's girl getting a big welcome home hug!

The sign that we made for Elle. She was pretty excited that we had done that for her.

The welcome-home cake I made. It was so pretty and tasted oh so good!