Winter Formals

Right before Christmas Break, Ella had a big Winter Formal at her school.  She and her friends loved swapping their comfy college sweatshirts for glamorous dresses and fancy hair and makeup.  Her night was super fun with her friend group and included getting ready in everyone's dorm rooms, some of the best dancing she's ever enjoyed at a Formal, a midnight run to In & Out afterwards, an impromptu dorm lobby swing dance into the wee hours of the morning, and the official start of a new relationship with Gideon, the boy she shares a major, many classes, and every night of studying with.

Ava (aka "Ella's twin")

Tori

Lena

Her whole friend group-- most of them are pre-med and live in the same dorm.  

And then this weekend, it was Delia's turn for Winter Formal!  

Her good friend Natalie actually aspires to be a hairdresser, so she loves doing Delia's hair for these things!  After a few years of down with curls, Delia was excited to try it up and back this year.  

Brrr!  I know most of our Midwest family and friends are in the middle of an actual blizzard right now, but mid-40s is pretty cold for us!  Especially when you're not wearing much clothes!  These girls were determined to get cute pictures, though, so they'd quick take a few outside, throw on the coats that we Moms were holding, run inside to thaw by the fire, and then bravely return outside for a few more pictures.  We did about 6 rounds of this!  You wouldn't know they were freezing by looking at them, though, huh? ;)

Getting silly while getting warm!

(Laura, Delia, Kate, Natalie)

Like her sister, Delia's favorite part of Formal is the hours of getting ready beforehand. Her friends Natalie and Laura generously opened their home, stocked the bathroom with snacks and beauty supplies, even had their little sister, who adores Delia, throw on a fancy blue dress to even out the green/blue ratio for a few pictures!

After the getting-ready house, Delia and Kate traveled to another friend's to meet more pals in the group and get some amazing pictures with the fancy golf course that is literally their backyard. 

Life long friends, Tessa and Anika

With a few of the boys in the friend group!  Tijs, Chris, Raina, Delia and Tessa.

When school friends asked what my weekend plans were, I said, "It's Formal!" and they just knew good times were in store!  Formal for Moms is one of the best weekends of the year.  I think we're having as much fun at the kids!  I love the dresses, the heels, the hair, the hours spent hanging out with other moms while we take pictures and visit over charcuterie boards and drinks, and THEN the fun night of picture-viewing on social media! :)

The sunset was pretty accommodating last night, giving us the most spectacular backdrop at the golf course.

Delia said this was her best Formal!  Her friends are the sweetest and they had a wonderful time together.  She sent me periodic texts, but I actually haven't talked to her in person yet, because Formal for Delia ended with a sleep over at Natalie and Laura's!  So thankful for these kids and these memories they get to make!

I'll end with this cute story.  When we texted big sister pictures of Delia and her friends last night, Ella shared them with her floor girls (who met Delia at Family Weekend) and they texted this back with gushing compliments.  Formal is a special night for everyone. :)

Little LA Getaway

Our big Christmas Break activity was going to be hosting 3 of Ella's college friends.  Gideon, Jayven, and Emma, all natives of LA, have been listening to Ella describe her country life in the orchards with Yosemite just a drive away.  The plan was for them to end their Break with a road trip to see it!  We were so looking forward to getting to know some more of her new people and showing them around.  But, the day before they were supposed to leave, two thirds of them got super sick.  Like stomach flu/104 fever sick.  They had to cancel.  They were also Ella's ride back, so plans needed to quickly pivot.  We decided to spontaneously do a little 3 day LA family getaway and see a few new things, meet the one friend who was not sick, and return Ella to her dorm.  

 

We checked out the famous Last Book Store in downtown LA.  This used book store had the neatest ambience!  Art installations, book tunnels, cozy reading nooks, and sections of books decorated for their genre, it's a book-lovers' heaven.  

After the Last Bookstore we drove to Long Beach for dinner at Shake Shack.  This may not sound like a big deal, but it's a restaurant we do not have.  Ella had the best cheese-stuffed mushroom burger of her life in DC and has remembered it years later, so it was a treat to re-visit that favorite food memory.

