May I take your order?

Ellie: I would like a veggie burger with cilantro, pepsi coke with a little milk on it.
Julia: Honey, salt, ham

Art

I've probably told all of you this before, that I was an art major. Have you heard me say it? But I'll bet you didn't know that my mother-in-law is an artist. Or that my mother has a unique creative (read that: near-wild) streak? So my kiddos had NO choice, really. In this house, WE LOVE TO CREATE!

I love that every time Julia sees me making a list or writing something down, she runs up to the table, climbs in a chair all while screaming "daw! daw!"

I love that when it's raining/snowing/too dang hot outside, Ellie will ask to do some sort of art project.

I love watching furrowed brows and chubby hands creating, while mastering new skills.

I love that we have more papers with pasted pictures, stickers, marker lines, and finger paints than I can shake a stick at.

I love that our art aprons have been stained-up loooooong ago.

I love it! This is so much better than watching soaps and eating bon bons.

Ellie's Family Party #2

We had a family party to celebrate Ellie's 4th birthday this year. Plus, we were actually IN Louisiana the day of her bday (May 10)! She didn't realize it was her birthday because she felt like her party was on the day of her birthday. :) Here are some fun pics of the event.

Happily eating Johnny's Pizza!

All the family gathered to celebrate.

Originally I had a much prettier E on this cake and then botched it. Naturally. Cake decorating isn't even close to being my thing. But it tasted awesome!

Reading a card from Avery

"A new placemat! Now I can give my old Ariel one to Julia!"

Oma made Ellie her very own "Pink Bear" as we call it. The last time we were in Louisiana, Julia fell in love with Dan's old Care Bear he had when he was little. She sleeps with it every night all the while Ellie grew a bit more envious. Oma made Ellie's out of that super-soft minky fabric, which was a great choice. Pink Bear has now replaced all other stuffed animals and sleeps in the bed with Ellie each night.

As parents, Dan and I were delighted that Ellie didn't receive an abundance of gifts. And what gifts she did receive were perfectly suited for her. She got a fun ball, a few Montessori games/activities, a tiny music box, a balloon, an art busy box, some great books, outdoor "cones," an apron, some princess stuff, and a necklace making kit. We are blessed to have such a thoughtful family that has responded to our requests to help raise our children to be less-materialistic as is reasonable (in our current society). Thanks you guys!

Ellie's Family Party #1

We had a nice pre-birthday party breakfast for Ellie before leaving town for Louisiana. She was pretty excited to get to open her presents. Her big present was a scooter! She also got a nightgown I made for her, a dress she admired from Gymboree a while ago, a big stadium microphone, and probably something else I can't remember. Ellie spent a while in our bedroom with the door shut learning to ride her scooter with no one watching. Lil' sis wasn't too happy that she didn't get a scooter.

Ellie's Family BDay

I wanted to post this picture because it captures big sisterly love. Here is Ellie, on her birthday morning (of the party anyway) getting excited for Julia's little present. Backstory: we got Julia a microphone like we got Ellie - that sound like you're in a stadium, cheap and very cool. At the point of this photo, you can see Ellie has already opened hers. I have a very special 4 year old.

Ellie's 4th Birthday!

Can it be? Is the first born really FOUR? As Time would have it... apparently so!

This year, Ellie decided she wanted a strawberry birthday party. (I must specify: Strawberry, not Strawberry Shortcake.) That was all she gave me to go with, so... Julia and I did a lot of shopping while Ellie was in school. We had fun planning Ellie's party :).

A few things one would probably like to know about events surrounding Ellie's party. The day after the party, we were leaving town for 3 weeks. Yes, I said 3 weeks. After the party, we had to pack for our very long trip, and then clean the house spotless (because it is currently for sale and we wanted it to show while we were gone). Ok, now I must also share our birthday celebration philosophy with you as well - or what it has developed into, at least. In our home, birthdays are a day that comes each year in which we celebrate the fact that this special person was born. And if you like "said person," then it was a good day, right? Anyway. We aren't real "over the top" people, so we keep such events simple, but fun and meaningful. So.

The morning of the party, Ellie could hardly stand it. She knew her best buds were coming! She got dressed in her strawberry party dress I made for her (J wore her strawberry top I made) and stood by the window waiting for the first guest to arrive. Everyone pretty much arrived at once and the partying began!

In attendance were: Asher, Suzana, Aubrey, and Zoe (as well as 4 additional little siblings and 6 parents - not counting Dan, me, & Julia). Only two kids we invited didn't get to come - Ellie's most well-attended party yet!

