Best Wildlife Day. Ever.

Gray whales. Elk. Elephant Seals. Oysters. Birds. Deer. This is the list of amazing wildlife we spotted on our outing to Pt. Reyes Shoreline with Heather today. The day was beautiful with sunshine and blue skies and the ocean full of white waves. After a picnic lunch, we began our hiking at the lighthouse...

All smiles on the 303 steps to and from the lighthouse. Ella helped get us up them by sounding an alert for every group of ten we'd just conquered.

Playing on the whale bones-- vertebrae and ribs (HUGE, right?)

Dave is using the binoculars to try and spot some migrating gray whales. He was successful! He found and showed us 1 whale breaching and then a group of 3 blowing spray and poking their heads up.

When we told the ranger what we saw, he asked us to change the "Whales Sighted Today" number on the board.

After the lighthouse we took a short hike to Chimney Rock where we could view a natural elephant seal habit.

The ranger told us he counted 100 seals, 90 of them were pups. They were so noisy! Dave said, "If you didn't know what you were walking up to, you'd think a herd of angry pigs was being attacked by monkeys!"

Next up was two quick stops, the first at the Drake Bay Oyster Company. Heather and I are not seafood lovers. We were interested in seeing the workers harvest the oysters, but couldn't stomach going in the store. These mounds of shells will go back into the ocean. The second stop was to walk the beach and capture the photo used in our new blog header. Like it?

The last thing we did was drive through an Elk Preserve on the peninsula. It was afternoon, so the fog was starting to roll in. That made the finding and photographing of these magnificent animals a little tricky. We still found a herd, some wrestling with their antlers and then later this 14 point buck.

She's Here and We're Workin' Her!

Yes, my sister landed safely yesterday. We thought we'd keep this visit more relaxed, with just one outing planned for Friday, but that doesn't mean Heather is laying around doing nothing! We're very busy with our other plans of snacking, watching our favorite shows, playing Trains and Wii and satiating Ella's non-stop desire to play with Auntie Heather.

Here's a Candyland game that was busted out within the hour of Heather's arrival at our house. Auntie also helped Ella with her homework while impressively almost keeping the scissors and markers away from Delia (only one of her ears and a chin were colored pink).

All of Ella's before-sleep stories have had to come from...guess who?

And even I put her to work during nap time. Together we sorted, chronicled and put into albums all my dad's pictures (yep, she was quite delighted at this gift too!). We had fun shopping for special albums and frames this morning. Tonight we're all pooped after a high-energy dinner at Jetta's and tomorrow morning she's helping me with Delia's 18 month portraits at JC Penney.

*****

Auntie's gonna need a vacation after this California trip!

The Gift

This is the special gift my Aunt Janette shared with me last Monday. I waited a week to post it because I wanted to surprise my sister with it too. She is presently on route to California, so I guess I can post now! The gift was glimpses into the life of my dad, who I actually knew very little about. Aunt Janette and her daughter Jill found at least a hundred pictures of my dad growing up-- proms, vacations, baby pictures, the Lake Forrest house they grew up in, poses with his little brother (my Uncle Dave), graduation, an early-in-the-relationship Christmas with my mom, etc. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed and instantly emotional when I opened this gift. This whole week I've loved sorting through the stacks of in-excellent-condition photos and learning more about my dad. My wonderful husband has been scanning each picture so Heather can take a digital copy home with her.

My dad and Uncle Dave-- Dad's on the tricycle.


My dad in his little Jimmy shirt with his parents. Never got to meet this Grandpa.


Dad standing, Uncle Dave in the highchair.


He was good-lookin', huh?


A cheesy pose after my own heart! Love this vacation shot of the men of his family. He's the one on the back of the bike.


My dad's the one holding the rifle, Uncle Dave holding the kill.


I must say that the Dutch genes are strong! I don't see much of blue-eyed/blond-haired Heather, me or my girls in my dad. However, I'm convinced I inherited many of his personality traits.