We stayed at a cute little hotel within walking distance of the beach and pier.  Here we met Gideon, and his parents, the next morning for the loveliest outdoor (in January!) breakfast.  We spent 3 and a half hours getting to know him and his family over pastries, avocado toast, crepes and breakfast burritos.  Then we walked around this picturesque, beachside town together.  (Definite Saugatuck or Grand Haven vibes!)

We invited Gideon to keep hanging out with us for a day of tide pooling and seaside hiking at the Crystal Cove in Laguna Beach.  

Ella and Gideon found each other in their mutual classes.  They are both pre-med biology majors.  Exploring tide pools with fresh and enthusiastic bio majors was a whole new kind of fun!  They tried to get us to play some game called Guess The Phylum (?) at some point.  We learned lots of interesting new things about anemones and mollusks and mussels.  ;)

Delia's favorite bird is the cute little sand piper, which we saw lots of.

Breathing in that salty air, listening to the surf pound, watching crabs and pipers and pelicans, feeling the wind whip through your hair...the ocean is always my happy place.  Added to this day was the pleasure of getting to know a new friend!  Gideon (and his family) were good-humored, interesting, easy to talk to, and generous.  We grabbed dinner in Huntington Beach together and then returned Ella to her dorm sweet dorm.  While we helped her unpack, Emma (another of the friends who was supposed to visit) was feeling better and popped in to visit.  This day ended with an ice cream date with the girls.  So, even though sickness thwarted the plans we were most excited about, our Plan B ended up being really great.  We still got to know some of the new friends (Jayven was one of Ella's first friends, and we had already met him at orientation back in August!), and experience some rejuvenating scenery.  Seeing Ella light up as soon as we got back on campus and getting her re-settled into the new place she calls "home" always makes that goodbye easier.  Spring break is at the end of February-- the height of almond blossom season!  We're hoping the friends can visit then.

Home for the Holidays

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have had lots of lovely time with Ella.  Having my house full of all its members definitely brought joy to my heart...and dishes to my sink!  ;)  Kinda crazy how just one person makes such a big difference in the daily chores!  We were ready to serve Ella in whatever way she needed over the holidays, but her to-do list was simple.  She most wanted to do little things we take for granted like drive the car, look at the stars she's been missing in LA, read a book for fun, take a bath, and connect with friends.  Having Ella home was enough of a holiday break highlight for me, I didn't feel the need to over plan, especially since Ella just wanted to recharge in regular-life ways.  So, here are few of those Simple Things that filled our Thanksgiving and Christmas.

  

Tea dates

An early visit from Sinterklaas over Thanksgiving weekend

LOTS of Ivy snuggles!

Swing dance lessons from Ella

Staff lunch for the preschool teachers

Christmas dress up days for our last week of school

Present opening fun!!

A drive and walk around the Christmas light neighborhood

A 1000 piece puzzle completed in 1 day

An at home Escape Room

A Christmas Zoom call with Anna, Derek, Andrew, Heather and Annabelle (and various dogs)!

A New Years Eve at home, where we hosted high school friends, fried up ollie bollen, played Jackbox games, and made them all sleep over.

 A New Year's goal to memorize more Bible verses, helped by Dave's gift of a monthly temporary tattoo subscription!  Cool, huh?

More friends sleeping over and showing off their Stanley Sisterhood

Learning lines for the next big play in February, Father of the Bride.  Delia learned right before break that she was cast as Kay, the bride!! Her biggest part to date!

AND the biggest event: Delia easily passing her driver's test this Break to earn her driver's license!  She was a little more timid and slow to learn, taking a full year to get to this point, but we're super proud and super excited that we never have to teach a teenager to drive again!! ;)

Not pictured: a half dozen dates with friends, 8 books read, a whole season of Survivor binged, lots of great movies shared (including our favorite, Oppenheimer), regular restaurant meals (thanks to generous gifts from family and friends), late nights and lazy mornings, countless trips to the Coffee Shop, several pajama days, big house projects taken off the to-do list (like shampooed carpets, a legit Christmas Break high point for me!), all of Ella's favorite home-cooked meals on the menu, and Formal dress shopping.  

