Every Sunday...

You'll find us walking home from church like this. As we collect pictures of church life for our new photo directory, this is one Jeremy took and shared with us.

Some Truth

As you know, we are the perfect family. Whenever we spend time together it is always happy, fun and full of adventure. We plan phenomenal vacations that go off flawlessly. My husband is superman, ministering effectively and constantly, yet finding time to come home and be a dream dad. I cook my family fabulous meals every day and am proud that every activity I introduce to my children not only engages them, but makes them smarter and more creative. You know these very things because you read them here on this very blog. I am aware that I tend to share just the good and probably over-emphasize the highs of life in each thing I post about. I don't lie, but most of the time, I intentionally leave out the melt-downs, tension, stress, sickness, fatigue, sibling squabbling, accidents in the undies, disappointment, sadness and junk food that plagues our daily life.

I debated if I should write about this or not. The break from blogging somehow convinced me that I should. Here's the truth: I am far from the perfect mom. Two weeks ago, I lost Delia. Yes, that's right, I left her unattended for what I thought was just a moment and she took off. This happened at Family Fun Night in a gymnasium sized space with at least 500 people crammed inside. I quick got up to get some dessert with Ella and when I returned to our table, she was gone. I thought, since we were sitting with people we knew well, "She's just with someone. A friend took her to play games." This thought stopped comforting me, though, as I ran around searching and not finding. My panic grew as I realized HOW many people were in this mob and HOW many different places she could be in. I flew around with my heart pounding, ignoring the "Hi Jen!" I kept hearing from every other person in the vast crowd who knew me. I told a few people and the word just spread until a whole anxious search party was out looking for Delia. And we debated. Do we get on the loudspeaker and make an announcement? Do we start running down the sidewalks and searching the neighborhood? It was unbearable to think about finding my baby scared and overwhelmed in this busy and unfamiliar place. It was even more unbearable to think about not finding her at all.

Well, I did find her after what felt like an eternity, but was probably more like 10 minutes. She was outside playing on the playground. She was not huddled in a corner sobbing and she didn't fly into my arms as soon as she caught sight of me. She joyfully informed me, "I play park, Mommy!"

There is no redemption in this story. No cute anecdote to conclude it with. I won't even try to teach some lesson, except, perhaps the obvious, don't take your eyes off your children-- especially the ones you yourself have described as "adventurous, wild, spunky and curious." Days after the incident I was sitting in my Beth Moore Bible Study still feeling rotten, when she reminded me that even Mary lost Jesus when he was a boy. And he was missing for 3 whole days! I guess I just tell you to confess that life is not always as rosy as you read here on the VM Family Blog. And I suspect there are a few out there that can even relate. :)

Playground Monkeys

Yes, I avoided all stores and money-spending completely for the past week and a half. But no, I have not just been cooped up inside the house. We made 3 different trips out to 3 different parks. I have been loving the park lately. The girls show me they are capable and confident of all sorts of climbing without me spotting them or freaking out. If we go in the morning, school is in and we have the place completely to ourselves also. Four and two seem to be perfect park ages.

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Since the start of preschool this year, Ella's love has been the monkey bars. Her school has a short set that she flies across on her own. For taller bars, like these, she still needs help, but remains eager to try.
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Delia is as much of a fearless climber as she has been since before she could even walk, but now she has better strength and balance. This lets me trust her more.
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You can just barely see it in this picture, but I post it to show you Delia's self-cut Kate Gosselin hair-do. A little while ago, Ella was doing a craft when Delia some how obtained possession of the scissors. Ella lost 2 chunks out of the back of her hair and Delia now has this stick-up spike off the side of hers. Just for the record, this happened on Dave's watch. :)

One week, No Computer, Long Post

We're back! Our formerly virus-riddled computer has finally been deemed clean! After paying the tech support guy a mere $120, we learned that what we had, the Vundo Trojan, was in fact "pretty gnarly." You would think I'd have a whole line of posts ready to type out when my computer was returned to me in good health, but I surprised myself by truly taking the past week or so off from it-- hardly thinking "This would be great for the blog!" as I normally view life. So sad... please tell me you can relate blogging friends! Maybe a regular week of "Computer Turn-Off" should be something I consider. So, just a few pictures and stories about what a week at home with no internet or superfluous errands to distract Mommy looked like:

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The week is a blur of game marathons, Shrinky Dinks, Ramona Quimby, Little People, puzzles and baking. I worked hard to not go insane over my constantly messy house. I think every toy and game we own got some use in the past 10 days. I realized I've become really dependent on letting the girls just play together while I "get stuff done." They are old enough to do this pretty well now. I needed the reminder to get down on the floor and set-up, pretend and play with them. One night we laid out all the dress-up clothes and shoes and made a little carpet runway. The girls put on a 5 outfit fashion show. When Ella ended her walks with this pose, and then Delia started copying, I had to pull out the camera!

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It's becoming tradition to watch a movie together as a family on Friday nights. We usually go with a Disney classic and lately have enjoyed The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc. and Bolt. Ella is so funny in her play. After watching a movie, she'll act it out for the following week. She asked me to take this picture. In it, she's Penny. See Bolt, Mittens and Rhino posed behind her on the couch, just like the final shot of the movie? She had a whole ocean set up 2 days ago when she was Nemo's Daddy.

And just a silly picture of Delia to even things out. The past several weeks have been another real vocabulary explosion for her. She is speaking so clearly and conversationally. Instead of just copying phrases we commonly say, she comes up with her own stuff and it is funny! We've always known she was a big personality, we see it more and more each day.

