wedding blues

This weekend, our dear Michael and Amie got married! For those unfamiliar with these two wonderful people whom we dearly love and majorly adore, Michael is Bryan's youngest brother. Amie has been a friend of our family for years but in the last couple of years, has become one of my closest friends and, before she moved down to Atlanta to be with her now husband, was a weekly babysitter of our kids. Needless to say, she was already family to us, before she and Mike even decided to date. So, we've been counting down the days till their wedding, first and foremost just so we could SEE them again (Atlanta feels so far away sometimes!) but also because it's a really exciting occasion to celebrate their marriage!

Ella is somewhat of a romantic at her ripe age of six and a half. So she LOOOOVES weddings. And Bryan had taken Simon shopping this week to pick out some fancy clothes to wear. He was so excited about his new dress pants, shirt, vest and tie and had been asking me all week if he could wear it. I kept saying, "Wait till the wedding on Saturday! Then you can wear it!!"

Wednesday, the coughing began. Thursday, the runny nose took off. Overnight on Thursday, raging fever ensued. And Friday, I began to get a little panicky that the kids and I were going to have to sit this one out and miss the wedding we've so anticipated.

Friday night was the rehearsal and Bryan and I tag teamed it so he could do the officiating and I could see family and friends for a bit. But Saturday was still up in the air. I monitored the kids closely all day Saturday and the virus seemed to progress. Ella barely got off the couch all day which you KNOW is a bad sign. It was a guarantee that the kids wouldn't be well enough to attend, and with most of our friends and all of our St. Louis family attending the wedding, all hope seemed lost that I would be able to attend as well.

But then, HOPE! I have a wonderful friend named Sarah who I met at the kids' preschool (I'm sure there will be posts to come about their family as our kids love playing together and we so enjoy Sarah and her husband Kyle) whose kids had the same virus the week before. I texted her questions wondering how high and how long their fevers persisted. In the midst of our texting, she offered to come stay with the kids so I could go to the wedding.

Elation! But major GUILT in having to leave the kids behind. Ella was teary and bleary eyed and didn't seem to understand WHY she couldn't just go for a little bit. She had her heart set on seeing them and especially dancing with them. And in all the rush to get ready, Simon didn't seem to get all the information that he wasn't going to be able to go either. (His fever was equally as high as Ella's but he was still bouncing off the wall all day.) As I got my heels on to walk out the door I heard him calling out from upstairs, "MOOOOMMM! MOM!!! I need  you!" Which is usually code for, "I'm on the toilet and could you please come wipe me." But this time, I reached the second floor to find him in his room trying to put on his new clothes. He said, "Mom, I need you to help me with my tie!" My heart shattered. Totally destroyed. "Oh Simo. You're sick buddy and you're not going to be able to go." Oh the horror. The guilt. The tears.

After the ceremony, which was so lovely, moving, beautiful, joyous, etc, I came right home. There was a reception a few hours later which Sarah offered to come back to watch the kids for. But after visiting with the kids, especially Ella, I didn't think I could bear the guilt of leaving them behind. Ella asked me lots of questions about Michael and Amie's plans and if she'd get to see them soon. I told her they'd be going on their honeymoon really early the next morning and they would fly home to Atlanta after that. She began to tear up again and said, "I don't want them to go on their honeymoon, Mom. I miss them so much!" 

But again, HOPE! Bryan made a few phone calls and was able to reach Michael and, joy of joys, Michael and Amie were able to drop by our house on their way to the reception in order to give Simon and Ella a little squeeze. I can't express how special this short 20 minute stop off was to us all, especially Ella. It seemed to take the sting out.

Uncle Michael

Beautiful Aunt Amie and poor sickly Ella.

This made everything right in the world.