The end of our Break was supposed to have a grand event in it, but a last minute cancellation had us spontaneously whip up a Plan B.  I'll write about that next; stay tuned!

From Spoon to Broom

Delia's curtain on Mary Poppins closed on a weekend in late October, and just a few days later she was back in our Performing Arts Center for the start of the next performance-- Elf!  This was a Middle School musical, but her role was by special invitation of our director: Choreographer, Mentor and Stage Manager!  She shared the jobs with her drama buddy Lexi, who played Mary Poppins.  These upperclassmen girls had the best time befriending the enthusiastic, younger performers, teaching them the joy of kick-ball-changes and jazz hands, and keeping them from breaking and misplacing things backstage!  This was a whole new behind the scenes part for Delia and she really enjoyed it.  There is one scene where Buddy the Elf dances around the stage tossing shredded paper to make it snow, and Delia appears briefly on stage, in her all black outfit and with her giant broom, to sweep up all the snow.  That was the extent of her stage time for this one and it cracked us up.  From Spoon to Broom!

Early stages of choreographing.

Sweet shout out from the director.  

The whole cast-- a super fun and talented bunch!  Many of them are 8th graders who Delia can't wait to act with next year in High School!

After Opening Night, Delia came home and hilariously said, "Mom, Lexi and I just stood off to the side after the show and no one noticed us!  No one wanted pictures or hugs.  One person beckoned us over and we thought, 'This is it!' but then she just said, 'Can you go find Christian for me?'  Lexi was the star and had kids lining up to take pictures with her one month ago and now we're nothing."  HAHA!  So we had to bring them flowers and treats and race the stage afterwards for hugs and pictures and huge praise the night we went.

The show was super cute and extremely well done.  Even though Buddy the Elf and Santa and Jovie were all amazing and performed way beyond their middle school years, we're partial, of course, and thought the choreographer turned snow-sweeper stole the show! ;) 

Fall is for Friends

Through a season of transition and changes, we thank God for the good friends He's surrounded us with!  Both Ella and Delia listed the friends in their lives as what they're most thankful for this year.

Delia's favorite thing is shopping with her friends.  They don't buy much, but they love trying stuff on!

She's no fan of football, but she'll occasionally tolerate the sport for the hang time with friends.

Ericka, a dear friend from both preschool (pictured above) and Book Club (pictured below), turned 40 this season and we loved celebrating her with a big surprise party!

An old friend from college, and a groomsman in our wedding, was in the Bay Area for a Pastor's Conference, so Dave went for a little drive to eat lunch and catch up with Aaron for a few hours.  He left feeling recharged and joyful.  Aaron and his family were so dear to us through the seminary years, it's been a blessing to stay connected and a gift for Dave to get this special face-to-face time.

A huge highlight this fall was hearing Delia stand in front of her church family to profess her faith in Jesus, her Lord and Savior.  It was so special for Dave to officially welcome Delia into the life of the church. He loved walking with her through the class and hearing her testimony before Council too.  The people pictured above have had an immense impact on Delia's faith over the past year, so it was important to her that they come to her Profession of Faith.  They are the dearest bunch, who all love Jesus and boldly encourage each other in their walks with Him.  I hate how shadowy the picture is, but I love the memory of our pew full of Delia's people (and their sweet families who came too!).  

These are the types of pictures Ella shares with me!  Her biology buds each holding a part of the cow eyeball they dissected.  As her science classes intensify, she's been blessed to find a core group who share a major and a schedule (and thus similar projects and stresses) and who live in her dorm!  They study together in the dorm study lounge every night.  We're glad she's found a way to make her work fun.

Thanksgiving was so lovely, and will get its own post soon, but this was a favorite time for me to observe-- Ella's best friends reuniting and coming over for a day.  How I loved hearing these mature young ladies share their hearts, how the Lord has been working, and what they hope and dream for their futures.  They caught up on every detail and spoke truth and encouragement to each other.   It's been a time to find all new people and figure out who you are and what you want and, while that has mostly been a joy and a thrill, there is nothing that feeds your soul like spending quality time with the old friends who know you best.