Much like Ellie’s Birthday the fun just keeps on rolling. I meant to put up videos with the post yesterday, but with my foggy head due to Owen’s post summer cold sleep schedule I forgot. So, here you go:
and one last one for good measure of Ellie reading to her baby
On Monday her true Birth Day. We invited our neighbors Zak and Jen to join us at the splash pad. Ellie and Zak had a ball sans the scrapes and bruises from slips and falls. Ellie is timid around the water in true girly form not wanting to get water in her face. Zak showed her how its done by charging through the fountains and sticking his face right in it no matter how cold it was. Boy vs. Girl through and through. We topped off the afternoon by visiting the bounce houses at the PCMR. Their favorite hands down. Pure three year old bliss.
I’ve been thinking about the last year with Ellie as I’ve been waiting for pictures and videos to download for this post and I have to say She takes my breath away. She is so smart, beautiful, innocent, and loving. I don’t think I’ve shared how she comes up to us randomly and tells us how she loves us. “I wob you” is how it comes out. I get tingles every time. At night when we are settling for bed if you lay down with her she snuggles right up and hugs and it is so wonderful. She makes my life so much more rich and I am a luck Momma.
We celebrated Ellie’s third birthday all weekend and then some this last week. She was whisked away to Grandma McKenney’s house a few days a head of us so she could spend some special one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa McKenney while I worked on a present for her. I think she really enjoyed it because when we showed up she kept saying “I stay at Grandma’s house?” or demanding rather that we were going to stay and not take her home. She was pleased when I told her we would stay until Sunday morning. So the fun continued for the Wee One and we had a small Birthday party for her with Jon’s family. She loves her cousins and lights up whenever they come around. My Mom made Ellie’s day special with pools set up to play in and she planned several games to play with the cousins and such. The party was topped off with a water fight. Gary vs. kids. Although Grandpa McKenney got him good with the a surprise shot to the chest with the sprinklers. By the time we got around to opening presents Ellie was tuckered out and barely had the energy to tear open the paper let alone show any excitement. She loved each one of her presents and has been keeping busy with them.
Utah has a special little holiday on the 24th of July every year. They call it “Pioneer Day” or the “Days of 47″. It’s all in the name of celebrating the heritage of Utah and the pioneers that settled the area in 1847, which eventually lead to statehood later on. Funny I always thought it was to celebrate statehood until a few years ago when I was corrected by my “out-of-state” friends who pointed out that Utah didn’t become a state until much later then 1847. At any rate, it’s a funny little holiday that makes this big state of ours feel like a little down home country town. We were able to celebrate it in true form with my parents and my brother’s family in the small town of Amalga last weekend.
Amalga put on a good fried chicken dinner Friday night at the town park and fireworks later that night. Grandma and Grandpa’s neighbor Tad invited us down to his patch of land at the “river bottoms” to view the fire works. Once Dad got us parked in the right place we had a great view of the fireworks over a bend in the Bear river. Wish I had taken my camera for that one. The following morning we went back to the park to attend a pancake, ham & eggs breakfast. After the breakfast the youngsters in the town put together a sweet little fair including bounce houses and little homemade games such as Plunko, go fish, ring toss, etc. Ellie and her cousins had a blast soaking it all up and playing their little hearts out.
I see London I see France I see Ellies underpants
After all the game time fun we gathered up the kids and sent them off with Gary and Grandpa to ride in Grandpa’s shinny 67′ Chevy Malibu for the town parade. Grandpa had just got the Chev all “cherried” up with a nice wax and such so it was a perfect addition to the wee parade. Look close at the pics you can see the by standers reflections off that slick black Malibu. The parade was precious to say the least so fun and small and neighborly. There was a ton of candy tossed about on the roadside. Our family filled up a gallon size baggie full of salt water taffy.
After the parade we came home to Grandma and Grandpa’s for some R&R. Later in the evening we lit off some of the fireworks Jon, my brother, brought. It was Ellie and Owen’s first firework experience as they usually can’t seem to stay up late enough. But the cousins kept us alert. Owen let out a few cries and Ellie didn’t quite know what to make of it. She sat on the blanket for a little bit then ran to Grandma and finally ended up in Grandpa’s lap trying to ignore the pops and sparkles and find a comfortable place. All while the McKenney cousins were hooting and hollering for more.
We all had a great time and Gary and I were impressed with Amalga’s little holiday and happy we were able to join in a true small town celebration. The evening ended with a bit of a sour note as my Mom was feeling progressively sicker and sicker. Finally she had Dad drive her down to the emergency room where they found that her gallbladder was filled with little stones and one was already trying to be passed. So my poor mother who is still recuperating from knee surgery had to go through two procedures one to remove the stone and one to remove the gallbladder. She is home now and all is well, and that better be it for her 60 year maintenance.
It’s very peculiar to me that we can have a tiny little girl who was below average on the “charts” her first year of life and then a super sized boy who is in the 90th percentile on the “charts” and just keeps getting bigger and bigger by the day. When I was preparing for Owen I purchased wee things like newborn size pjs and a smaller then usual bassinet thinking I would have another wee baby like Ellie was. Oh boy was I wrong he is now filling out the 6 month size clothes we have for him and is maxing out his bassinet, bath tub, and sleep sacks.
And just for kicks here is what we found sprouting up in our bath tub the other night…
“We do not Inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we Borrow it from our Children.” -Native American Poverb
We participated in Craft Hope’s Project 8 this week. I cut up some old rags and sewed them into appropriate size squares with ribbon loops for hanging. As I was doing this my children were napping and I was trying my hardest to focus on putting out “good thoughts” into the Cosmic Soup for all who are suffering from the Gulf Coast Oil spill animals and humans alike. It was a small, easy way to feel helpful.
“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter…to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”
~ John Burroughs
“It’s a very fragile world, she told us So we walk carefully everywhere we go and we promised to remember as long as we could.”
~ Brian Andreas, Storypeople
It’s been a slow start to summer up here in TL as usual. We have enjoyed a few beautiful days here and there. So, here is a video and pictures to share…
