Birthday Delights

Earrings and a bracelet Ella picked out completely by herself * Countless rounds of "Happy Birthday to You Dear Mommy!" * A whole morning of quiet while Dave took the girls out shopping * Starbucks * Red Robin birthday burger * Phone calls, messages, emails and Facebook greetings * Cards stuffed with gift cards * A successful Coffee Break kickoff * A room full of women singing to me as I took the stage to lead devotions * My first very chic outfit from Ann Taylor * Luxurious 650-thread count brown sheets * Cute new top from a friend who knows my style * Brownies with candles and friends singing during a play date * Grilled steak and veggies with smashed potatoes * Ella's little face inches away waking me up with an enthusiastic "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!" * Homemade chocolate cake * Lunch and laughs with The Ladies

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*Thank you all for delighting me!*

Welcome to Your 30's, Sara!

Yesterday our good friend Sara hosted an all-day lake and boat party to celebrate her entrance into a new decade of life. We'll jump at any chance to see our friends, swim and ride a boat, so the day was extremely enjoyable!

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Dave took each of the girls out for bob on the big inner tube. Eventually all 4 of us squished onto this thing for some rockin' family fun.

We loved taking a boat ride! Ella was a great orange-flag waver, holding it high whenever someone fell off a tube or ski into the water. She was so interested in staying in the boat doing this important job that she had no interest in riding the tube this time.


And keeping Ella off the tube was fine, because this one was mattress-sized and kept deflating on us. Riders had to work hard just to stay on the flapping, curling-up monster! Throw in Arend and his crazy brothers driving the boat and you can see how the orange-flag was hoisted many a time!
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I love how cuddly the girls get when the boat gets roaring. The speed, splash and wind makes us all want to hold each other tightly so we don't blow away!

We sailed in for a delicious dinner and dessert in the park and ended the night with a pinata. Here Sara, the birthday girl, takes the first whack while the girls watch on. Ella has never done this before and was quite captivated, as you can imagine!
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Happy 30th birthday, Sara! Thanks for letting us share your special day with you!

Pastoral Perks

Here are the ingredients for a killer Friday night: your family, jammies, your husband's key to the church, the digital projector, a very big screen, an air-popper and popcorn, a bunch of cushions from the youth room's couches and a funny rented movie. Put these ingredients together to make a special family movie night. It will thrill the kids. It will promote cuddling. It will provide laughter. It may even inspire the members of your family to get on the stage and dance during the credits!

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Where Are You, Fall?

I fondly remember loving my birthday's place on the calendar. With my special day came all sorts of promise of leaves changing color, pumpkins, that crisp smell in the air and sweaters coming out of the closet. However, in California, we celebrated our first day of fall with a 105 degree day this week. And it's been high-90's, A/C-always-on, tank-tops-a-must all September. Last week I noticed Dave on his 6th straight day of jeans. I asked, "Are you just wearing pants because the calendar says it's September and you feel like you should be dressing for colder weather?" We KNOW by now that September, and even much of October, is still technically summer around here, but there is just something programed inside our Midwestern minds that makes us expect cooler, brisker days around this time of year. Even Ella, a born and raised Californian, is apparently feeling it. Here is the picture she drew the other day. I'm sure it was created while she sat under a fan in her undies trying to keep cool.

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Alphabet Activities

The past few weeks have brought a real alphabet awareness to Ella. She's known her ABC's for a while, but just recently became interested in how the sounds the letters make work together to form words. She is always asking how to spell things and, with a little help, can use the phonics she knows to actually sound out words. We keep cheering her on and telling her she is taking the first steps to reading! Ella does love just writing letters and words on paper, but there are so many other ways she can be encouraged to play with her ABC's. Here are just a few:

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Amy alerted me to these cool Scrabble tile Cheez-Its. Ella can now use even her snack time to spell words. She most recently spelled "s-t-o-p" and "s-l--u-g" all on her own!

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She strings these alphabet beads on pipe cleaners to make words.

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She uses these sticky-back foam letters to piece words together.

Ella stamps words out with paint and sponge letters.

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What an exciting time! Our little reader is on her way to becoming a reader!

A Good Little Mommy

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It's no secret that Ella's passions are dress-up and crafts. In general, Delia doesn't get as attached to certain activities as her big sister. She is pretty happy to just play whatever and spends most her time being physical-- running around, dancing, tackling, climbing things and jumping off them. The one exception may be her baby dolls. She loooves playing with her dolls and always has. We have a true church nursery in our house with the baby doll count currently up to 9! All were generous gifts or hand-me-downs, as was all the stuff we have to go with them (stroller, shopping cart, clothes, bottles, bath, high-chair/cradle/swing set...). Delia takes good care of her daughters. They get stroller walks every day, lots of kisses, stories read to them, even the proper outfits and sunglasses when it's time to "go bye-bye." It's fun to see Delia get so into this imaginary play. I have to believe that nurturing trait is a part of her character.

Guess What?

The bunk bed makes a fabulous fort!

Bead Love

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Ever since she received a tub of them as a gift for her birthday, Ella has been very interested in her Perler Beads. On a list of her favorite crafts, these definitely rank #1 (though lately Ed Emberley and his Funprints are rivaling...). I'm pretty impressed that she possess the attention span, creativity and fine motor skills to place all those teeny tiny beads in patterns on their mold. I help her find the colors she needs, but other than that, she does it pretty much on her own. After she gets her beads in place, I iron them, causing them to melt into a little plastic picture. Ella will make at least one a day, if I let her!

Hawaii Lives On!

