HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET ELLA! Sunday, May 31, 2009

She said it was a "beautiful day" and she had a lot of fun. We had doughnuts for breakfast, a couple more presents, her choice for lunch and a brownie sundae and then on to a block party where she was able to go swimming and on a hayride. "I'm fawr" as she says! Happy birthday Ella boo. You are a sweetheart!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Last night we had Ella's birthday party! She had a blast as we had lots of crafts, pizza, cake, presents, friends, and family. She was so excited all day that she couldn't stop asking when her party was going to start. With all of the stormy weather we couldn't use the backyard like we had hoped so we opted for the garage instead. We set up lots of crafts including sand art, picture frames, making goody bags, sand jewelry, and stained glass/plastic painting. She was delighted with everything, especially the cake that her Aunt Caroline made. Isn't it beautiful!! Once the kids found out that it was rainbow sprinkled on the inside (of one half and chocolate on the other) we heard a nonstop chant of "I want rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!!". She also got so many fun presents. Last night after figuring out her new princess sleeping bag and pillow she declared that she no longer needed her "pink bed". She did sleep very well in her sleeping bag on top of her bed and is again tucked in it tonight. This morning I promised her we could open the "shimmer shop" art kit that her Nannie got for her. Ella and Landon had a blast coloring and using glitter glue. This was after she wore her tiarra, earrings and ring at breakfast. After all of that I hope her actual birthday tomorrow won't be disappointing. She will at least get to have doughnuts for breakfast and one present to open. Later we will have a party to go to and she can have a lot of fun even if the theme isn't princesses and birthday candles.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Storms are keeping the kids inside most of the day so we are trying to be creative. Eli showed his creative side today with his yogurt art all over the kitchen and himself. He had left the table and I had forgotten to put his dish away. Shortly after noticing he was rather quiet I found him standing in the chair with this art project. Not the creativity I was aiming for.

Ella, Eli and I went out and delivered meals-on-wheels today and other than the rain it was a lot of fun. Landon will be joining us on our next route and will be helpful in the delivery of food. It was a heart warming experience and hopefully a teachable moment for the kids.

Tonight the kids had their end of missions program at church. Ella sang with her class and Landon with his. It was great to see Ella in her first performance but I don't think she enjoyed it quite as much as her brother does. She did sing well and her teacher pointed out that while studying missionaries around the world Ella made it well known that she wanted to move to Uganda. I will try to put some video up on the site soon but I need to work on the length.

Still have lots of pictures from the beach to post too.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Well Eli is all better and we had a fun Memorial Weekend at the beach. Thanks to the Callahan's for inviting us. The kids loved being there with family, getting to hang out, going to the beach and having friends nearby. It took us a while to get there on Friday with all of the other families that were taking a beach trip for the weekend. It was a late night for the kids but they slept well and woke up very excited about getting to go to the beach. We had leisurely mornings with lots of powdered sugar doughnuts. We visited the beach each day with some time to play paddle ball, jump the waves and build sandcastles. Ella took a ride in Mr. Callahan's boat and loved the ride except when they kicked it up a notch and went fast. I wasn't on the boat with her but she filled me in on the trip. Landon was psyched out about the boat due to his sister's reaction to going fast and probably a little bit because Mr. Callahan had mentioned Landon driving the boat. He seems to be the most apprehensive about big steps or big responsibilities that he hasn't tried before. Ella and Eli would have probably loved to have held on to the steering wheel but with either of them they may have cleared the boat quickly with sharp turns or running aground. On Sunday our friend the Boytes came by for a quick trip to the beach before the cold wind and clouds moved in. The kids were all wrapped up and trying to picnic on the beach and finally we just called it and went inside. Shortly thereafter the sun came out again so we ventured to the Boyte's place and tried out the swimming pool. The cool water was quite surprising to the kids but they had fun. That evening we had a wonderful dinner with the Callahan's. On Monday we headed to the beach for one last bit of fun in the sun before a long drive home. The drive home was long and rainy but it was good to get back. The kids are getting settled back into the week and we hope you all had a great weekend.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Well I can't believe it but Eli is sick again! Luckily he totally missed the stomach flu that we all had on Mother's day. This time he has a virus with a bad sore throat. Poor little thing. I guess he is going to really build up his immunity after all of these viruses lately.

