Sunday, April 17, 2011

Wonderfully Made

I saw a similar post on a friend of a friend's blog and loved it so much, I'm borrowing it and putting my stamp on it:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139:13


She's the comedian of the family, telling Ella wacky things like, "When you say your verse today, try not to turn into a hamburger!"  She swaps her clothes for dress up within a minute of walking in the door.  She has hair that is 500 different shades of gold in the sunshine.  She still raises her arms up to us to be held.  She requires absolutely no wake up time, bounding out of bed the second her eyes open.  She walks up to a group of farmers in the donut shop and asks if they like pink sprinkles.  She knows the word "abstract" because it's what I call her art, often created in a hurry.  She loves any kind of dessert.  She flies down the tallest fireman pole at the park.  She's constantly singing.  She's our goofball and cuddlebug, Delia Kristen.


She's very particular about what she will and will not wear.  She's quite fond of her own agenda, so is working hard on putting others first and compromising.  She hits her forehead with the palm of her hand when she's made a mistake. She loves kiwi and hates french fries.  She knows her Bible and effortlessly memorizes verses.  She shines on the stage and has no fear of public speaking.  She has the longest eyelashes in our family.  She gets hot when she sleeps and is often found jammie-less in the morning.  She won't let any sort of box make its way to recycling without first attacking it with her imagination and creativity.   She makes me a paper vase of flowers when I feel sick.  She amazes me every day, our kindhearted Ella Karina.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Take a Hike!









Monday, April 11, 2011

Horses, Horses, Horses


This weekend the rodeo came to town.  And a huge parade served to get us in the mood for 2 days of bull riding and wrangling.  This parade is one of our favorites.  It's about an hour long and of the 100 entries, probably 75 of them are horse-related.  There are sparkly rodeo princesses riding horses, horses pulling decorated carriages, every kind of 4-H club and equine rescue, even the buffalo herder snapping his whip and riding his horse high on top of the trailer.  Our favorites are the high-stepping dancing horses, accompanied by live Mariachi bands. 


This year was fun because we met up with a few other families, including Sara and Arend's and Jetta's.  Our spot on the curb had 13 kids packed onto it!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Our Easter Lily

Seven years ago this week, we concluded our hunt for the perfect dog when we found and adopted Lily.  We picked her up on Easter weekend, so we gave her the name Lily.  I look at the 80 pounds of muscle that we currently live with and can hardly remember this shy little puppy.  Dave's sister and her family recently lost their dog of 13 years, so we've all been feeling extra appreciative of Lily and her place in our family.  

When we adopted Lily, we thought her color, breed, age and price made her perfect, little did we know, it would be her sweet and loyal disposition that would make her the ultimate family dog.  Here are some specific things I like about Lily: When we play catch, she'll make Dave and I wrestle the slimy ball out of her mouth, but she knows the girls don't like that, so she just drops it for them.  She gives Delia tiny kisses on her face because it makes her squeal with laughter.  She's down with Ella tracing her paws or turning her into a unicorn or wounded animal to play veterinarian with.  When I'm laying by a toasty fire, she just can't get close enough to me.  She'll hang out in whatever room we're in.  She's only had one accident...ever!...in our house.  She'll bark her intimidating bark at anyone who comes to the door, but quickly switches to happy whining and tail nub wagging when she sees it's a friend.  Every night she'll pretend to go to sleep on the floor by our bed, but when the lights go out, she sneakily moves to the couch, where she knows she's not allowed.  

Especially around this time of year, I'm always extra thankful for the unique dog who's brought our family so much joy!
 

Sunday, April 3, 2011

A Taste of San Fran for Uncle Chris

We were really looking forward to the Saturday at the end of this week because it meant a day in the city with our brother-in-law Chris, who is in town this week for a work conference.  We planned a really fun day with Chris that had lots of sights, lots of laughs and even a few unplanned surprises.


After we picked up Chris from his hotel, we drove over the Golden Gate to Sausalito.  This is uncharted territory for us and we loved seeing the water planes, house boats, rolling hills and gazillion dollar homes perched on the cliffs overlooking the city and the bay.


Our destination for the morning was John Muir Woods, a national park full of Coastal Redwoods. Chris has never seen a Redwood and was indeed amazed.  The hours we spent hiking through the forest gave us a great chance to catch up and hear all sorts of stories about our lovable nephews. 



This long hike also gave Chris the opportunity to get real close to his nieces, as he carried one of them the whole time.


Besides the giant trees, the best part of the morning was all the wildlife we found.  We came upon a banana slug community and watched them in all their slimy, 6-inchy, slithery glory.  Uncle Chris even caught the snake that Delia spotted!


While the girls caught a power nap on the drive back, Chris and I hopped out to take in the views of the Golden Gate and San Francisco.  To see it from this side was new to us.



