Top Ten TUESDAY!!!!!

Since Jenni is busy homeschooling, I am going to go out on a limb here and make up my own top ten. Did you know that Jenni has a homeschooling blog also? It's very funny. Hmm...maybe I should put it in the side bar. Now that's a genius idea.

Today is Ella's 8th birthday, therefore I will do the top ten things I love about Ella.

Ella (and Sarah) at 4 years

1. Ella is incredibly patient with me. She has never shown that she was upset or angry with me even though I know she has been. I should emulate her patience and stop barking a her so much.

4 weeks old

2. She is very sensitive. Whenever any of her other sisters are getting their comeuppance for, ahem...misdeeds, Ella cries for them. She doesn't like it that they are being punished, in pain (curse the wooden spoon) or missing out on desserts because they tried to steal lollipops.

3. She loves to read. She stays up until all hours of the night reading books. She actually spent $14 of her own allowance on a pink reading light that wouldn't keep her sisters awake so she could read. She only gets $1.75 a week and we make her tithe first, split it in half and save one half, then keep half of that half in a "reserve" and the rest is spending money. She saved a long time to get it.

Ella (and Meagan) almost 3 years old

4. She is willing to save money to buy things she really wants instead of wasting it on dumb things like candy...not that she doesn't want to buy candy ever.

2 years old

5. She has the most incredible laugh. Sometimes I am shocked at how obnoxious her laugh is; it seems so contrived. When I go to look at her and tell her to knock off that fake, annoying laugh, she is holding on to her tummy and obviously tickled nearly to death. Everything is funny to her and she is so light-hearted that she can't help but laugh at life. I love her laugh.

6. She can draw. How'd that happen? She must have gotten it from Del.

4 years old

7. She is the only one of the five girls that has my eye color. The rest of them have dark brown eyes, but she has light brown like I do.

8. Talking to her is like talking to myself. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is not me and although I might talk to myself like that, it's not okay for me to talk to her like that. But it's fun to know someone that is so like me. She reminds me of myself when I was a little girl.

9. She has lovely, curly hair and creamy, caramel colored skin. She is so pretty.

Ella (almost) 8 years old

10. She is not afraid of bugs, slugs, lizards and all sorts of other wild life and does not think of herself as an uppity princess.

Top Ten...Friday?

Sorry Jenni, I just can't seem to get with the program.

Wildlife around here.

1. Alligators. So friendly. I'll never understand why people swim in bodies of water around here. I mean, when I read articles in the paper about people getting "attacked" by alligators while swimming in a lake or pond, it's just hard for me to feel sorry for them. We live in Florida people! Don't swim in the water. Alligators live there!!! They get hungry, too.

2. Sandhill cranes. It's illegal to feed them. Not that I've ever done that or anything. We named this guy Pete, and then one day he came by with two babies. Oh, I guess we should have named her Georgette or something like that.

3. Ibis. They're weird. Not quite as friendly as Pete there.

4. Turtles. It's always fun to go to the beach and see about a 4'x4' area cordoned off for "turtle nest." I wish I could see them hatch one day. This snapping turtle was trying to commit suicide and we nearly lost some fingers getting him off the road. And by "we" I mean, Del.

5. Caterpillars. Lots of different kinds. I found a baby one of these guys on our mail box a couple of days ago. Cute, but I don't know what they become.

6. Osprey. Lovely birds. See his fish lunch?

7. Dolphins. I haven't been able to get a really good picture yet. That's Tampa Bay and the city of Apollo Beach across the bay. And see the pelican there; we have lots of pelicans.

8. Spiders. Scarey lookin' but apparently harmless.

9. Snakes. I'm scared of snakes unless someone is holding it by the head and I can touch his back.

10. Slime mold. Okay, so it's not an animal, but...I just can't get over how fascinating it is.

I guess I should throw stuff in there like sharks and jelly fish, but to be honest if I ever got close enough to a shark to take a picture, I doubt I would be taking pictures, I'd be swimming for my life. Unless it was a nurse shark, then that would be okay. We see barracudas here, too. Neat.... Darn I guess I should mention manatees, too. Okay, see...there's just too many of them. But I don't have a good picture of a manatee either, so there.

Top Ten...Thursday?

I wanted to do this Tuesday but...I have five kids. And you put up that cute post about Andrew and I couldn't bear to bury it for a couple of days so I could look at his cute little face some more. He's cute. Anyway...

Jenni made this week's TTT theme favorite fictional people. Aren't you so glad she's blogging again? I am. In random order:

1) Matthew Cuthbert - Anne of Green Gables

2) Elizabeth Bennet - Pride and Prejudice ...actually Mr. and Mrs. Darcy. I want to live next door to the Darcys and play cards with them and go fishing in their lake.

3) Anne Elliot - Persuasion

4) Strider - The Lord of the Rings; and not that goofy guy they got to play in the movie. He's not a man, he's a goofball.

5) Can I just say that I hardly read fiction anymore so I'm actually having a hard time not coming up with characters from the same three or four books. I guess that's because I read the same books over and over again unless it's an apologetics book or some sort of text book. Ahhh, I need to expand my horizons.

6) Anne Shirley - Anne of Green Gables; Even though she is absolutely silly and is sometimes very misguided, I have to admit I do really like her character.

7) Hadassah - The Mark of the Lion series; she's lovely. I wish I could be her...actually, I don't really want to be half eaten by a lion so...never mind, but isn't she lovely?

8) Leana McKie - Thorn in My Heart and the other two books in that series.

9) Mr. Bennet - Pride and Prejudice

10) Mr. Knightley - Emma; everyone needs a Mr. Knightley in their life. Thank God I have Del, he's my Mr. Knightley only...better.

and because I wasted my #5 whining...

11) David Copperfield - David Copperfield; you know I hated almost every Charles Dickens book I picked up. But when I read David Copperfield I couldn't put it down. It's a thick book and I finished it in a week and a half or something. Yes, this was before I had any children.