Happy Easter 2011!

From Dave's Good Friday sermon: "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." 

Isaiah 53:5

Blessings as you celebrate our RISEN SAVIOR!

A Fun Run

I love that Ella tells people, "I'm a runner, like my daddy."  Dave keeps encouraging her to do these little races with him and it is shaping her identity as an athlete!  This year Delia wanted to run too, so I watched my whole family stretching and pinning number bibs on themselves at this morning's race.

This was the same Easter race Dave did last year.  It's a 5K around a pretty lake and sponsored by a big church.  When we shared the info with good friends, Sara and Arend, who've also been bit by the race-running bug, they signed up too.  It was fun to share this experience with them and cheer them on.  Everyone beat their goals and loved today's race.

Dave's goal for this race was to just enjoy it.  He loaded a bunch of Easter songs on the Ipod and made efforts to not watch his clock.  And he succeeded in his goal!  The weather was gorgeous and the track around the lake is so lovely.  Surprisingly, this relaxed mentality had Dave run his fastest 3 miles ever and best last year's race time by 30 seconds.

The girls ran the quarter mile race with a whole crowd of other under-10 year olds.  While Dave was racing, two little girls ran up and almost knocked Ella down with a hug.  What a surprise to find some church and Awanas friends also participating in this race!  Lily's dad, Mark, was too funny leading the kids in stretching and pep talks.  He's a running friend of Dave's and a pretty serious racer, but he still couldn't catch Dave.  His wife teased, "Pastor Dave smoked you!"

The girls both did great in their race! They stayed on course, ran the whole time and felt extremely proud when they crossed the finish line and received ribbons.  This was a great morning and we look forward to continuing this Easter Fun Run tradition next year!

Grandparents Day

As I write this, Ella is out for lunch with Pastor Bruce.  Today was Grandparents Day at her school and she invited Pastor Bruce to be her special friend, since her Grandpa and Grandma live so far away.  We know one day Grandpa and Grandma will make it out for the girls on Grandparents Day, but for this year, we'll use the magic of the internet to fill them in on all the details.

Ella created this collage of pictures for a special bulletin board in her classroom.  The grandparents and special friends were invited to visit the classrooms and see all the exciting things their kids have been learning.  A book Ella made for the day titled "My Grandparents are Special!" is headed your way, Grandma and Grandpa! :)

The morning started off with an outstanding chapel.  Our high school gymnasium was packed with all the students and their visitors.  Each grade took a turn presenting something special.  The kindergarten recited a poem about Grandma's Glasses and then sang this song "Let's Go See Our Grandparents."  A neat part of the assembly was a game they played where clues were read about particular visitors in the audience.  Ella was one of the students interviewed by the principal earlier, so her clues about Pastor Bruce ("He gives me M&Ms after church.  He teaches me about the Bible. And he is kind because he is a friend of God") were read and made all of us smile and say, "Aww."

We always miss our far-away family and especially on special occasions, like this one.  However, we feel so blessed to be a part of our church family.  Pastor Bruce gave up a whole morning to shower Ella with attention and a few other church Grandmas and Grandpas swung into her class to visit also. 

Ella's K-3 Program

Last night our smiles got a work out while watching Ella and her lower elementary classmates in her school's K-3 Musical Program.  The theme was "Heroes!" and each grade took their turn on stage singing about great characters from the Bible like Daniel, Moses and Joshua.  Ella's kindergarten sang their two songs about Jonah with great volume and enthusiastic motions!  The program ended with all 9 classes filling the stage to sing "I Will Do My Best for Jesus" together.  I'd love for you to see what a great job they did, but our videos are too big for the blog-- sorry.
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Before the program, grades K through 3rd hosted an Open House.  Ella was so excited to show off the big pile of projects she's been working on and give us a tour of her classroom.  She made kindergarten look like so much fun, Delia was counting the years until she's 5 on the walk over the auditorium! 

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.

Take a Hike!

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!

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!

 

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!

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.