Cake and Presents

After a great two day getaway, today-- Ella's actual birthday, has been more of a normal day.  Preschool and piano lessons were still on the schedule, so we're just hanging at home today.  But I planned Ella's favorite foods for each meal and decorated the dining room and the phone has not stopped ringing (including one wonderful call from the singing Gilmore Girls in Haiti!), so it's still been a special and happy day. We started the morning off with some present opening.  Since so many of you who send such thoughtful birthday gifts by mail don't get to see the birthday girl's reaction in person, I always like to post a few pictures of this on the blog.

The pile. (And the sombrero.)

 One of the main things Ella wanted this year was a watch, and she actually got two!   But, she loves and wants to keep them both.  Thanks Aunties Heather and Karen!  Ella's been telling me what time it is literally every ten minutes today.

 Check out this big girl gift-- a library of Boxcar Children books, also from Auntie Karen and family.  (Ella was very excited.)

Silly poem books from silly Auntie Kris and family-- perfect!  Ella immediately cracked them open and started reading and giggling over prose about burps and wet dogs.

The BIG gift this year is a trip to the American Girl Doll store in Seattle from Grandma and Grandpa.  On our vacation this summer, the girls will experience Little Girl Paradise for the first time, then each pick out a super special new American Girl Doll and maybe have tea in the restaurant.  Here are Grandma and Grandpa breaking the news to Ella on the phone.

Ella requested under-the-sea sweets to go with her aquarium outing choice.  We made these oyster cookies together for her school birthday treat last week.  And we decorated her cake today with sea turtles.

After 3 straight days of celebrating the lovely person she's growing into and the blessing that she's been in our lives the past 7 years, I think I'm finally ready to acknowledge Ella's new age.  For some reason, 7 was feeling especially old this year and I was having a hard time! :)

Celebrating Ella in Monterey

I'll start this post with a confession: I am overwhelmed and less than thrilled about the idea of planning birthday parties for all the girls in my girls' classes.  If I can, I encourage a birthday outing instead of a birthday party.  Though I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna get off the party-hook for Ella next year, this year she was happy to choose 2 days in Monterey as a special way to celebrate her birthday.  Yay!  I much prefer the memories we can make as a whole family at places like the zoo, the water park or Disneyland to a whole living room full of new birthday toys anyway.

For her birthday outing to Monterey, Ella had a whole list of things she wanted to do and I think we managed all of them.  One was to have her favorite Mexican food followed by the birthday sombrero and serenade at Chevy's.

Another was to play on a beach and write "Happy Birthday" in the sand.  We tried to take "Watch a sunset over the ocean" off our summer bucket list, but it was just too chilly and overcast to wait for it.  We spent a little time running down dunes and drawing in the sand, but mostly freezing.  It was so awesome to jump in our hotel's hot tub after the beach and Ella will tell you that this hot tub was her favorite part of her birthday outing in Monterey! 

As mentioned earlier, the girls have been earning money all year doing chores and behaving well.  They've known for a long time that they wanted to spend their hard-earned money on something from the aquarium gift shop.  When the time to finally shop came, they were thrilled to pick out penguin and otter stuffed animals, and I don't think they've put them down since!

We took a morning walk along Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf to see some wildlife.  We watched pelicans all lined up on railings and these entertaining sea lions playing King of the Mountain on this little floating barge.

We were actually able to spend two days at the aquarium, but I'll put all the pictures together.  FYI, if you stop at the information table on (or near) your birthday, the aquarium will give you this special button to wear and then everyone will say "Happy Birthday!" to you.

We just couldn't wait to check out the new Jellies Experience exhibit at the aquarium.  Since we first saw it late afternoon of the day we arrived in Monterey, we had it practically to ourselves!  I was expecting it to be more peaceful and soothing, like the seahorse exhibit, but it had a totally different feel!  Black lights, tie-dye and Jimi Hendrix quotes on the walls and groovy music gave it the "Outta This World!" feeling it was going for.

