when you are glad the dryer just stopped and you get to fold the warm towels!
Archive for January, 2009
Today Ellie used three new words correctly and in context I have never heard her say before.
-Large: “Mama! Look at this large french fry.” and “Look at that large, blue truck.”
-Bloomed: We were reading a book with flowers in the background. “Those flowers haven’t bloomed-ded yet.”
-Hero: “That Mommy is the hero for the baby.” (After reading another book.)
Of course, WHY is beginning to emerge and be ever-present. I had to explain everything at least three times to her while Hannah was at the dentist today.
Wow!
Ellie is usually
two steps
behind
Hannah.
She picks the same drink as Hannah at a dinnertime. She likes to sit down with a book when Hannah is reading just to be next to her. She hangs out in the school room while Hannah practices piano. She is sad sometimes when Hannah goes off to the neighbors house to play and absolutely loves it when she is included in Hannah’s make-believe.
We draw the line at spaghetti sauce. Hannah never learned to like it and Ellie has loved it every since she started table food. Lately, though, she says she doesn’t like it…
We draw the line and she gets some sauce.
Who would have thought? Ellie, our independent, knows-her-mind, gregarious little child loves her big sister with all her heart.
I remember the feeling. I loved my big sister the same way. And that, my friend, is why I don’t eat canned peaches.
had a quick ballet recital during class today to make up for a canceled performance due to bad weather in December. It actually worked out for the best for us because we were in Florida when it was originally scheduled. She was glad to get to participate even though she recognized how long it had been since the class had practiced.
There was no need to worry. The girls remembered the steps just fine, but what was more encouraging was the grace and confidence that they all carried with them. Their demeanor was confident with terrific posture, strong arms, and most importantly their chins were high and their smiles were beautiful. It went altogether too quickly. I could have watched them several more times…
a couple of nights ago that I was in labor and quite surprised to be pregnant in the first place. Ryan was around telling me to breath, but we didn’t make any move toward calling a doctor or going to the hospital.
It was obvious to me that there wasn’t really a baby coming, but that something was happening.
Maybe something is up in Ethiopia with Treasure…
Like I’ve said before, there were often moments like this in our wait for Ellie and the time line later had significance in her story. Just thought I would record this dream here for comparison purposes later.
that we would have several days at home without work or school this week after all of our Christmas travel. It has been a relaxing week around here working on a couple of projects and spending time together – generally catching our breath before it all starts again.
On New Year’s Day, went to a family game place and played video games and drove go-carts. It was Hannah’s first time solo and she was a bit wide eyed at first but her determination was clear that she was going to do this by herself. Ellie rode with Daddy, of course, and was tickled that they got the Home Depot car since orange is her favorite color.
Another day we went to see Bedtime Stories. It was a great movie with all the humor and good storytelling that is synonymous with Adam Sandler these days. I laughed out loud many times. Ellie is growing up…normally she would have been on my lap the entire movie. This time she started out on Ryan’s lap due to the logistics of the popcorn and stayed the entire movie. Daddy is the guy these days with the fun of going to the movies, go carting, and the tickle-fests in the evenings. Mom seems to be the, “brush your teeth,” and, ” I said no fighting,” voice in their ears.
Ryan is heading back to work this afternoon so we are officially ending our hiatus, but it has been a great couple of weeks and we can definitely enter 2009 with our batteries charged.
Some highlights:
-Ryan started a new job. He loves it – it is almost like a new baby in and of itself. He works hard and I admire him for it.
- Hannah learned cursive and her addition and subtraction facts.
-In February, Ellie had a second set of tubes in her ears and her adenoids removed but she continued to have issues all winter. I am keeping my fingers crossed in that so far this fall and winter she has had only one ear infection even though she has had a case of the sniffles a few times.
-We decided to adopt another child this time from Ethiopia.
-Hannah played her first piano recital.
-Ryan led a mission to help a church in Swaziland set up a chicken farm micro-business to support the large number of children whose parents have died from AIDS.
-I learned that homeschooling is very much a full-time endeavor and love (almost) every minute of it especially when I remember the amount of commitment it requires and allow myself to forget about the dust multiplying on every surface and the gunk in the corner of the shower.
-Our house has been on the market since summer.
-Ellie moved to a toddler bed.
-Hannah crosses the street to go the the neighbor’s house to play.
-Saturday has become the official house cleaning day.
-I learned to blog.
-Ellie learned how to write her name.
-We spent more time this year with both sides of grandparents than in the last few years.
-I took a marvelous, relaxing vacation alone with my husband.
In the next year…
-we will have another child in our family.
-we will have a resolution about whether we will be in St. Louis or Denver.
-Ellie will be done with her pacifier (sooner rather than later).
-we will get in touch with an old friend whose husband we just found out passed away a couple of years ago from cancer.
-we will laugh with our kids everyday.
What does 9 grandchildren, 3 adult children, 3 spouses, and a Mimi and a Papa equal?
We call it Christmas (or whatever occasion we are celebrating). It is noisy, it is messy, it is chaotic, it is great….
Here are some pictures from our better-late-than-never Christmas celebration from this past Sunday. Actually, it works out great to not get together on the exact holiday because we (well, my Mom) aren’t on the hook to cook a huge traditional meal…we usually go out for Pizza King and leave the work to someone else. Did I mention there are more kids than adults now – we are really outnumbered!
OK – so we bribe them. We give them their packages and then make them pose for a group shot before they can open them. Of course, they are on the hook to cooperate and smile nicely. Believe me, this tactic has taken years to perfect…this crew is hard to get a picture out of. Who would know. Aren’t they beautiful?
Sorry they aren’t grouped by family – believe me, had we attempted that there would have been no picture.
Here is Treasure’s very first present. It is a knick-knack for his/her room and a tiny stuffed lab puppy. It made him/her seem a little bit more real…
I know I mention all the time how great of a dad Ryan is to his little girls. He gets that a jewelry box full of plastic jewels would be a hit.
And they were!
At some point the fun had to come to an end!
We begged off early with our friends last night since we are travel weary and our bodies are still on the Eastern time zone. It would have been fun to visit more with everyone, but alas it was great to snuggle into bed on a cold winter night and watch a silly, old movie. Fox News had coverage in Times Square but they ran it on Eastern time zone (11pm here). We watched a bit of the hoopla and fell asleep.
This morning I am happy to have gotten a good nights sleep.
Ellie’s first words of the new year: “Can you get me some milk and some of your favorite cereal?”
Hannah’s first words of 2009: “Good Morning. I don’t feel good.” (nose is red, sounds stuffy….hmmm.)
Happy New Year to you and yours. May God’s rich blessings be revealed to you everyday of this coming year!