This Is What It Looks Like...

When the sensitive, dramatic and creative first-born gets in trouble:

First, she goes into the study, closes the door, gets out her pens and paper and refuses to talk to you.

Then, she draws her feelings and writes a few simple sentences.  (Can you see?  It says, "Ella is sad.  I love you."  Don't you love her weeping self-portrait, complete with pink high heels?)

Next, she seals it in an envelope with a fake stamp drawn on it and drops it in the pretend mailbox she's created.  This is her apology.

Then, Daddy writes and dramatically delivers her a letter back saying we love her too and she is a good person.  

Finally, all is forgiven.

Love Fest

Some serious tears were shed today as we bid farewell to our beloved visiting family.  I'm starting to think that the trick to an easier goodbye is to have less fun on the visit.  After a long weekend filled with countless conversations, a giant dance party, fabulous shopping, Christmas card designing, lots of competitive Wii and games, fun outings and exhausting play, it's no wonder we're all ready to hop on a plane and fly back to Chicago to live with Karen and Aidan!  Thank you guys for spoiling us with your company and bringing so much more joy into our everyday with your presence!  Besides the rambling list of our activities, I think the following pictures pretty well sum up the amazing weekend we just had:

Trains, Jelly Beans and Vineyards

Karen and Aidan are here and we've having the best time!  Yesterday was our big outing day and we found the perfect things to do!  We started at the Western Railway Museum, where we checked out hundred year old trains and street cars and even got to take rides on some.

Aidan was very good at helping Delia with her fear of train whistles.

It was a real treat that the conductor let Aidan pull the train cord. Two toots communicated that we were turning around.

This was the interurban train car that we got to ride on.

The train museum was super cool, but so was the Jelly Belly factory right near by. We took the tour, hit the sample bar and loaded up on discounted Belly Flops.

Delia was brave (or crazy?) enough to try the skunk spray flavored jelly bean.  Contrary to the face, she said she liked it!

We got to know this sample bar lady pretty well as we trooped through the line several times.

How can you not leave the Jelly Belly factory anything but happy?  Of course, the kids said this was their favorite part of the day!

A favorite part of the day for us adults was the drive we took through beautiful Napa Valley to get to our lunch destination.  I'd never seen Napa in the fall and was delighted by the stretch of vines in vibrant autumn colors.  With the kids, we didn't stop to do any tasting or touring, but just an open-window drive down the main strip, which has the famous wineries lined up one right after the next, was awesome!

The Last Time

Tomorrow night Karen and Aidan arrive for a long weekend visit.  They are our first of three family visits in one month!  We are soooo excited to see them!  It's been about 6 years since Karen has been here with her second son.  The last time, Aidan helped us break some very important news to the loved ones back home:

We won't be requiring this type of service from Aidan this time around, but we still plan on keeping him plenty busy-- with cousin dance parties, outings, playing, cuddling, reading and laughing!

We Have a Reader!

Hairdo Buddies

Yesterday we all got haircuts.  I had to laugh when I looked at Delia and realized we now have the exact same hairdo.  I unintentionally had Miss Becky cut each of our hair in a chin-length, A-line bob with the part on the left and no bangs. My semi-annual highlights even make my hair the same color blond as Delia's.  I promise I'm not trying to turn her into a mini-me, it just happened! :)

13.1 (and Other Numbers)

13.1 miles is the distance a Half Marathoner runs.  The best way I can think of to tell you all the info about the big race is by the numbers:

244.2: The number of miles Dave ran since he started training for the Half Marathon in August.

8: The number of cheerleaders in our group.  It was these 4 girlies plus myself, a Gilmore family friend and Dorina's parents, all decked out in our yellow Team Gilmore shirts.  We were able to cheer on each runner and walker of Team Gilmore at the 3 mile mark and at the Finish Line.  We got lots of attention!  Other family members of Team Gilmore were at other mile markers, giving the athletes some encouragement to look forward to.

7,000: The number of racers at the Start Line.  Because of this mob of people, there was no official start.  Each runner had a chip attached to their shoelace that triggered when they crossed the start and finish lines.  So everyone just started when they were ready.

5:30: The time we woke up in the morning.  (Thank you, Lord, for the time change!)  Mostly the girls did fantastic screaming and waving their signs and waiting out the hours of the race.  Delia had her moments, though!

4.5 and 10 miles: The places where Dave started dying.  Here at the 3 mile, he's still happy.  You'll be surprised to hear that Dave actually ran this race sick.  He spent a large part of Saturday in bed and had 3 sleepless nights leading up the big race.  Being physically sick did slow him down considerably, but he's still proud to have finished and brags, "I think I ran a Half Marathon with the flu!" (evidenced by the number of times he puked, a number I won't include!)

$1,473: The amount of money Dave personally raised for Team Gilmore.  This meant he did achieve his $100/mile goal and was the second biggest money raiser for the team.  The total raised for the Gilmores in Haiti was over $8,400, far exceeding their $5,000 goal!  Thanks again to all Dave's supporters and sponsors!!