And wowza! were these jellyfish something to see!  Again, as we so often do on aquarium visits, we just had to marvel at God's creativity!

There were lots of interactive parts to this exhibit.  We could draw our own digital jellyfish, bounce stools up and down to make a jelly's bell pulse and learn about a jellyfish's symmetry by kaleidoscoping our faces.

These guys were our favorite.  They have a fancy name, but we called them "the light-up jellies".  They had flashing lights along each tentacle-- as if they were powered by batteries!  So awesome!  We saw some of these cool light-up guys catching and eating fish too.

I've gone on and on about these jellyfish, but I know I have a number of readers who know the aquarium and I wanted to give them an idea of what this new exhibit is like. 

Besides the new jellyfish and getting to watch a school of 20,000 sardines swarm the Open Seas tank at feeding time, we also enjoyed the rare treats of another active octopus and a skate willing to be touched.  All in all, one more awesome aquarium visit.  Ella picked well!

The two last things on Ella's birthday list were to eat lunch at Pizza My Heart, which we did, and play at Dennis the Menace park.  We call the bumpy slide in the picture above "The Butt Buster".  I laugh when I look at Dave's face-- he's such a good dad!

Having split our aquarium visit into two days, we had lots of time to play at this favorite park.  The girls thoroughly explored each of the play areas and wore themselves out so well that Delia actually fell asleep in my arms later on.  I suppose being that tired is probably a good sign of how hard you played and how much fun you had over the course of two days, though!

Happy 7th birthday to Ella!  (More details about her actual birthday coming later today...)

Nothings Says Summer Like...

A big ol' bucket of caterpillars, found and lovingly adopted while we pruned the geranium. 

 An after-dinner bike ride...

to the park. 

 An entire day to play with sister, help her complete school tasks and annoy her so badly tears and time-outs are had.

A good raiding of the craft closet.  And finally enough free time to dive into some new crafts kits that were received at Christmas.

Enough time to also make a decent dessert after dinner.  It's usually "Go! Go! Get the homework done!  Clean the toys!  Get in the bath!  Get to bed!" Dave's been super busy, but we ladies are all really loving life at a more leisurely pace!

How I Plan to Keep My Sanity:

"DEEEEEELIAAA!!!"

"I'm bored..."

"Moooooommy, she just ______ (fill in the blank)!" 

These are things I just know I'm going to hear in this first week of summer.  And because I hate getting to the end of a day and realizing all I did was yell and scold, I've been readying myself and building up my arsenal of summer stay-home activities.  During the school year, the girls earn money with a behavior and chore sticker chart, and I decided to take a little break from that.  Pinterest gave me some great new ideas and the management plan I decided on was a bunch of those all kinda squished into one.  It rewards the kids with (hopefully weekly) fun family activities by requiring them to do some chores, do some school stuff and have the right behavior/attitude each day.  After I introduced it, Ella immediately asked, "Cool!  Can I do some math right away?" (um, !!!).  I'm excited about and have high hopes for this new Penny Jar system.  Maybe I'll be able to lounge in the sun, reading and sipping a cold drink while the girls independently and enthusiastically complete their chores and academic tasks!

Nah, I'm sure it's not THAT good! :)

The Penny Jar
Put a penny in the jar for each task you complete each day...

Delia
-Feed Lily
-Help put toys away
-Clear table
-Do alphabet flash cards or activities for 15 minutes
-Fill one sheet with letters you practice writing
-Eat your meals
-Get through the day obeying, being kind and not whining

Ella
-Feed Lily
-Make the bed
-Set the table
-Play Fact Master for 15 minutes
-Write and illustrate one journal question in a complete sentence
-Read one (not too easy) book or chapter
-Practice piano for at least 20 minutes
-Get through the day without bossing or yelling at your sister

Prizes-- Fill the jar then roll the dice to see which one we do!
1. Stay up later switching bunk beds or having a sleepover
2. Go out for ice cream
3. Take a long family bike ride
4. Movie night-- KIDS' CHOICE!
5. Go to the park-- KIDS' CHOICE!
6. Go to the craft store and pick out a new project

(I'm writing this post for the few friends who asked to see it and here are a few notes:  One, I made our penny jar super small, so it would fill quickly and rewards could be won each week.  Two, I had the girls help choose their own prizes, and surprisingly, all the free ones were their ideas!)