Another Fantastic Friday

On Friday night we attended our favorite Christian school fundraiser-- the $1 auction. For just $1 you can bid on a huge array of fabulous prizes: elaborate gift baskets, Disneyland tickets, restaurant gift certificates, spa treatments, etc. It's more or less a raffle. A few years ago Dave won a basket of hats and polo shirts and this year I am proud to say I finally WON!!! I won a really cool prize too, a huge basket of craft projects for the girls! I think we now have enough foam sticker projects, origami, modeling clay, sun catchers, finger paints, beads, chalk, and paintable ceramic figurines and wind chimes to last us several years' worth the rainy days! When Ella saw the basket she said, "This is AWEsome! I LOOOOOVE it all!" After the auction we stayed to watch the basketball game a while. This is something we are going to have to start doing every weekend. Ella loves running around with her friends while Delia dances to the pep band and imitates the cheerleaders' choreography.

We had to leave the game a little early because there was a Game Night scheduled at our house with good pals Sara and Arend. We put the kids to bed then stayed up obscenely late (Arend even suggested an all-nighter!) eating our late supper of appetizers and playing Wii and Trains. Here Dave and Arend downhill ski. What a friend-filled, fantastic Friday!

Blessed

Today I experienced something totally unique and in traveling to be a blessing, I came home blessed myself. My college roomie Dorina is due with her second daughter in about a month. Since she is set with baby gear and girl clothes she requested a "Mother's Blessing" instead of a traditional baby shower. Dorina and her family anticipate a busy February with many changes and adjustments-- a huge church mission project, a new career for Ericlee and a home birth, Dorina felt she more needed prayers, encouragement and time in the Bible with her best mama friends. What a rewarding thing to be a part of! I came home completely encouraged and blessed by the wisdom and testimonies of so many wise and faithful mothers.

The whole day was really something and I could go on and on about the food alone, but to limit myself, I'll share 3 highlights. First, we were all told to bring a bead with special meaning to string onto a necklace for Dorina. I placed two heart shaped beads on her necklace, a big one for Meilani and a little one for Baby Giada. I explained what a privilege it is for me to mother two daughters and how much happiness I personally receive from having a sister. I wish my friend the same blessings in watching her two girls grow to become best friends.

Second, Dorina's mom Maria gave a powerful reminder of how motherhood is a call to be a servant when she washed her daughter's feet after reading the Gospel account of Jesus doing this for his disciples. Third was a devotion from a friend of Dorina's that spoke right into my heart. It was about how we crave control as moms, but will never have it. The story of our children is written and narrated by the Lord, not us. The best we can do is nurture, instruct and provide a loving environment in which our little ones will thrive. Our most important job as mothers is to pray for and surrender our kids to God's will. Wow!

Dorina insisted I bring Ella along, even though the vibe of tearful sharing and prayer wasn't exactly kid-friendly. Her and Meilani kept each other busy playing and jumping. Ericlee (Dorina's generous hubbie) even took them to the park for a couple hours. I had to smile when Ella followed right in her mommy's college-day footsteps by raiding Meilani's closet for a new dress to wear! Future roommates themselves some day, perhaps!

******

I'm so thankful we had a 2 hour drive home in which Ella crashed and I could digest the depth of the day.

Raindrops

While I'm certainly not complaining about the two weeks of unseasonal spring weather we were enjoying, yesterday a prayer was answered when we finally saw some raindrops. January (our winter) is rainy season. We depend on almost daily rain to saturate the ground and fill up the reservoirs, getting us through all those hot and dry months. Ella's been reminding me to pray for rain and today she woke up excitedly declaring, "God heard and gave us rain!!" Now to be fair, Ella probably has no clue about what our crops and orchards need, she just wanted the appropriate weather for today's Winter Celebration and Umbrella Parade at Preschool. Us parents were invited to come watch the kids march around the block decked out in rain gear. They were pretty cute-- smiling, waving and singing a song about the rain being a gift from God.

Such a Special Visit!

Last week when I got a call from my Aunt Janette telling me she was not too far away in California for the week, I was super excited. Aunt Janette is Uncle Dave's wife. Uncle Dave is my dad's only brother. Since both my parents died when I was relatively young, I have not maintained much of a connection with the few members of their families that remain (except for my cousin Anna, of course!) I've met Aunt Janette maybe 3 times and have always done the Christmas card swap with her. I loved finding her daughter Jill, my only cousin on this side, on Facebook and have been reconnecting with her lately.

Today we met for lunch and caught up while getting to know each other better. Aunt Janette, who was always generous to Heather and I as kids, came laden with gifts for the girls. A reader of our blog, she knew all about their loves for reading, crafts and princesses and picked out perfect presents. Her gift to me was one I'll share in a later post, but will tell you that it made me cry on the spot and will remain a priceless treasure.