2:00:17: Dave's finishing time.  His ambitious goal was to finish the race in 1 hour and 50 minutes.  His realistic goal was to finish in under 2 hours.  Missed it by 17 seconds!  He's disappointed that he didn't meet either goal, but again, that he even finished when he was feeling so lousy is an accomplishment.

4: The number of words Dave spoke ("It was really hard.")  for about 2 hours after the race.   We didn't get more details until later that night.  This race was one of the hardest things he's ever done.  Dave says he truly left everything he had out on the course. 

572: The place Dave came in out of 1,220 men running the half marathon (in the top half, that means).  Also, he was the 4th finisher on Team Gilmore (out of 19) and 85th among the 194 men in his age group (again, in the top half).

3 (+countless others!): Me, Delia and Ella-- the number of people who are super proud of his achievement!  I could go on and on here.  That Dave set his mind to doing this and finished it under worse-case scenario conditions, in many ways, had me crying yesterday.  He's so self-disciplined and strong and giving.  He's an amazing man!

Ready to Run

This weekend Dave ran in the Half Marathon in support of the ministry the Gilmores will be soon doing in Haiti.  We went down to Ericlee and Dorina's house on Saturday morning and had a whole fun weekend with them.

The first thing we did together was check out the Runners' Expo.  This was a conference room full of free goodies and vendors for the runners.  Dave registered and received a bag bursting with swag, like healthy foods and running gear.  The Expo was a lot of fun to walk around too.  We especially liked the funny shirt stand and laughed over logos like "I'm only doing this so I can post a picture on Facebook." or "In my dreams I'm Kenyan."  Dave liked the shirt that said "The miracle isn't that I finished.  The miracle is that I had the courage to even start."

After the Expo, we had a picnic and some playtime at the park.  The girls were thrilled to be reunited this weekend.  Then we headed back to Dorina's house to prep food for the giant Pasta Feed that night.  We also got out the neon poster boards and markers to make our encouraging signs.  (Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore since we are surronded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."  A verse from an old, but favorite sermon of Dave's where he references his high school cross country days as an illustration for the race described in the passage.) 

The night's Pasta Feed was a time for all the athletes of Team Gilmore (pictured above) and their families to get together and share testimonies, receive rewards (Dave got the "longest traveled" prize) and carbo load!  We stuffed ourselves with Dorina's amazing Italian cooking and listened as the athletes shared what this journey of training has taught them and meant to them.  A few words of encouragement from Coach Ericlee and some prayer time concluded a great night-before-the-race.

Long Hair

In pictures, you've probably been noticing how long Ella's hair is getting.  Since she's worn a cute little bob hairdo since we trimmed off those baby curls, this increasing length is a pretty big deal in our house.  She started growing it long to be like a friend from preschool, but a few months ago the reason changed.

I explained to her what Locks of Love was and, in her Ella-way, she immediately empathized and decided she would grow her hair as long as she could to donate to people who are sick and lose their hair.  Even now as we combat tangles and she tells me she's ready for a change of hairdo, she still says, "But I'll keep growing it at least until Christmas so I have more to give."

I was reflecting on how indicative this is of Ella's character.  Dave and I were recently figuring out what Love Language each of the girls speaks.  Without doubt, Ella is a giver.  In the past two weeks alone here are some things we've heard from her:

1.  After delivering some coats to the box at church for the homeless, Ella came home and said, "We have so much dress-up, maybe we should give some dresses to the homeless too."
2.  When our annual pile of almond wood was dropped off by some wonderful church friends, she said, "They give us all this for free?!  What can we give them for free?"
3. When a friend at school shared a Silly Band with her, Ella went to her accessory box and picked out, not one, but two Silly Bands she wanted to share back with her friend.
4.  In thinking about Thanksgiving, on her own asked what we can do to help give food to people who won't have any.
5.  Is the most enthusiastic Peter Fish change-dropper in our family.  She found a dime on the ground and put it in her pocket to later feed the Peter Fish.
6.  Colors me at least one picture a day during her rest time.  They all have "To Mom Love Ella" written on them.

Dave and I are so impressed with her and know even we will continue to learn from her example!

Delia's Love Language

I can't brag about just one daughter!  The previous post described in great detail how Ella shows love through her generous actions.  Delia is totally different.  She is unquestionably a Physical Touch gal!  (In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the 5 Love Languages are Physical Touch, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service and Gift Giving.)  Delia is the world's biggest snuggler.  She gives 35 hugs a day and has all different kinds: BIG hugs, family hugs, loud hugs, long hugs, running hugs, backward hugs, sorry hugs, sandwich hugs, tackle-you-to-the-ground hugs, etc.  Delia never leaves preschool or church without embracing each of her teachers and friends.  She even hugs Ella's teacher when we pick up Ella from kindergarten!  She's also the one to initiate an "I love you." multiple times daily.  No matter what battle I just fought with Delia or how many things I'm trying to accomplish at one time, when she says "I love you Mommy" and strangles me with one of her hugs or when she spends a whole hour just curled up on my lap, I am the happiest mom in the world.