Christmas 2008

I have way too many pictures to put here so check out all the Christmas pics I posted on facebook :-)

Best Moments:

• Ella discovering a ton of present under the tree Christmas morning when there had been none the night before
• Continuing our tradition of making a birthday cake for Jesus together and Ella equating Christmas with Jesus' birthday much more than anything else (besides presents!)
  
• Ping (my SIL) discovering that Nancy (MIL) had spent a month learning a traditional, Chinese lullaby just to sing it to Silas (my 3 month old nephew)
• My Grandmother loving the hundreds of family pictures on the digital frame we got her so much she wouldn't get up to eat
• Me discovering that the big piggy bank my sister gave Ella has the name of our adopted Rwandan, Compassion child painted on it (that's who Ella always wants to save her money for but she only had a tiny piggy bank)

Worst Moments:

• Slight brawl when Ella started playing with Hannah's new dollhouse
• Having to take apart our kitchen plumbing to get out a clog of 16 egg shells (in between the trips to Chris' family and my family)
• The awkwardness of getting repeat presents and pretending you didn't
• Christmas being over :-(

I'm really thankful that I felt able to really savor the precious moments of this season (Luke 2: 19) in between the busyness. Also, in trying to teach Ella about the real meaning of Christmas, I was constantly reminding myself about that daily for the last few weeks also. My brother-in-law shared a few weeks ago about how "epic" is a popular word among the teenagers he works with to describe all kinds of things. He said it got him thinking about how really, it's the best word to describe the meaning of Christmas. Jesus' birth was much more "epic" than anything else that word could describe. Christmas celebrates the moment in time when God chose to intervene in human history in a totally unconventional, almost nonsensical fashion-through a feeble little baby. The fact that God could later offer salvation to the world through this once tiny infant, is amazing. What a sacred, holy-day to celebrate: God put on flesh so He could offer the world a relationship with Him. Wow. Epic.

Big Girl Bed-Whoohoo!!

We were going to put Ella in a "big girl" bed a while ago but I chickened out. The idea of her being able to roam freely during the night and rest/nap time just sounded like a bad idea. Plus, from what I could gather, there was no developmental stage we were impeding by keeping her in a crib. And she was happy. Until about two weeks ago. Then she started asking for a big girl bed. I was (still am) a little skeptical about it (why can't children sleep in cribs forever?) but I am happy to do it when she asks for it rather than forcing it too early (see! I learned something from potty training!). So, we've had 4 nights in the bed and it's been very successful!

Night One: Ella insisted that big girls wear underwear to sleep not pull-ups and in some rare moment of insanity, I said ok. Hence, she wet the bed about 3 hours later. Besides that, no problems.

Night Two: Went to bed with no problems and slept all night, walked into our room in the morning (the original rule was that she was supposed to call us but I think this is ok)

Night Three: realized she can get out of her bed once I put her to sleep, got up 3 times within about 15 minutes before asking for a drink and me saying yes. It worked and we didn't see her for 12 hours.

Night Four: Came out of her room once right after I put her to bed and asked for a drink. I gave it to her and had to wake her up this morning for school.

So, besides taking a step backwards in night potty training by giving her drinks, it's going reallllllly well. So glad! Rest time has been kind of hit or miss but she should be happy to play in her room with all the stuff that's in there so I hope this will not be the end of rest time. She's adorably thrilled about her bed everytime we mention it or go in her room. She's growing up!

Fun with Hope!

My friend's post catches you up on the last couple days :-) Check it out here. Hmmm-that was easy...maybe I'll just link to other people's posts all the time...

Fire House

Last week we got to go with some friends to a local firehouse. This is apparently a very pre-school thing to do but it was our first time so Ella and I were both pretty excited.

She was not allowed to climb in this sleigh and it was driving her crazy


This fireman was explaining everything to the kids and at one point a little boy asked what a panel of dials did and he said "Um...that's a really long story. Anyone else have a question?" I was cracking up!

