BREEZY FIELDS

Ellyn's Golden Birthday was truly exciting for all of us.  This was the first year that WE, as a family, could tell that Ellyn knew it was HER day.  Perhaps she has known every year, but in the past the cake and ice cream seemed to be all that mattered.  This year both her YW class, and her Sunday School class, dropped off treats and heart attacked our front door.  When Ellyn walked outside to get on her bus the morning of her birthday she paused, without any prompting.  Ellyn looked at the hearts, smiled, pointed to one, then turned and walked to her bus. At school, Ellyn's teacher had programed, "Happy Birthday, Ellyn!" into every child's speaking device.  I took in Valentine's donuts from Krispy Kreme (one of Ellyn's very favorite foods on Earth), and all through treat time the boys were pushing their birthday buttons.  Ellyn also started singing "Happy Birthday to You!" all on her own. She also said "Ellyn....

For almost three years I have been thinking how very sad it is that I hadn't continued to keep a journal of our family activities.  No more deployment letters and emails to Mike, no more family blog to keep grandparents and aunts and uncles connected to our family.  Nothing but printed off monthly calendars saved in a file somewhere.  I guess our family blog died a slow death when we lived in Washington and we were seeing everyone all of the time.  It just was not important to keep everyone informed.  They were right there with us.  I did not stop, in all the chaos, to think how very important the blog might be to me, or to my children.  I have often thought of the cute pictures and quotes we had saved on our family blog.  I thought of the interviews I did with the kiddos, and how grateful I was that, somewhere, on a dusty webpage, those beautiful faces, those funny antics, still existed.  I have checked to make sure the blog still existed fr...

Last Friday I was able to go with Ellyn's class to the Seattle Aquarium. I think that perhaps Disneyland is the only place on Earth that makes Ellyn happier than an aquarium. In my dream house I would have one whole wall of Ellyn's room a real, salt water tank. That sounds doable and low maintenance, right? It was as if all of Western Washington was celebrating that Mrs. A.... received a grant and was able to take two classes to the Seattle Aquarium. The sky was blue for the first time in ages. Children and adults were happy and buoyed by a fabulous outing with amazing weather. Ellie Boo loved the entire day. What could be better than a long bus ride, a walk along the water, and an aquarium? As much as possible, I let her hang out near the huge tank at the entrance. She was also quite taken with the seals. I was taken with the view of the Sound while sitting near the seals. I am so happy when this girl is happy:-) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

There is part of me that aches for the days of snuggling little babies.  Chubby cheeks, chubby buns, the way my Jane called all meat "Hoggie."  Sadie called herself  "Deedee," Ellyn would nuzzle into my neck, Sawyer could pronounce no consonants.  Toddling little bodies, with bright smiles, and wispy curls.  I loved it.  I couldn't do it again, but I love it and miss it. We were looking through videos and pictures one rainy Saturday afternoon and we (Mike, Sadie, Sawyer, and I) were laughing... and I was crying.  We have so many years of amazing memories. But...  I love this stage as well.  I enjoy being able to have real conversations with my kids, I appreciate their humor, I love doing things that we all love to do as their ideas of fun grow up. I was thinking all of this the other night, in Mike's den.  Mike was changing his photos out on his Facebook profile.  He decided the background photo for his page should be a pictur...

Anyone that knows Sadie will not be surprised when I tell you the girl rocked the ... Middle School production of "Snow White Goes West."  No, she wasn't Snow or Queenie or a dwarf.  Nope, she was a 6th grader, talent yet to be determined when she auditioned, nobody.  Sadie was a dwarf cousin, an extra, if you will.  EXTRA amazing!  Seriously, I will be humble when I need to be.  But...  I'm so proud of Sadie.  By the time the play was ready to perform Sadie had two speaking lines, a solo line in one of the songs, and was part of two featured dancing groups.  Her facial expressions were... incredibly expressive, comical, appropriate, completely enjoyable to watch.  She has a gift, she's a natural, a joy to watch.  Her teacher thought so too.  She told me that she can't wait to have Sadie for two more years, that she has high hopes for what our girl can do.  Okay, the rest of the performers also did well.  The play wa...

Ellie Boo is waiting in the back seat of the truck, listening to Wicked. We are dropping Mike off for yet another work trip to Yakima. None of us like it when dad has to be gone and this is his third business trip in less than a month. Yakima is not his dream destination. He has to have some sort of balance though. He spent a week in San Diego at the beginning of the month. So, since I haven't been blogging for many moons I will list his previous destinations- Japan, Australia, Orlando, Germany. I try to remind myself that while he was policing the villages and cities of Iraq I was taking road trips to Prague and Venice. However, I think we might be starting to balance out:-). Last time Mike was in Yakima he had to install antennas or an antenna on a hill top, driving it in to solid rock in 50 mph winds and 30 degree weather. I don't know if this exaggerated, but if it is, it's not by much. We will be spending another wet gray day at home today because Sawyer ...

These two love each other so much. All of my children love each other but Ellyn definitely thinks of Sadie as her playmate. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone