Pastor's Daughter

Ella's new favorite joke...

"This is the church, this is the steeple, open the doors, where's all the people? There's just Daddy in it!"

Happy Birthday Julie!

This blog will serve to prove that we can have fun and find things to write about that are not centered around our children! Last night we called the babysitter and headed out for a night of parents' fun-- a surprise party for my good friend Julie. Her husband Mike managed to get 35 of her closest friends together at our favorite Mexican restaurant to completely shock and celebrate her. The surprise was successful and we all rocked the whole screened-in front porch with a night of fantastic food, drink and laughs. (Recognize that sombrero, Heather?)

One of the best parts was that our other good friends, Phil and Teri, were present to be a part of the special night. They day-tripped it on up and we had such a good time sharing an afternoon and meal with them. I know Julie must have loved seeing Teri when she walked in and appreciated the effort they made to be a part of the celebration.

And Ella and Delia sure loved having their buddies Beth, Allie and Nathan around yesterday. Together they built train tracks, set up picnics, played dress up, compared cow stuffed animals, marveled at the camera's timer and read stories. They had such a good time that Delia protested the end to the fun most of the night with the poor babysitter! :)

She's Got the Moves

Delia's crawling technique keeps evolving. She abandoned the rolling and "monkey walk" and did the "army-guy crawl" for a while. Lately she seems to be slowly figuring out the more standard "hands and knees" method. The things that best motivate her to move are (in order): Lily's nasty chew toys, Ella's sippy cups and any sort of electronic device like remotes, phones, etc. Also funny is her inability to move without some kind of sound effects!

At Ella's preschool orientation this week, the teachers/early childhood experts explained how things the brain learns during the stage of crawling are crucial to later developments in reading. Very interesting! So, even though it means more supervision, we're excited that Delia's on the move and getting a knee up (so to speak) on developing her brain for future cognitive skills.

NKOTB

Hopefully some of you out there will appreciate this...

Here's the background info. One of our radio stations plays a Retro Rewind Lunch program. I LOVE listening to it when we are driving home from errands. I turn it up loud and sing the familiar lyrics at the top of my lungs. I've been able to introduce Ella to all my old favorites, including some New Kids On the Block. One day they were playing "The Right Stuff." Because this song sings the same chorus over and over and over again, Ella picked it up in a snap and has since been singing, "Oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh...the right stuff!" This morning Dave found the music video of this song on You Tube and was dancing with Ella when she came out with this:

"No! Don't sing, Daddy, it's Donny's turn to sing!"

Sunday! Hallelujah!

Wishing each and every one of you a blessed Easter and a renewed awareness of the life that is offered to us because of the resurrected Lord!

Love, Dave, Jen, Ella and Delia

Generations Enjoy Ham and Egg Hunt

Today we were adopted for yet another holiday by our huge contingency of unrelated VMs. I've spoken before about what a blessing this family has been to us. They constantly take us in and include us in their family functions (and pictures this year!). It was a wonderful and warm Easter. Included were all the traditions: ham for dinner, an Easter egg hunt for the kids and announcements of the latest pregnancies, this time my good friend Amy-- Jared will have a brother or sister in October!! Thought I'd just post a few pictures so our Midwest family could meet our West Coast family. These pics show three generations, all posed with Oma Ann. Incidentally, this is only about half the normal gang!

The great grand kids, Ella and Delia's generation. Includes friends Thea, Kirsi, Annelies, Helia, the twins (not pictured), Travis, Jadon and Mikaela.

The grand kids. Includes good friends, Phil, Jetta, Mike, Julie, Brad and Amy (not pictured).

The kids and usual hosts. Includes our surrogate mom, AnnaJean.

Ain't No 8 Inches!

This blog is dedicated to Kristen, who (with the rest of our family) is enduring a Midwest snow storm right now. She is planning on wearing a black winter dress to mourn her depressing Easter weather tomorrow! We are sunny and 70s here and decided to take advantage of the spring wildflower bloom at our favorite hiking spot, Knight's Ferry. Sure enough, the whole place was an explosion of orange and purple-- a breathtaking contrast to the blue skies and white rapids. Since Delia has taken over the backpack, Ella hiked on her own for the first time. She loved smelling the flowers, watching the polliwogs, strolling across the covered bridge and trying the pit-toilet (ew!). Our favorite quote of the day was when Ella spotted two guys out for a jog with their shirts off: "Hey! They don't have any clothes on!" Should we be worried that this observation came with an inability to take her eyes off of them? The hike, though short, was hotter than we anticipated and we were grateful for the sunscreen I always carry in my bag and the stop for black cherry ice cream at a favorite mom-n-pop ice cream parlor.

More Easter Fun (and Thoughts)

With kids, I've been loving Easter this year. Besides being the most significant Christian holiday (which, of course, we emphasize), it also has its share of fun traditions and goodies. I already described all the happy treats and gifts we've been getting in the mail and how anxious Ella is to wear her "princess dress and hair" on Easter Sunday. Today we dyed eggs after lunch with her-- a tradition in Dave's family. Sunday we look forward to a day with our California VM family where we'll share in a big ham dinner pot luck and egg hunt. And Dave and I have already eaten about 6 bags of jelly beans, chocolates and whoppers (is there nothing better than Easter candy?) However, what I'm loving most of all are the glimpses of perception we see in Ella. We've been reading from our new favorite Jesus Storybook Bible and she says things like: "God made Jesus die on the cross." or "Jesus is sad because the people gave him ouchies." or "The soldiers didn't roll away the big rock, the angels did!" Today she watercolor painted a picture of the cross and made it black because "it is very sad." In my attempts to explain this story and its meaning to her, I am overwhelmed and humbled by the complexity of it. Yet, she seems to see it pretty simply and some how has found understanding.

Practice

I LOVE having daughters! This morning we are doing a little hair experiment with rollers for Ella's Easter do. Being the girlie-girl that she is, she's totally excited about her "princess hair." Of course, the big dilemma is what in the world am I going to do with Delia's hair? :) I hung the girls' Easter dresses out (generous hand-me-downs) and Ella asks me every day, "Can I wear this princess dress?"

Yep, she's 100% girl!

A Public Thank You

This thank you blog is intended for our family, but you are all invited to read along and appreciate with us how thoughtful and generous they are! We are blessed with a family that first, and most importantly, loves Jesus and knows what Easter is all about. But also, our family loves our girls and loves to celebrate and have fun with them. A number of festive Easter packages for Ella and Delia have been rolling in the past few days. Here's a glimpse of the goodies...

Two years ago Auntie Karen sent Ella a monogrammed Easter basket. This year she picked out the matching one for Delia. If Delia's gets as much love as Ella's, it will be used to not only hunt eggs on Easter, but also as a purse and general tote for anything needing to be collected or carried.

Uncle Kyle sent gifts to stimulate our daughters' minds and taste buds. Delia thought his card was delicious and Ella is already obsessed with the neat book of easy-to-memorize scripture passages for kids. The book's illustrations are great and the verses are organized into categories making them recall-able. Ella already has some Bible verses memorized, so she is more than ready to add some more to her arsenal. The book gives us parents pointers on how to teach this even more effectively.

Grandpa and Grandma sent a huge box full of Easter treats: bunnies that click together to make towers, jelly beans, sticker books, a bunny purse, a stuffed Trinity Troll doll, some cute new outfits, finger puppets and edible flowers. As you can imagine, this package was a blast to unwrap and the fun we'll have with ALL these gifts will last for days!

So, thank you family!!! You made our girls very happy!

Look What Else I Can Do

I guess the world from ground-level is not exciting enough anymore. Or maybe at Friday's playgroup Delia learned another trick from Cora. A few nights ago I watched Delia muscle her way up onto her feet in order to investigate this toy box more carefully. She's done it several times since-- pulling up completely on her own then standing with no support from me for several minutes (usually until I need to take my eyes away and help her down). Suppose it's time to start bolting the shelves down!

Look What I Can Do!

Today marks Delia's 8 month birthday, so I thought I send out a quick update of her latest tricks.

• She is completely mobile. While her crawling technique is a bit unorthodox (sit, fall forward, roll, "monkey walk" on hands and feet, repeat...) it does not hinder her ability to move wherever she wants. She especially likes hiding under things, like Ella's bed.

• We think a tooth is on the verge of popping though. The drooling and gnawing on things has increased quite a bit as of late.

• She talks! She says, "Mamamama" and intentionally, we think. When Dave goes in to get her from sleeping, she looks past him to the open door and says it. Yesterday she threw her arms around my neck, hugged me and said it. Mostly she says it when she's frustrated about something, though.

• Sleeping has been going great! After 4 days in the room with Ella, we realized she was not ready. The first night was okay, but in later days she would wake up constantly, thus waking up Ella as well. One night both girls were screaming-- trying to top each other, probably. Anyway, we moved some furniture out of the office, put the crib in and set up a temporary and make-shift nursery for Delia. This seems to be what she's been wanting the past 8 months. She moves all over her crib, sleeps on her tummy and goes looong stretches (8 hours last night, 12 the night before!). We'll do this for a while then move her back in with her sis. Have we finally won this sleep battle?

• Last, she has a new game that cracks us up. Watch this video to see her playing peek-a-boo. She initiates it all by herself and smiles and laughs when we react. (She LOVES watching this video too!)
  
  

Our Network Television Debut!

I have blogged about my first cousin Anna before. She works for a graphics production company in LA. Her company designs the introductions to shows and any cool graphics you may see during the show. One of her latest projects is a new ABC show called Miss Guided. I guess this is a show about a nerdy girl who grows up and goes back to her high school to work as a guidance counselor. Well, the intro needed a montage of yearbook pictures and guess who's pictures are getting used! Yep, Anna pulled out our old Timothy Christian yearbooks and put me, Dave, Karen (Dave's sister), Chris and Eric (Dave's brothers-in-law) as well as Melissa and Steph (some high school friends) into this quick slide show of pictures!

Anna warned me that it will flash by fast and ABC reserves the right to change it all, but if all goes as submitted you can see us (or the high school versions of us) on TV March 20. Check out this link for more info about the show: http://abc.go.com/fallpreview/missguided/index

And drop me an email if you'd like me or Dave to autograph anything for you! Yay! Friends with influence!

62 and Snowy!

What a super day we had in the snow yesterday! We left first thing in the morning to meet up with Dave and the youth group at their mountain cabin. The drive through the rolling green hills was beautiful and I and the girls were in a great mood. Not before long, the twisting, turning, roller-coaster hills turned into sequoia and pine forests laden with white snow and we were at our destination, after just an hour of driving. Is is crazy that I didn't even pack coats? I knew the weather was going to be sunny and 60s. We donned our snow pants and gloves (Delia earned the nickname "Peep" from her high school buddies because of her yellow, marshmallow snow suit) and ran out behind the big cabin, where the kids traditionally play and build on the acres of property in the woods. Two snow bunkers were in the works, later to be used for an epic snowball fight, seniors versus everyone else. The long, steep tubing run, complete with jump, was already built too. A little bunny hill for my girls was made, but after just one run, Ella decided she would rather go on the big one. Daddy was happy to take her, as were several high schoolers. Even Mommy was brave enough to try that one a bunch of times, though my screams probably woke any hibernating wildlife! As you can see from the pictures, a good time was had by all!

Who has more fun...the kids or the leaders? Here's Phil getting some serious air on his jump. He also sculpted an amazing snow octopus with tentacles that ran over the porch of the cabin and had some fun with a dead squirrel he found, creepily in-tact. And look-- Dave can fly!

Though it was just the right speed for Delia, this little sledding run was apparently too tame for Ella.

"Again! Again!" she would say as we hiked up the hill after racing down and flying over the jump.

Ella said her favorite part of the day was making and throwing snow balls.


Yay! Finally some Daddy-time!

We stayed until about 3:00, enjoying lunch with the group, playing games in the cabin and making 3 separate trips out back to the snow. Here's Ella soaking in the sun during one of her warm up/dry out sessions.

Our Hard Working Man

This has been one of those insanely busy weeks for Dave. It started last weekend with his biggest fundraiser of the year, the Italian Cafe. Though requiring much planning in the purchasing and preparing of food for 200 people and much delegation in keeping the 30 some high schoolers busy and actually working, the dinner went off perfectly and raised thousands of dollars for summer trips. Then Dave preached on Sunday, led junior high youth group on Monday and high school youth group on Wednesday. Since he is the Stated Clerk, his responsibilities at Tuesday's all-day Classis meeting also brought tons of work, stress and even a nightmare about being eaten alive in a pool of alligators! Last, Dave left for the annual 3 day Winter Retreat with his youth group this afternoon. He spent the rare and spare minutes of his week preparing the spiritual theme and buying supplies for this big event. Needless to say, we haven't had too much Daddy-time this week.

This morning we were able to steal him for about an hour to go out for breakfast. Though a list of errands sat waiting, it was nice to have a little family time. We'll have some more tomorrow as I and the girls drive to the cabin Dave rents in the mountains for some fun in the snow.

The name of the game when we are Dave-less is distraction. This week we kept busy ourselves with bike rides through the country, Bible Study, a few trips into town, a mega-walk on Wednesday, and this fun afternoon we spent with Jonathan running around and riding bikes in our church parking lot.

Tonight we joined up with Jetta and gang (her husband Phil is one of Dave's youth group leaders, also gone on the retreat) for some girl bonding. Ella loved jumping, playing, getting dirty and showering with her 4 buddies. Delia spent lots of quality time with her 2 buddies, getting some crawling lessons from Cora and just chillin' with Peter-- who's either going to love or hate this 9 to 1 girl/boy ratio some day! Since Jetta doesn't own a TV or computer, her family rents a movie from the church library and watches it theatre-style with projector on bed sheet every Friday night. That plus the pizza and dessert we brought added up to a great night that sure beat sitting at home alone. Next year we're all bringing our jammies for a giant slumber party!

More "Bloomin's"