Happy Birthday, Annelies!

My friend Jetta must be gettin' into the grove of having 6 kids because today she went crazy and threw daughter #3, Annelies (who turned 4), a big birthday party. In attendance were 14 kids, 6 moms and even 2 grandmas. We did your typical birthday party stuff including sing "Happy Birthday," eat brownies and ice cream and watch Annelies rip into her presents. But we also did some unique birthday party things like bounce on the "jump-o-leen" (as Ella calls it), go on an Easter egg hunt, eat our sloppy joe lunch outside in the warm February sunshine, play in mud puddles and examine the pile of cow and coyote bones our country friends keep on their patio. It was a fantastic morning that left me in awe of my busy friend and left my kiddos so exhausted they fell asleep on the 5 minute ride home!

My Goofy Girls

Being a mom is stressful, exhausting, patience-testing and tedious at times... but it is also my greatest joy. My girls find ways to make me laugh every day. Here is a series of posts about their at-home antics. Ella has been really into being the doctor lately. When Delia had her appointment a few weeks ago, Ella blew us away by asking if she could have a shot too! Since then, no person, pet or stuffed animal in our house has escaped getting a shot and check-up. I found some of that crinkly paper to make her examination table more fun and pulled out some stickers for her to give her patients.

Today she gave herself a shot and then pronounced herself SO BRAVE! That is why she deserved all these stickers...

DO Box Me In

Happiness to Delia equals being put in some sort of container!

The Mouse in the Oven

I hate to admit it, but a while ago we had a mouse living in our kitchen-- under our oven. This was a combination of fascinating and terrifying to Ella. She would love to explain how "Daddy is going to catch the mouse with peanut butter then bring it outside," yet when I would say things like, "Should we name our mouse?" she would reply, "NO! He is too scary to even talk about!"

To make us laugh even more about all this, we got a hilarious letter in the mail from Auntie Kris. Here is an excerpt: "My heart finally just stopped racing! I went to the kitchen to wash the coffee pot and Melvin was running all goofy CHASING A MOUSE! Even just to write it down there makes me want to run to the bathroom and check my undies!! So I screamed my lungs out and locked myself in the office where I am now huddled on a chair wearing a bike helmet I found in the closet..." Of course, as soon as Ella heard she had a mouse buddy, she had to call Auntie Kris to compare mouse stories.

Recently we found this very realistic play mouse at the bottom of a toy box. (A shout out to our wacky friends Nick and Amy who send us random and silly things in the mail. I think a fake gold tooth was also included in this mouse package...) What did Ella do when she found it? Marched right over to her play kitchen and put it in the oven!

Roommates

Last night a major transition occurred in our home: Delia spent the whole night sleeping in her crib! The crib is actually not a foreign place to Delia. She does take some naps in it and likes to cuddle up with Ella reading stories in it. This move to the crib for night time sleeping, though, was prompted in part by a conversation I had with a friend at Bible study yesterday. She also has a real mama's girl of a daughter and made this comment, "If my daughter knew I was just a foot away, she'd wake up a thousand times during the night too. We had to move her away from us to get sleep!" So we figured, what have we got to loose? A night of sleep? That would be nothing new!

So, how did it go? Good news, it was not a disaster! We think the girls (at least Ella) knew about each other, so they were good at going right to sleep and not making too much noise during the night. Both roused and called out separate times, but never woke each other. Delia still woke up her average 3 times and instead of just grabbing her from the cradle at the foot of the bed, I had to trek down the hallway...but that is okay. We are encouraged and hopeful that this could be an important step to enhancing all of our sleep. I will miss my little roommate, but it is time I let her move in with her sister, as has been the plan all along. At any rate, it was WONDERFUL to read in bed with all the lights on last night and be able to talk above a whisper.

Party Under the Coffee Table!

Look out, she's mobile! Lately Delia's been rolling everywhere. Tonight she discovered a world of fun under the coffee table.

Ella used to love this too...

And apparently still does!

Bye-Bye "Bice-ifier"

It is probably time to tell you that Ella is completely a big girl now. Besides using the potty, sleeping in the big girl bed and getting dressed by herself, a week and a half ago she surrendered her pacifier. She has relied on this friend to help her fall asleep her whole life. While we appreciated the peace it brought us when she was a baby, we kept trying to find the right time to end this habit. Trips home, a new baby and one fresh transition after another kept putting this off. For a while we've been talking about giving the pacifiers to a baby who might need them more than Ella. On Valentines Day she decided on her own it was time to give them to Jonathan and Miss Amy's new baby (they are in the process of adopting). She picked out her own gift bag and wrapped them in tissue paper herself. Then we made a trip over to her friend's house where she put the pacifiers in the crib of their waiting nursery.