Hello, Summer!

After 177 days of school, today desks were cleaned out and goodbyes said.  Ella's been riding a roller coaster of emotion these past few weeks, some days really happy about beginning the exciting summer we have to look forward to, some days actually crying about how much she'll miss school, her friends and her teacher.  We know it will take a good week to adjust to a new schedule (especially since Delia still has a few weeks of preschool left), but we made today all about celebrating!

Our countdown to the last day of school chain is looking so strange with just one little link left on it!



We started the year off praying that God would place Ella in the class where she would grow the most and be the biggest blessing and today we thank God for answered prayers!  Ella has learned so much this year and we believe Mrs. D.J. taught her well.  Though she doesn't look too much different from the first day of first grade, her brain has definitely grown! :)

Today was just a half day, so the whole family went to pick Ella up.  After a fun lunch out at the pizza place by school, which was PACKED with fellow classmates and friends, we unveiled a few last day of school surprises at home.  One was this sign I painted, which was supposed to go on the outside of the house, but kept blowing away.  And the other was the pieces to make a Hello Summer craft-- a literal Summer Bucket List. 

We all sat down together and brainstormed things that we want to try to do this summer.  As we do them, we'll drop the clothespin inside the bucket.  In August, we'll see how productive we were in having summer fun!  So far, Summer Bucket List ideas include:  Eat popsicles while running through a sprinkler, color new states on our USA map, go to a fair, pick berries, spend an entire day in jammies, paddle or row a boat, go tubing, eat peaches picked right off the tree, hug Uncle Kyle, see a new National Park, play outside until it gets dark, go on bike rides, read 100 books, see fireworks, make a sandcastle, swim in a swimming pool, hike the Glacier Point Trail in Yosemite, ride a roller coaster, jump waves in the ocean, go to a ball game, do crafts, stay in a hotel, eat tomatoes from the garden, ride a water slide, spend time with Grandma and Grandpa, have friends over to play, go camping, make s'mores, go fishing, have a picnic, look at stars, run out of sunscreen and SLEEP!

The Latest Fashions from the DR

Thanks for the box of dresses and necklaces from your trip to the Dominican Republic, Grandpa and Grandma!

(No, it's no where near cold here, Ella just felt especially beautiful in her new dress and thought this is the type of pose a model would strike!)

A Fairytale

Once upon a time there was a beautiful little first grader who went on a field trip with her class to the zoo.  On the way, her bus passed Fairytale Town and she recalled fond memories from the last time she visited.  "Please, please, please can we go back to Fairytale Town?" she begged her kind and equally beautiful mother.  :)  The child's mother thought it was a great idea, but alas, the child's hardworking and extremely handsome father had a very busy schedule and no free Saturdays.

Finally, a Saturday was found with no service projects, no anniversary parties, no Classis meetings and no weddings.  The family jumped at the opportunity to share an outing together.  The child and her spunky younger sister literally jumped for joy when they arrived at Fairytale Town.  The first grader said, "Fairytale town is my second most favorite place in the entire world!  My first favorite is Hawaii, even though I have never been there."

The two sisters spent the day happily sliding down the Old Woman's shoe, climbing on the beanstalk and giant's feet, driving Cinderella's pumpkin coach, zig-zagging through a crooked mile, falling down a rabbit hole, playing in Sherwood Forest and visiting all their favorite fairytale animal friends.

Little did the family know that it was a special Farmer Appreciation Day in Fairytale Town, so they enjoyed some fun extra stuff too!  They got to actually pet a bunch of animals-- like bunnies, ponies and chickens.  They got to do a craft with real sheep's wool.