The firehouse also had a Christmas train display

Sorry this is sideways, it's still adorable

Prepare for cuteness

Oh. My. Gosh. Somehow, I am old enough and have a child who is old enough to have class pictures. How did this happen? These are the cutest things I've ever seen. Not only because they're adorable pictures but because I feel like I'm the mom of a baby pretending to be mom of a school-age kid. We're SO not there yet but her preschool thinks we are I guess! I love these. Check out her little clasped hands and slightly tilted head-so "big girl" of her!

Cookie Making!

A friend of ours had a really fun Christmas Cookie decorating party for the kids last week. This kind of activity is just the kind of thing Ella and I both really get into-we'll probably make some more cookies to decorate soon!

Hard at work (also a nice pic of her new hearing aid "holder" that clips on to her shirt so even if they fall off, they just hang there and can't get lost!)

Life Group Christmas Party

Our small group from church had a fun Christmas party a few days ago. David shared about the true meaning of Christmas and it was a really insightful reminder of how epic Christ' birth is in the timeline of history-not just a nice, feel good, story about a baby. We also had lots of food, a gift exchange (it didn't get too ugly), and played a game. We are so thankful for this group of people and look forward to the coming year of sharing life with them!

3 year check up

On Friday Ella had her 3year check up. It was great-no blood work, no shots = no freaking out! The shocking part is that my little peanut is no longer a peanut. She's always been around 30-40th percentile in height and weight and somehow....drum rolls please....she's now 75th in both!! I know she gets the height from her dad but I have no idea how she eats enough to keep up in the weight category! She has quite the efficient metabolism. Anyway, here's a pic of her checking out her paper dress and her actual stats :-)


Ella at 37months:
34 1/4lbs
38 inches

Gushers are Gross!

Somehow Holly ended up with Gushers when she got home from the grocery store even though she didn't put them in her cart. I am familiar with these nasty snacks because my dad actually likes them and for some reason I remember him taking them on a trip to Russia about ten years ago-primarily because they'd probably last through nuclear attack so a trip to Moscow didn't hurt them. Anyway, when Holly and I were out for lunch with the girls the other day she decided to give them some and see if they liked them. Hope only ate one (good taste) but Ella ate a bunch. YUCK! A few minutes later we realized that the Gushers had left their mark...

Rockettes Christmas Spectacular!!

The Rockettes show was nothing short of spectacular. I don't usually rave about shows but this was really wonderful. It's a huge feat to keep everyone in my family literally ages 3, 29, 65, and 90 totally engaged in a show for 90 minutes. We all loved it! How likely is that? It was a fabulous way to get in the Christmas spirit (it helped that it was snowing when we left too!). With every part of the show there was some new surprise that kept you fascinated. There were live camels, sheep, and donkeys, ice skating on stage, amazingly precise, synchronized dancing, elaborate costumes, great singing, fireworks, shooting streamers, a huge screen with a ton of cool 3D special effects...it was awesome. I brought all kinds of things to placate Ella during the show if need be, but she didn't squirm or look away from the stage once! It was fabulous. It also meant a LOT to be there with my grandmother (who also bought us all the tickets-thanks!!) since she was a Rockette in New York 70 years ago. Somehow the fact that she's a former Rockette came up when she was in the restroom there and people started asking her for autographs!! I LOVE that we have this legacy passed down to us. I hope we can make a trip to this show an annual tradition. Who knows, maybe Ella will follow in GG's high-kicking footsteps and become a Rockette (or at least a dancer) herself!


Chris, Ella, and my dad pre-show

The finale of the amazing nativity part of the show-surprsingly reverent and biblical!

The screens made it look like there were 100 Santas instead of 25!

Ice Skating on the front part of the stage!

World's Best Grandmother!

Nails and Cake

We recently got to go to a fancy dinner out for GG's 90th birthday celebration and also spent a fun afternoon at her house painting our nails! Ella is a big fan of birthday cake and pink nail polish so both were a great time for her :-)


All dressed up at the fanciest restaurant Ella's ever been to!