She took 2 bad naps without them. Not knowing how to soothe herself to sleep on Valentines Day, we found her sleeping sitting up with her head nodding against the wall. That night she was sick (we're not sure if she made herself sick). But, since then we've had smooth sailing. When Jonathan and Amy came over this week Ella said, "They will bring my pacifiers in the fancy bag and then I will be able to suck on them." This is the only indication we've had that she is still thinking about these guys, since her sleep appears to be back to normal.

Have you noticed a new page element over there to the left? I am starting a new advice feature. I do not presume to know enough about parenting to hand out my own advice, though, so this comes from you! Delia is also getting attached to her pacifier. I don't necessarily want to deal with it for the next 2 years. What suggestions do you have for ridding your children of this addiction? Leave me a comment and I'll share your wisdom with us all.

We Love a Parade!

Yep, we are die-hard when it comes to the Almond Blossom Festival. It's been such a highlight of our season the past 5 years, we didn't even consider not going-- even when a cold, windy, overcast day greeted us this morning. While the day was not nearly as beautiful as last year, it was still a fun parade featuring fire trucks, harvest equipment, old cars, about a hundred horses and even a princess in a convertible from our church! Ella's favorite, though? The truck that cleaned up the horses' poop. We chose the warmth of our car over the traditional wander around the Community Center and carnival, but still stopped to pick up some tri-tip sandwiches in support of our Christian school.

Fun Meals

The theme of this week and blog is "Delightful Dining."

As you've probably already read, on Monday we had Lloyd, Heidi, Anika and Andrew over for Teriyaki Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries and good conversation.

On Tuesday, it was Girls' Night Out. I got together with 6 other girlfriends to celebrate the winter birthdays at a fun restaurant. I came home feeling full...full of my delicious dinner and full of the happiness that comes from a much-needed break and hearty laughter.

On Wednesday, I found myself husband-less with my friend Amy (mine was busy all day with youth group prep and hers was out of town on business), so we spent the afternoon and evening together: chatting, making dinner (calzones and spinach salad) and watching our kids have one of the best times ever playing. Like any friend that comes over, Ella had to dress up Jonathan as a princess. He is such a good buddy to oblige! They also cracked us up by playing a crazy version of "Ring Around the Rosies" that involved giving each other rides, the exersaucer, tumbling onto a pillow and yelling "Wing! Wing!" When night fell, we loved trooping outside to check out the lunar eclipse. Good friends, good food and good times...who needs husbands, anyway?

No special meal plans for Thursday, but we did start a new game. Ella and I have been creating a menu. I printed coloring pages off the internet that match the play food she has in her kitchen. We've been busy coloring and decorating these pages. Yesterday, I put them in sleeves in a binder, put a table cloth on my coffee table, dressed up in an apron, introduced her to linen napkins and Viola! we can now play restaurant. This is endless fun...Ella marches in, picks her table, flips through the menu deciding what she wants (and it's always something wacky like "pancakes, hamburger, chicken and tea, please"), I serve her, give her the bill then she leaves and we start again. A few times she's tried to be the waitress, but she always screws up my order and forgets to bring me a fork!

As for Friday night, we have a rescheduled dinner and game night to look forward to. Now that we are all healthy, we plan to eat our friends' good cooking then seriously beat them at Trains. Watch out Sara and Arend! :)

Answer: "I Do It By Myself."

Question: What phrase are we starting to hear more than any other around here? Miss Independence no longer wants help with anything. From clothes and shoes to crafts and books, she can do it alone, thank you very much. I haven't decided if this is good or bad yet!

Mama's Girl

Delia just wanted to show off her new shirt. :)

Old/New Friends

Our social life took a bit of a hit this summer. Do you remember how all our fellow youth pastor friends felt called to other areas and left us? If not, you can read about it here and here.

Well, tonight we happily reconnected with some old friends. Lloyd and Heidi went to Trinity with Dave and Lloyd went to Seminary with Dave. They recently moved here from Washington to accept the senior pastor position at a local CRC! Hooray! They've been here a few weeks and are busy settling in and getting to know their new congregation. Tonight they were able to come to our house with their kids, Anika (4) and Andrew (2), for a little President's Day BBQ. They won't replace you Ryan, Sheri, Mark, Allison, Matt and Gail, but we look forward to having some friends back who are in the ministry and same stage of life as us.

Always the social butterfly, Ella loved meeting some new friends. Of course, it didn't hurt when she found out that she shares some similar passions with Anika (dressing up like a princess) and Andrew (jumping on things). She planted a big kiss on each of them when they left then told me the rest of the night how sad she was that her friends had to go home.

Signs of Spring

The calendar says it's still winter, but here in sunny California we are starting to see the signs of spring. It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful February can be! Here are the subtle signs that permanent warm weather and clear skies are right around the corner...

1. We've gone at least a week straight with no rain.

2. We don't need to coats to be outside.

3. Our jungle of happy weeds in the backyard starts beckoning to be mowed and pulled.

4. The punks that live across the street are working on their cars with their shirts off.

5. When you drive by an orchard, your car is pelted with honey bees looking to pollinate the soon-blooming trees.

6. Our home page tells us the high is going to be 70.

7. We're getting reacquainted with the park and our grill.

8. All the sweaters and winter clothes of any nature are on super clearance. (I found Ella a great pair of rubber boots yesterday-- cheap!)

9. Daffodils are coming up.

10. We open the sand box and get out the chalk-- a new world of outdoor play awaits. (And we have a new outside toy too. Recently, a grandma, whose grandkids are grown up, gave our girls her Little Tykes picnic table.)

Toe Sucker!

With this flexibility maybe a future in Cirque Du Soleil awaits? Unfortunately, Delia's favorite time to practice this new trick is when I am feeding her mashed fruits in her high chair. Weird, I know, but I've taken to just removing her socks before we even start eating.

With this post about our youngest, I'll fill you in on some of the details of her 7 month Valentines Day Dr. appointment yesterday.

• She is 18 lbs. 5 oz. (75th percentile) and 26.5 in. long (50th percentile).


• She's completely enamored with the "deli paper" on the doctor's table. She spent the whole waiting period banging on it, grabbing it, twisting it and attempting to add it to her diet.


• The doctor wants us to start journaling about her sleep-- when she wakes, for how long, what it takes to get her back to sleep. Based on how we described it, her issues with sleep may be more than just, "She's a bad sleeper" or "We're in a tough phase right now." After more observation, the doctor may refer us to a neurologist.

Feeling Creative this Valentines

Happy Valentines Day, family and friends!

Once again this year, in finding ways to be festive and fun for the holiday, we've also found much joy. We started over a week ago with the Valentine making extravaganza. Since Ella is constantly asking me, "Can I do a craft?" I decided to let her have a go at hand-making Valentines for each of her family members and friends. Maybe you've gotten yours in the mail? Yesterday we made extra special Valentines for Daddy. Even Delia got in the spirit, pressing her finger-painted hand-prints onto a card. At the card store, I was tickled to find the SAME Valentine that I gave Dave 13 years ago for our first Valentines Day together in high school! I, of course, had to give it to him again. He, of course, did not remember (men...go figure!) Dave was really sweet in taking Ella out yesterday to pick out a little Valentine gift and some candy for me (even though we said no presents.)

One of the most fun parts of Valentines Day is the mail! Grandpa is especially good at spoiling the girls in his life on this special day of love. I remember getting Valentines from him when I was just dating his son! This year he gave us thoughtful cards, chocolates, Trader Joe alphabet cookies and stuffed animals. Look how polite Delia is opening her card before diving into the gifts! In our mailbox today we also found a Valentine and heart cookies from Jonathan.

And for the second year now, I decided to forgo formal gifts for Dave and the kids and instead do some fancy baking to treat them (and the office staff at church). A tradition in the making, perhaps. This year we made Tiramisu Brownies. Check out the recipe to the left if you are up for making this decadent dessert.

Happy Pancake Day!

Yesterday we celebrated National Pancake Day. Did you know such a thing existed? We just heard about it this year. For fun, I took the girls to IHOP where Ella and I had a FREE short stack of yummy pancakes for an afternoon snack. It was an enjoyable way to get out, do something different and get some free food!

Ella's Fairytale

"When Daddy gets home from church, then I will get married. He will be the prince and he will take me to the castle and then I will be married."

Delia's Furry Friend

Oh, she's such a good dog! She's endlessly patient, putting up with Delia "petting" her, kissing her and trying to grab her. Then there's the myriad of things Ella puts her through: jamming toys into her mouth when Ella wants to play, inviting her on (and thus exciting her for) walks she's not welcome to come on, leaving tempting play things all over the house, attempting to ride her. Perhaps all the crumbs and food pieces Ella drops make Lily's life with kids worth it. Or she just really does love all of us!