Technical Difficulties

Hello faithful blog readers. Our home computer has caught a bit of a bug this week. It was not a crash- and-knock-out-the-whole-hard-drive-in-one-shot type of virus. Instead, it seems to be a slow, lose-one-favorite-sight-each-day type of virus. First I couldn't get on Amazon. Then it took away Google-Reader. Facebook had to be accessed through back-door methods and I couldn't navigate away from its home page. When our email refused to open or send, Dave and I started to take action. (Isn't it sad how long and how far we will go to push our internet-availability and not just turn off the computer?) Our own research and troubleshooting doesn't seem to be sufficient, though, so tomorrow our computer has a doctor appointment. Just wanted to quick explain why the blog's been so quiet this week and will probably remain so for a little while. I actually write this from Dave's office.

I've learned a neat lesson this week. I made a pledge to not do any shopping this week. It was an exercise in money-saving and viewing what things are truly necessities (turns out we didn't have any necessities this week that required a trip to Target or the grocery store!). This was a week I forced myself to be home-bound. An interesting twist to lose my internet this week too. I've actually enjoyed the removal of distraction and have done lots of fun things with the girls we may not have otherwise done. I'll have to blog more about that in a week or so, though...

Happy Harvest, 2009!

My computer time is short, but I wanted to post a few of the pictures I got from last night's church Harvest Party. Ella was so excited to go as a fairy, she couldn't fall asleep the night before the party. Delia asked all day, "I go church and be cow girl?" This year's party was another success, with lots of laughs, great fellowship and a whole hall full of people dressed festively.

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Dave was Delia's rodeo clown. I don't know if this costume, or simply his role as youth pastor, prompted the pie in the face he surprisingly and hilariously got from a few guys in the youth group.

I was reflecting, once again, and what a neat tradition this has become for us. Neither girl has ever trick-or-treated, so they don't even know Halloween as Dave and I do-- freezing in the dark as you trek from one stranger's house to the next and then consuming massive amounts of candy for the following months. Ella didn't even want to use her tickets on the candy games, instead spending about 10 of them in the bouncy house. She came home with just a handful of it. I'm a little bummed, since I was planning on raiding that candy bucket! :)

What we did come home with was about 10 painted pumpkins and gourds. Painting and bouncing equal Happy Halloween to these girls!

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And friends! What a great time Ella and Delia had running around with their friends-- little and high school aged!

After pie-eating contests, apple-bobbing, potato sack races, face painting, games, pizza, prizes and laughs, the night concluded with the costume parade. Here the Under-6 crowd lines up for judging.

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Thanks to Dave and his youth group for giving us such a fantastic alternative to the traditional Halloween!

Introducing...

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Our two newest additions. Sam II (Ella's prize) and Tiny (Delia's prize) from this weekend's Family Fun Night. Though Delia does seem to be doing her best to try and keep their life short (she dumped her whole glass of milk into their bowl during breakfast), they are tough little survivors!

Boo at the Zoo

Ella was thrilled when I told her she could wear her fairy Halloween costume out to the zoo this week. You know how much she loves to dress up, to wear dress-up clothes outside the house was a big deal for her. Delia was just excited for an excuse to sing, "We're goin' to the the zoo, zoo, zoo. How about you, you, you? You can come too, too, too. We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo!" For this special Boo at the Zoo day, we not only saw all our favorite animals, but also had faces painted, won prize bags by completing the animal clue scavenger hunt and got free rides for being in costume. It was a fun girl day, since Dave was busy with a wedding.

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The Reunion Tradition

Dave is giving me a wonderful gift that I get to enjoy in just a few weeks. I get to leave the girls in his care while I fly to LA and meet Anna and Heather for a long weekend. I CAN NOT wait for this getaway. I can't wait to laugh, talk, eat, shop and drink coffee with Anna and Heather. I can't wait to see Anna's world in LA. And I'm excited to do some touristy things. Just recently we got word that our request for 3 tickets to The Tonight Show was granted and we can now add "See Conan!" to our list of activities. I have been getting together with my sister and my cousin for a few years now, but this is the first time I'll be without Dave and the kids and in LA. Here's a look back:

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The reunion that started it all was in Michigan for Heather's wedding in the fall of 2005. We all stayed with Heather that week. I'll remember that week as one of the best for the laughs and late nights we shared while counting down to The Big Day.

When Delia was born in 2007, Heather and Anna coordinated their travels to our home to meet her. Another fun week.

It's become tradition now! Last summer we reunited once again. This week in 2008, at our home once again, was full of Olympic watching, hiking in Big Trees, Starbucks, pedicures and shopping in San Fransisco.
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Counting down to LA 2009!! Can't wait, Ladies!!

What

It's been a slow blog week. What we've been doing in the VM household is normal life. Just for the sake of posting something, here's a peek:

What we've been reading is The Trumpet of the Swan. When Dave is home, it's his nightly ritual to read Ella chapters from bigger books. She totally follows the story and absorbs every word of it! It's fun to see the new vocabulary infiltrating hers (like "cygnet").

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What we've been making is fall artwork. Ella is getting so good at cutting and continues to amaze us with her artistry!

What we've been eating is pomegranates. This has become a fun family time. We all sit around the table, crack one open and laboriously remove the sweet seeds while chatting and laughing. This snack was created to be time-consuming. We spend longer sitting together eating this than we do actual meals! The girls love them.

What we've been playing is lots of bike and bubbles. Our weather has remained warm and beautiful.

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What we have on the calendar are a bunch of fun church and school activities, family outings and even a trip for me. Hopefully this means more exciting posts are in our future!