After dinner they wheeled out this beautiful bouquet and cake for my grandmother! It was beautiful and tasty!

Nail painting party! Chris sat in the corner and took pictures and handed us things while our nails were wet-such a good guy :-)

Blowing Ella's toenails dry had her laughing hysterically

All done with our matching manicures. Lots of fun and great memories!

She's got skills

On her birthday, Ella came and asked me if we could "please go on a walk outside to see the beautiful trees". She never asks to do that (and usually whines if I suggest it) so I was happy to take her. I also decided to take the camera and let her take some pictures while we walked (we only made it about a block but that's ok). I was SO impressed with the results! Very artistic. I loved one of them so much it inspired me to change my whole blog layout to incorporate it. So, here are the completely unmodified pictures of my future artiste!

Sick but still sweet

We're sick. It stinks. I have an upper respiratory infection and Ella has a lower respiratory infection. She went to the doctor last night, she went with me for my appt. this morning, and we went to another doctor for her to get a chest x-ray before that because she might have pneumonia (her cousin and my dad both do). She's been remarkably good through all of it and doesn't really seem sick even though she has a horrendous sounding cough and horribly runny eyes and nose. Not much lethargy and no more whining than normal are great signs that she'll be better soon. Hope that's true for all of us. So, not much to blog about but here's a conversation we just had a few minutes ago.

Ella: Mom, I love you more than Cinderella
Me: Really? Thanks Ella!
Ella: I love you more than all the Princesses!
Me: Wow! Thanks!
Ella: I love Daddy more than Raleigh (the dog)
Me: That's good
Ella: Mom can we get a kitty-cat?
Me: I don't think so, Raleigh wouldn't like that
...long pause...
Ella: Mom, I love you more than princesses and kitty-cats. I really do.

How cute is she?? Right now princesses and kitty-cats are at the TOP of the totem pole so I'm feeling pretty special :-)


A little sick day fort fun :-)

Thanksgiving 2008!!

We are so blessed that both of our families live about 15 minutes from us. We had a good, low-key, thanksgiving and spent time at my parents house and then with Chris' family. I actually only ate at the first house so I feel like I actually ate less than I do on a normal day-SUPER weird for thanksgiving but I've been enjoying the leftovers every day since :-) We spent a lot of time on our car rides between houses that day taking turns praying "Thank you God for....". Ella was thankful for mommy, daddy, raleigh, our house, our food, and the Hannahs (her favorite friends at the moment). Chris and I had lots of blessings to count. I have to say I'm most thankful for Jesus. None of what I do is worth anything if it wasn't for his limitless love and constant work in my life. Thanks Lord for all you've done and are doing in our family.


chillin with Marissa-this was before the poor little boy sitting next to me threw up all over his plate...lovely...

getting ready to eat at my rents house


My grandmother turned 90 the day before Thanksgiving! This was her first cake-angel food cake-nice and healthy so she'll be here for another 10 years!

Her second cake-double chocolate...so she can actually enjoy the next 10 years!

On to house #2. Nana was SO on the ball. She had new toys ready to entertain the kids while they waited to eat!


Silas and I got some quality time while Ping and Andrew ate their dinner. He's getting SO big!

Ella LOVED playing with her little cousin and he was SO fascinated by her.

There are about 20 pics in this series of Christopher and Ella. Let's just say they REALLY enjoyed their pie. Before this, Chris was playing with Hannah and made a joke about "getting her nose." This was NOT funny to Hannah. She had a look of sheer terror and burst into tears. She cried and screamed for a LONG time. Amy had to come try and soothe her to get her to calm down. Ella came over to pat her back and say "It's ok, don't cry!" and Christopher was chanting "Uncle Chris is bad, Uncle Chris is mean, Uncle Chris is in trouble." Andrew and I were laughing so hard we almost fell on the floor. It was HYSTERICAL. I don't tend to laugh at crying children but the whole scene was just SO amusing. NO worries though, she recovered and her nose is intact.

Raleigh. How we all felt by the end of the day. Happy, full, and ready to sleep :-)