A Little Slice of Chicago

Well, here we are...sick again. I've always taken pride in the strength of my and my family's immune system, but we seem be catching every bug coming along this winter-- and all four of us too. This week it is a nasty cough/cold. The kids have mild versions of it and Dave is enjoying lots of medication, but I am suffering it out the natural way. After being cooped up for a couple days straight, we decided to beat the cabin fever and head out drippy noses and all. We had dinner and game plans for tonight, but they were called off because our friends Sara and Arend are sick too. Using our would-be babysitter money, we decided to check out our newest restaurant-- a Pizzeria Uno, right here in the Central Valley! It was great to eat real deep dish pizza, with real sausage, while sitting amidst lots of fun Chicago decor. Minus the absence of our extended family, the waitress commenting on my "accent," and the fact that we could have done our wait-to-be-seated outside, it was as if we were right at home in the Windy City. And we wondered, were we the only ones there who understood the "Mrs. O'Leary's Clam Chowder" option on the menu?

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Delia recently discovered that the cutest kid of all is looking back at her smiling when she peers into this mirror...

A Good Book By the Fire

Busy Baking

This year I have been once again blessed to be a part of Tuesday morning Coffee Break at my church. We are doing a Beth Moore study (my 3rd now). This year's study is of Daniel, which is intriguing and convicting. We study one chapter every two weeks and have learned for 6 weeks what it means to live lives of integrity in a Babylon-like culture. The next 6 weeks of the study will focus on the end-time prophecies and eschatology-type lessons that can be found in the second half of Daniel.

With the arrival of Delia this summer, I had decided to not participate in Bible study this year. I thought it would be too much work to get us ready and out the door every week and to keep up with the homework that is a part of it. I was not ready to leave Delia in the nursery either. The morning in September when it started, I was on my way to Target (to buy things I'm sure I didn't really need) when I got stopped by a train. God actually spoke to me and said, "If you can be ready and make it out to go shopping, you surely can go to church." So, I turned the car around, pulled into church and enrolled for the year. It has not been super easy. I have to exercise much discipline to stay on top of the lessons and Delia has spent a few mornings keeping Dave from getting anything done because she's too hysterical to be in the nursery, but overall I am so thankful God turned me around and brought me back to Bible study this year. He is teaching me a lot.

Tomorrow I am in charge of the "Sweet Snack" (but don't worry, Dorina, there is also the option of a "Healthy Snack!") So, today my oven has seen: Triple Chunk Brownies, Red Velvet Cupcakes and Almond Bars. The Almond Bar recipe is over to the left-- it is SO easy and tastes a lot like the much-more-difficult-to-make Banket. As always, Ella was my little kitchen helper--vigilant about stepping in to help lick spatulas!

Turn Your Blog Into a Book!

My friend, Teri, alerted me to this today. You can make your blog pages into a book! I will pass this link along to all my fellow bloggers who don't have time or energy to scrapbook, but do keep up with their family blog and want a hard copy. Teri said she made a 100 some page book for just $40. You can pick and choose which of your posts you want to use and then play with the backgrounds and formats too. Something neat to check out...
http://www.blurb.com/book/blogbook?ce=google_blog&gclid=CMusvpaZq5ECFRk0awodLk5Uew

Swedish Furniture and Taxcollectors?

Here is another quote from Ella, spoken out of the blue at lunch today:

"When Auntie Head-er was here we go to the Ikea store and now I sing the 'Ikea Song.'
'Ikea was a wee little man and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in the sycamore tree...'"

Crafty

I have scribbles all over the inside of my church directory. They are from when Ella was barely old enough to hold a pencil and she would color while I wrote out my weekly nursery reminder cards. This love for arts and crafts just seems to have grown every day. She colors with markers, crayons, chalk, colored pencils... pretty much anything that makes some kind of mark. She dots with bingo dobbers. She finger paints. She rolls and sculpts play-dough. She puts stickers in books. She's fascinated by glitter and beads and google eyes. Lately she's been on a cutting (we do the cutting) and glueing kick. I found these foam shapes and they are awesome-- they have a sticky back and allow her to plop them where ever she wants on the page.

Now, I need some advice from my fellow moms. What do you do with all these art projects? Ella is cranking them out-- several a day-- and I just can't bear to throw them away. Especially when they come with, "I made this one for you, Mommy!" Her masterpieces have taken over my fridge and bullitan boards!

And here's a fun link to the Design Mom blog that my sisters-in-law and friend Amy like so much. If you scroll down a bit, you can read some neat craft suggestions:

http://www.designmom.com/labels/ask%20design%20mom.html