I've always felt my need for family fulfilled in my sister, Anna and Dave's family. However, to strengthen other family relationships today was a gift in itself.

Self Portrait

"This is me!" Ella told us. She's been drawing lots of people lately. We love the details: feet, fingers, ears, earrings in those ears. Our little portrait artist!

Jealous?

Since our homepage tells me that "Blowing snow and frigid temperatures assail the nation" and our Midwest family and friends are enjoying highs of -2, thought I'd be a little cruel. We are on our third straight day of sunshine and weather in the high 60's! (Insert evil laugh here.) Yes, it's unusual, but still glorious. Today we spent the whole morning outside...

Delia At Play

I am aware that most of my recent posts have been very Ella-centered. Though she spent most of San Diego in the stroller (explaining her absence from pictures) and hasn't been able to paint plates or be the star of any weddings, Delia does continue to bring constant excitement and laughter into our lives. How to describe her at this stage? Busy, active, energetic, displaying characteristics of a tornado. The nursery volunteers had this to say about Delia when we picked her up on Sunday, "She's a chatterbox!" and "She just doesn't stop, does she?" and "You have your hands full!" I still love the enthusiasm with which she busts into rooms or can't tell us something without shouting it. Delia's first choice is always to do something I'd rather her not do, like dance on the coffee table, empty my cabinets or climb to the top of the couch armrest and jump off. Yet, she's had these great moments of quiet play lately too. Following her sister's lead, she also loves dress up, Little People, taking care of her baby doll and play dough. And she's actually able to concentrate on these things and play them for a decent while too. It goes without saying that I take great pleasure in watching my girls play together.

Friday Night

We kept plenty busy this weekend. Thursday was the rehearsal, last night the wedding and Friday night it was Homecoming at our Christian School. This Homecoming was special because Carla, our regular babysitter, and Kimberly, a girl we know well from our youth group, were both nominated to be queen. Ella was delighted to watch her two high school buddies take the floor dressed as princesses. Delia, we think, has a future as a cheerleader. She clapped enthusiastically throughout the game, danced to the pep band and even wandered around the bleachers spreading this cheer.

Besides her high school friends, Ella saw lots of other church friends at the game, here she poses with Kim, Carla and Nikki.

Flower Girl Extraodinaire!

Well, we survived the big day, though Ella is presently tearing through the house yelling with the natural high that comes from a day like today. Ella was a fantastic flower girl! The photographer may have taken more pictures of her than the bride! He gushed to us about how he's never seen a 3 year old flower girl do such a perfect job. "She gets an A+++!" he said. Dave and I joked about how we're going to hire her out to do weddings. A Cinderella hairdo, a princess gown, a whole day of attention, an important job and the opportunity to make lots of new friends-- of course Ella was going to have the best day ever!

This super special bracelet was a gift from Sarah. It has real pearls and crystals and is engraved with Ella's name.

One of many many many glances in the mirror.

Dave did a great job with the ceremony too. It was personal and meaningful and his message even made the bride and groom cry at one point! Dave's favorite part was his best-seat-in-the-house view of Ella coming down the aisle...

I was shaking from silent laughing so hard. Ella was SO purposeful about her job of spreading petals. She would take a step, stop then drop a handful. When she neared the front and still had quite a few in her basket she marched at a snail's pace to get them all out. The pianist actually had to play an extra chorus of Pachabel...twice!...to accompany Ella down the aisle.

She managed to stand through the entire service, though not as statuesque as I would have liked. During the solo, she grabbed a bridesmaids hand and started twirling. She also came very near to flashing everyone by lifting up her dress and did decide to pick her nose and bend down to wipe what she dug out on the carpet.

Above: Ella with Doug and Sarah, the happy couple.

Below: Ella with her new BFF, bridesmaid Lindsey. These two totally bonded!

Ahhh cake. The list was already long, but here's yet another reason to be happy!

Pampered

This morning Ella had the treat of getting her hair done in a special "up and curls" do. We met at the salon with Sarah and all the other bridesmaids. Of course, this was the perfect start to Ella's amazing day. She asked her stylist to give her hair like Cinderella. She loved every part of this pampering!