Yesterday he was very excited that Nannie and Pops were here. Landon and Ella had a great time playing ball and games with Nannie and Pops. Ella knows that Pops always has M&M's with him so she was asking for them starting at 9:00 AM. She and Landon were full of chocolate by the end of the day and so was Eli. Eli doesn't play the guessing games to get them but instead just sits in Pops lap and begs. Check out Eli's "cheesy" grin in the top picture - quite the ham he is.

While Nannie and Pops were here I was trying to go to a Homeschool book fair to purchase our curriculum for next year. It proved to be a challenging job. I think I bought too much but I am hoping better too much than too little. Now I have to start thinking about the fall and how I want to organize it all. I am sure I may get it figured out the day I start our new year. Or we will just play it day by day!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Happy Birthday Abram Richardson. Our nephew was born today right around noon and is cute as a button. We stopped by the hospital and got to check him out while he was in the nursery. I am looking forward to getting to hold him and share some pictures.

Outside of that, it has been a while since we posted. We traveled to see our moms on mother's day weekend but I ended up with the stomach flu on mother's day evening. Not only did I end up with it though, Ella had it and started with it within an hour of me. We made it home after a long miserable drive and then Mike and Landon caught it on Monday evening around the same time. We were all miserable and it felt like our house was crawling with germs. Luckily, Eli never caught it. I spent the next few days cloroxing the house, washing all of the sheets, and lysoling every room to the max. Before that Sunday we had some fun going fishing with Pops. Ella got really excited every time we brought up the hook yelling, "look, we caught a worm". Never failed, she said it every time. Eli loved to see the fish and give each one a warm hug. I am still not sure why he wants to hug every single animal we see but it is rather cute as long as they don't have 8 legs or say "sssss".

On Thursday I headed out for a beach weekend with some girlfriends. It was great to get away, especially after having such a long week. Thankfully, Gammy came down and helped Mike keep up with the kids and the house.
Ella is done with preschool as of today and ready for the summer. She is most excited about her upcoming birthday. She asks everyday how long it is going to be and tells me what is on her list. It seems to get longer each day. Landon is ready for his school to slow down a bit. They are also ready for the pool to open up. I think we will have many hours in the pool this year as long as Eli can hang in there.

I hope you all are doing well and I hope to post more often now that our stomachs are feeling better.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Trying to upload Landon singing at church on Sunday. It was a great song and he is the little one over on the right. I do have to note a funny thing he said yesterday. While working on schoolwork at the kitchen table, Eli had climbed almost completely on the table. When he looked at Eli and saw some drool falling from his mouth he said in a very distressed voice "Mom, Mom, Eli is leaking". Seemed I had a leak in my child as well as in a pipe below the kitchen. We may be able to patch the pipe but may have to let Eli outgrow his leaks.

Enjoy the song....

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Here is my attempt at uploading Ella's song.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

A busy weekend but lots of fun too. I didn't get this posted last night - sorry for my delay.

Friday the kids were excited to have a visit from their cousins Kelli and Sam as well as their Aunt Caroline and Uncle Chuck. Ella has a song that she just started singing to us - but it is an Easter song. I am hoping I can get the video on here but if not just know that it ends in "Hawewuwah, Hawewuwah" (otherwise known as Hallelujah) which is my favorite part. On Saturday Landon had a t-ball game in the morning and a playdate with a friend in the afternoon. He is certain that he "won" his t-ball game. I will say that he had some great hits straight back and past the pitcher. He was excited that he had his own cheering section including me, Ella, Eli, Pops, Stan, Shannon, and Doris. After dinner we all went to visit Nannie and treat her to some Eli kisses and talks with Landon and Ella.

Today Landon sang in church and I will try to post that video as well. Then we headed to a birthday party for our friend Scarlett. We all had a blast at the party. We jumped in the bounce princess castle, ate cupcakes, made crafts, shot basketball, and just had fun. The kids were completely worn out at the end of the day and so were we. Eli loved it all but the hats - I tried to get him to keep it on but there was no way. Ella especially loved the face painting - where she got to paint herself. Since she couldn't see her face she painted most of her arm and then I let her paint mine. She got lots and lots of ideas for her birthday and what she wants to do.

Hope your weekend was a great one!