The kiddos played for a while after they arrived, they LOVED the bounce house (borrowed from a friend)! After they got rid of some serious energy, we ate lunch (pizza and fruit per request from the bday girl). They played some more after lunch, then had ice cream cake and cupcakes, opened presents, and everyone went home! It was really a perfect little 4th birthday party.

Thoughts

I have currently NOT been posting very much. Has anyone noticed? Haha. Well I sure have!

Our little family is entering into a new phase at the moment. We're moving in exactly 3 weeks and I our house looks exactly like it did the day we listed it for sale 3 months ago (it's still for sale, by the way... anyone want to buy it?). We've been trying to keep it looking "put together" for showing, but it's about time to start sorting through what we want to move and what we don't. This can be fun or it can be problematic. Anyway that's not what I started out to write about.

I've been thinking lately... a LOT actually. I mostly post the things I think about over on plumdandy.com (which I haven't updated in quite some time), but I'm going to post my thoughts here for the moment.

I started blogging back when we first moved to Kentucky as a way to keep in touch with our friends and family. At some point, I began posting quite regularly the "activities" Ellie was doing. Then I became a bit obsessed with recording exactly what she did each week - not sure why. I gradually let go of that mentality and just posted about what activities the girls have been up to. My favorite things to post about are the little quirky things I find funny/interesting about my children.

Which brings me to my point.

One of my resolutions this year was to spend more time being in the present. And I mean fully in the present. Not even thinking about anything else other than what I'm doing. You know, like a man does all the time. Haha just kidding! Ok maybe not. I want/wanted to stop multi-tasking so much that I couldn't focus on the task at hand. Fully laughing with my children while they are silly at the breakfast table, fully engrossed in reading a book to them, dancing with my entire self when we turn the dance music on, enjoying my sewing projects instead of plotting the next one while I'm still sewing the last one... and the list goes on and on and on and on. Ring true for anyone else?

For a good while now this blog has seemed like a "to do" item for me. I feel that I should post things that have been going on because "what if I forget them?" Oh shocker, Anna forget something. Noooooooo, not Anna! Just ask my husband, I forget EVERYTHING. Seriously, I do. So I'm afraid I'm going to forget how wonderful it is and has been to be the mother of Ellie & Julia - the two amazing little girls God entrusted to our care. What they were like when they were little, what their favorite things were, where they got excited about going, what songs they liked to sing, their favorite books, the precious moments when they say "momma I love you," the new words coming out of Julia's mouth by the hour...

So I'm working on something else.

Remembering.

It's a different kind of remembering than the "to do" remembering. I'm working on slowing down, being fully present, and branding the memories to my heart so that I will never forget. So far so good. I'll be recording some of these memories (and their corresponding pictures) as I have the time.

May you live today more present than you lived yesterday.

Backpost: Easter

Though it wasn't, this felt like Julia's first Easter. I suppose because last year she was a mere 9 months old and not really "into" the whole basket and egg thing. Besides, if you've been hanging around here for a bit, you know about my ongoing struggle to maintain the meaning during this holiday (and other holidays for that matter). I have another post (here) about it.

The Egg Hunt
We attended a egg hunt that the girls really enjoyed. Julia hadn't experienced candy-filled eggs until this day, and she was more than delighted at this find. She walked around the rest of the hunt holding a squished up mini candy bar in her hand with a death grip. Ellie was one of the big kids at this hunt and she filled up her basked to the brim. Other little kiddos didn't have as many and I was prepared for some forced sharing to take place, but surprisingly she shared her bounty without complaint.

The Bunnies
One morning after dropping Ellie off at her nursery school, J and I stopped to take a peek at the bunnies that a photographer had outside his studio. Brilliant business move. Lure them in with the promises of taking pictures with whatever cute little bunny they want!

The Easter Garden
I think I posted that I wanted to do this. So we did! The girls and I selected our plants at Lowes one morning. Later after our nap we went and found our rock at an empty lot in our neighborhood (there are LOTS of rocks in the soil in our part of Kentucky). Then we put it all together in our planter and voila! We had an Easter garden. Julia's favorite part was washing the rocks with the hose. We talked about the significance of this garden and on Easter morning, I rolled the door away and put a butterfly in the doorway. Ellie was delighted.

Easter Morning
We celebrated by staying home from church. :) Actually, we went to church on Good Friday because they asked us to consider attending an Easter service before Easter morning at our church (they had them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Since Dan was on a 30 hour shift Easter Eve, and arrived home around 10 am, we celebrated with him when he got home. It was also very rainy, so the eggs were hidden upstairs. Fun times!



Easter Egg Hunt









The Bunnies


The Easter Garden




Easter Morning