Though we've been home for over 2 weeks now, we still get a little taste of the islands every day as our girls indulge in their newest obsession-- hula dancing ("hu-bu dancing" Delia calls it). With this dress-up outfit from Auntie Heather and some musical help from IZ and the Lilo and Stitch Soundtrack, we practice our arm waving and hip-wriggling hula moves all the time. Ella is very close to having a song completely choreographed! You know I love this because, one, it is something I would have totally done as a kid, two, it keeps the memory of our fabulous vacation alive and, three, some of the best quality time with your kids is spent dancing, I believe!

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Putting Me Out of Business?

Naw, only on nights when they pick a story Ella has completely memorized!

For the Birds

As parents of a 4 year old, we were encouraged to up Ella's preschool attendance to 3 days a week. However, Dave and I decided that we did enough family outings and enrichment to feel just fine about keeping her at Tuesdays and Thursdays and saving the tuition. It is with this logic that we took a family field trip to do some birdwatching today. Next week is Bird Week at Ella's preschool as they review A-Albatross. So we realized a trip to our little zoo (you know, the one we get in free now with our Oakland membership) was in order. This zoo was perfect because it really features nothing but birds and monkeys. Unfortunately when Delia heard about the zoo outing, she asked, "I see lion?" Nope, sorry Delia. "I see panda bear?" No, again. But, with a focus on birds, the trip was still super fun.

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Before we left, Ella cut out feathers for a blue-jay hat. She was pretty excited about it, but couldn't wear it in the drizzle. She also brought her binoculars to help see the birds closer and maybe even find some that were far away in the sky. Here she studies ducks in the pond.

After she learned about and observed some of the birds, she would draw a picture of it and write its name in her bird notebook. We saw hummingbirds, ducks, bald eagles, turkey vultures, ibises, hawks, curassows, lorikeets, starlings and more!

Ella tested her wing span and discerned that she is a barn owl.

Honestly, we've been to this zoo numerous times, but have never learned as much as today! Usually in the aviary, we just snap a picture by the waterfall and enjoy the mist. Today we actually studied the signs and tried to find each of the birds that lived in this enclosure. They were really cool birds too!

"My turn!" Finally, Delia gets her hands on the binoculars.

In the lorikeet aviary, Delia was very sure she wanted the birdies to land on her arm (but not her head). Dave bought the $1 cup of nectar so she could see them close up. She was frustrated when they would not just land on her...

Well, thanks to Ella's preschool animal alphabet, we are all a little more knowledgeable and appreciative of birds now. And we had yet another fabulously fun family outing.

Rain Dance

Today was that refreshing day where we see rain for the first time in months and months. We live in a climate with a long dry season (spring, summer and much of fall) and a short wet season (winter). The novelty of the first rain is something that we always celebrate. This morning we were getting ready when we began noticing the rain drops. The screen door was flung open. The underused umbrella was whipped off the coat tree. Clothes were disregarded. Two little girls were running around the dusty backyard dancing and giggling.

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Family

Earlier this week Dave's younger sister Kristen was taken to the hospital via ambulance late at night. Discovered was an abdomen infection so bad it even turned septic. After waiting several days in the hospital for antibiotics to clear things up, today she had a successful, but 4 hour long, surgery removing the infected areas. Obviously our hearts are with Kris, Eric and Baby Cole and not being able to be with them is devastating. I want to provide childcare for Cole. I want cheer her up with visits and gifts in the hospital. I want to bring them meals. We want to do more than just wait for updates on the phone.

What our family has gone through with Kris parallels some happy news we also got at the beginning of the week. Our worship coordinator Heidi had her baby! She welcomed a beautiful baby boy named Colton into their home. In some ways, Heidi is like an auntie to my girls. Her office is right by Dave's and our frequent trips to church have given them tons of time together. Ella knows which drawers Heidi keeps her crayons in. Delia knows just where to find the ball in her office. Clearly, Heidi is not a member of our immediate family as Kris is, but she's a member of our church family. And like us, her parents and siblings are half a country away. We know her relatives long to meet little Colton and bring meals and provide childcare and pamper and love her, the same way we so desire to lift Kristen up. So when I cooked her and her husband dinner tonight, I did it for them and Kris. When we visited and brought gifts, we did it with Kris in mind.

This has all been a great reminder of the blessing of church family. Though we can't be with Kris, we know so many are. Though Heidi can't be with her family, we and our church are gonna shower her with meals and gifts and visits. One of my favorite things about belonging to a church is seeing Christ's love in action among its members. Related or not, far away or in the same zip code, we are all family and we are all bonded and we are all called to serve one another.
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New Church Directory Photo

Delia + Finger Paint =

Date Night

We are in a bit of Hawaii withdrawal. Not that we were gone for so long that we forgot what our real life was like and not that I'm complaining, but it is understandably hard to go from bliss to reality. We didn't swim in any waterfalls this week, we broke up fights between grumpy kids and battled them to eat the dinner we served. We didn't hike through any bamboo forests, we crossed things off our responsibilities for church lists. We didn't see a single sunset, in fact, with meetings and sports events we didn't even spend every night together this week. Doctor's appointments, broken AC, some minor colds and a huge and due Classis agenda were some other things we've had to contend with.

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So when Dave suggested we plan on doing something fun as a family on Friday we didn't object! He took us out for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and then mini-golfing. This is a date Dave and I had many many times back in high school. The girls were so fun to golf with (Ella whacking away at the ball, so determined and Delia taking one wild swing then picking her ball up and dropping it in the hole), we all shared a lot of laughs. For this date, I think Dave liked his 1 guy to 3 gorgeous gals ratio, too!

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So You Found Us!

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Welcome to The VM Family Footprints blog #2! As always, we hope to inform, inspire and entertain you with the story of our life. I am more aware of my space restrictions now, but plan to blog no less. Continue to check back often, Friends and Family!