I'm a little late in posting this, but I'm just now catching up with some recent pictures. Back in July my aunt Dolline from Arkansas passed away. I regret I hadn't made it out there to see her in about ten years, but kept up with the occasional phone call and Christmas card. Three weeks later, she was going to make the trip to Southern California to attend a family birthday party, and I would've seen her then. However, I did get to see my uncle Alvin and two of their daughters, Jeanette and Jeanine. It was great to see them and catch up.

Here I am with my cousin Jeanette:


And my uncle Alvin, with Ella and Felix:


Ella with Jeanine:


One of the funniest things was meeting one of my distant cousins, Eugene, who was there with his brother and two sisters. Eugene knew my mom and my uncle Marshall in high school, and he hadn't seen me since I was a few weeks old.

Here is Eugene and I:


Unfortunately, I don't have a very close family and often none of us talk to each other for years, since many people are scattered all over the place. When this kind of event happens, it becomes pretty memorable.

Ella's First Day

Ella today started her first day of kindergarten at Encino Elementary. Everything seemed to go well, and told us that the highlight was the teacher reading a book called "The Kissing Hand". She also came home with a piece of artwork of her hand-print in red paint, with a red heart and a red sparkle on it, and a picture that she drew, of her family.

Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Ferreira, yesterday during the orientation the school gives for new kindergarteners.




Here's a picture I snapped of her at the front of her new classroom, right before I left her for the day. Our little girl is getting so big!



(Sorry for the slightly blurry quality of these pictures. We snapped them in a rush.)