Once back in the city, we made a few more stops.  One was at Ghirardelli Square, where we saw how the famous chocolate is made and sampled some caramel squares.


Then we walked along the wharf to show Chris all the street side seafood vendors.  Each restaurant is lined up with their crates of crabs and vats of boiling water.  The fishy smell is pretty pungent, as you can image.  While the girls held their noses for this entire stroll, Chris enjoyed the unique experience.


At the end of the wharf is a special museum call the Musee Mechanique.  This place houses a giant room full of hundred year old, quarter arcade games.  We saw marionettes dancing, tested the arm wrestler, shot BBs at ducks and squirrels and were creeped out by old-fashioned games like "Opium Den" and scary fortune tellers.


The best part of our whole day was when we realized the restaurant we picked for dinner was right next door to the convention center hosting a giant comic book gathering.  I'm talking thousands and thousands of nerds flooding the city streets in costume.  And we were right in the middle of them-- waiting to be seated for dinner, crossing cross-walks, paying for our parking.  IT. WAS. AWESOME!  We saw a big group of burly Vikings, Baby Batman riding on Daddy Batman's shoulders, every Star Wars character, including classic Princess Leia, the Ghostbusters Crew(!), fat Captain America, and so many more we couldn't even identify.  Coffee's on me to the person who can tell us who Giant Fuzzy Green Rectangle guy is?  We told Chris, "You haven't truly experienced San Francisco until you've bumped into a group of crazy people."  We were completely delighted and entertained the entire evening.  It was the perfect way to end what was a perfect day with Chris!

Friday, April 1, 2011

April Fools!

Things have been prank-ilicious here in the VM house today.  It all started when I came home at lunch time to find Dave, with several buckets of water and wet towels, mopping up the kitchen floor.  He told me the dishwasher was leaking.  To my relief (and annoyance), there was no leak, just one April Fools Day joke.  Ella watched this exchange with wonder and began begging us play a joke on her.  Since today was also report card day and Ella came home with another perfect one, we cooked up this plan to serve her a very special "Good Job on Your Report Card!" dinner.  Dave found the 4 snails in the garden and I dramatically unveiled them at dinner time.  Poor Ella thought she actually had to eat them and was truly considering Ranch dressing or ketchup for a dip.  After we revealed our trick, we continued to mess with her saying, "Wait, where's the 5th snail?  How did he escape?  Is he in your milk?"  She's just to stinkin' gullible!  She fell right for this one too and bolted away from the table in fear.



After we all had some good laughs, heard Ella promise to get us back and recovered from the sight of a big bowl of juicy snails on the dinner table, we went out to celebrate that outstanding report card for real.  We all shared some frozen yogurt, which we ordered with no snails.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Sunny Days

Last week Thursday, we were bundled up in our warmest clothes, huddled around a roaring fire, watching the wind take down chunks of our trees.  I just can't resist posting what we did today.  It seems we've gone from 40 to 88 in less than one week. 





I guess March finally got the memo that's it's supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb! 

Sunday, March 27, 2011

More Delia-isms

1.  Her answer when we ask who the two people God created to live in the Garden were: "Adam and Steve."

2.  Giving me a stern "Shhh!" when I whisper to Jetta during church.

3.  Climbing into my bed for a snuggle with the warning, "I'm gonna cold you up!"

4.  After another weekend of rain, distraught when we tell her we need to just get out of the house and go to Applebee's for dinner: "You mean we're never coming back?! I'm so sad to say goodbye to our house!  And I don't want to eat bees."

Saturday, March 26, 2011

All By Herself!


This is Delia's very first time writing her whole first name totally by herself.  She's very proud!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

A Rainbow for Dinner

Better sit down, folks.  I have shocking news: tonight my picky eaters not only willingly ate a whole plate of veggies for dinner, they also said they liked it and asked for the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!  How did I achieve this miracle, you wonder?  I'll tell you! 

We were recently served this delicious vegetable bake for dinner at some friends' house during game night.  Since then, Dave has been asking me regularly to get the recipe from Darla and put the ingredients on my grocery list.  It can actually be made with whatever veggies you like or have on hand, but I decided to make an intentional rainbow, thus making it fun for the kids.  The recipe is as follows, if you'd like to entice your own picky eaters or just enjoy a yummy and super healthy meal for yourself!


1 package apple-flavored chicken sausage (4 links), sliced
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 summer squash, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 dozen fresh brussel sprouts, halved
1/8 cup olive oil
salt and pepper



Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Put chicken sausage and veggies into a large bowl and season liberally with salt and pepper.  Toss with olive oil.  Spread into a 9x13 pan and bake covered for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake additional 25 minutes, or until potatoes are fork-tender.