The family got to see the lambs who followed Mary to school get sheared and then see that wool get spun into yarn.  The sheep seemed pleased to receive summer haircuts and didn't put up any fuss about donating their locks.

The family also got to learn about things like honey production from bee farmers and asparagus harvesting from asparagus farmers.  The two sisters and their parents filled their bellies with free samples from the Whole Foods booth and came home with pots of strawberries that they planted themselves.

A fun day was had, thanks to one little first grader's idea to revisit Fairytale Town.  And they all lived happily ever after.

Best Blueberries

Today we discovered a new U-Pick blueberry place.  It is brand new and features rows upon rows of pristine and weed-free blueberry bushes.  The blueberry field is beautifully bordered by a hay field, a vineyard and a cute little pond.  The prices are great-- we took home a big bucket's worth of berries and paid just $6.  There's a play area for kids, a whole bunch of funny looking scarecrows (who are named after weeds!) and lots of hunting for birds' nests and eggs to be done.  And the blueberries are UH.MAZ.ING!  Definitely the biggest, juiciest berries we've ever had and perfectly sweet or tart tasting, depending on how blue or red we picked them.  The best part about our new favorite berry picking place?  It's owned by a family of dear friends from our church!  I like to protect our anonymity a bit on the blog, so I won't write the farm's name or location here, but I strongly urge you to get this info from me and make a visit if you're looking to go berry picking!  We'd love to promote our friends' new business, especially since they're doing such a stellar job running it so far!

Seriously, check out these blueberries.  They're the size of quarters!

I told our friends that they should not only weigh the bags of berries people pick, but also the pickers before and after!  We sampled our fill--  mostly from Delia stuffing them into her mouth, and then ours, with the exclamation, "You gotta try THESE!"

Forgive me for being pretty bossy in this post-- first telling you where you must pick your blueberries and next telling you that you must make this recipe I discovered and fell in love with this winter:

Blueberry Buckle

.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups fresh blueberries
.
TOPPING:
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup cold butter
.
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the egg. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Fold in the blueberries. Pour into greased 9-in. square baking pan.
2. For topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over blueberry mixture. Bake at 375 degrees  for 45-60 minutes (recipe says 45, but mine always takes closer to an hour) or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Mother's Day...My New Favorite Holiday?

I can honestly say that being a mom is probably my greatest blessing in life.  My girls are pretty easy to raise right now and I can't say that I find motherhood overly stressful or even much of a burden.  So, I get to do a job that brings me joy every single day and then I get a whole day to be thanked and celebrated for doing it?  What a sweet deal Mother's Day is! :)  My Mother's Day was especially sweet, thanks to one super thoughtful husband and two very affectionate and enthusiastic children.

I was roused from bed by a family carrying armloads of cards and gifts.  Each was carefully picked out or made and each brought me a huge smile.  Delia warned me that her Mother's Day surprise would be tons of snuggles and she delivered!  Dave got all his Sunday service preparations done early, so he was home the entire morning to help get the girls ready.  This break allowed me just enough extra time to actually bust out the curling iron!  A gift of indulgence, indeed!

After church, my big Mother's Day surprise was a picnic lunch in one of my favorite spots-- Knight's Ferry.  Dave packed a cooler with a bunch of my favorite foods that he secretly picked up this week.   We took a short walk and found a lovely, shady spot in the grass right by the river's rapids to eat sandwiches from my favorite deli, my favorite chips and cookies and fresh pineapple and strawberries.

Ella and Delia wrote and performed a special Mother's Day song for me.  The most memorable lyric was something about how "Mom was great, even better than chocolate cake."

My outing ended with homemade ice cream from the old fashioned Knight's Ferry Sweet Shop.  It was a beautiful breezy day and the shop's front porch was the perfect place to park it for a while and lick our cones.

I have a LOT of amazing examples of what it means to be a Godly mother and it is truly my prayer that each of you, mother figure or friend, feels gratified, blessed and given opportunity to glorify God in your daily journey.  And I wish each of you a day as wonderful as the one I had!