 

So now, it's the day after the wedding and the kids are beginning to mend. Fevers are down to low grade and the coughing has let up a bit. And so I'll close this post with some comic relief. Do you notice the severe chapping of Ella's nose in the middle photo? That poor girl chaps like nobody's business when she gets a cold. Her hands go crazy dry and cracked in the wintertime too. For this reason, there is a huge tub of Eucerin in her room. Since she's been sick, she often globs a big mustache of Eucerin on her upper lip but it hasn't seemed to help all that much. So we switched to Aquafor which has soothed and healed a bit more effectively. After we read books and got tucked in bed, I set her up with a fresh box of tissues and her Aquafor within reach for nighttime use. She slathered her nose with it and said quite seriously, "Aquarfor rules. Eucerine drools." And then we both laughed for a solid three minutes. Ahhh....we needed that.

daddy daughter date

For Christmas, Bryan and I gifted each other books we thought the other would benefit from. I gave him a book on raising daughters which I thought would be helpful for both of us to read. It has had an impact for sure and reiterated to him the importance of quality time with his growing girls. Bryan used to regularly take Ella out on "dates" but the practice has gotten lost in the last couple of years for various reasons. As a sort of new years resolution, the hope is to get a daughter date in once a month.

When Bryan asked Ella if she'd like to go on a date earlier this week, the look on her face was priceless. She beamed! She was so excited, it was all she could talk about. When she woke up the morning of her date, she said, "I can't wait till tonight!" and she told all her friends at school that her dad was taking her on a date. When Bryan picked her up from school, she told many of the moms retrieving their kids the she was headed for her daddy date.

I helped her pick out a pretty dress and shoes and curled her hair and even let her wear some shimmery eye shadow and lip stick. She felt beautiful. As Bryan got ready, Ella requested that he get dressed up and "not wear jeans." She's an old fashioned girl, I suppose. So he got spiffy for her.

They left for the Chocolate Bar and Simon, Josie and I had pizza and played the Wii (which is a preferable date for Simon!) Ella ordered pizza at the restaurant and shared a beautiful chocolate dessert with her daddy. She ate quite a lot and he helped her with her manners, like eating slowly and putting her napkin in her lap. After she was quite full and let out a louder-than-she-expected burp, a look of embarrassment crossed her face and she leaned in to Bryan. "Pretend that was you, Dad, if anybody asks!!!"

On the way home, pondering the loveliness of her date night, she told Bryan, "Dad, I think it might be kind of weird if I married you."

Seeing her come alive with special Daddy time amazes me. What a high calling it is to be a parent and to have so much power to build up or tear down. I hope these times with Daddy will increase her confidence and desire to stay true to the lady she was created to be and that, through being pursued and honored, she will learn what it is to be treated rightly by the opposite sex. I love seeing her with her Daddy. She just adores him. In fact, last night at bedtime, we were all cuddled up reading books in her room and she was next to him. She told him with a smile, "Our date night never ends, Dad." He'll always be her number one fan.

we got schooled

We played "school" tonight after baths. At first, it was just me and the girls while Simon bathed and the game started out as "Mom, sister and baby". Ella was the mom, I was the sister and Josie was the baby, obviously. But then Ella morphed the game into school. She was still the mom though so we were homeschooled. But there was a principal (played by Josie) so I guess it was some kind of crossover between the two. I sat on the floor with my "backpack" (an H&M bag with a pouch of pencils, small notebook, storybook and erasers) while Ella sat in a chair with a quilt on her legs. She instructed me to get out my notebook and write the sentences she gave me. It was so fun to pretend to be like Ella for a moment. I kept raising my hand to ask for spelling help which she tired of quickly and said, "Let's just pretend you're in the first grade so you know everything, ok?" 

When Simon and Dad entered, the game morphed further. Simon wanted to be the dad who came to pick me up in the car, so he was awarded that role. Daddy played another student in my class. Ella decided we all needed make believe names. I was Susie, Daddy was Freddy, Ella was Miss Isabella and Simon was Johnny. Josie was still the principal.

Again, I kept raising my hand; this time it was mostly to tattle on Freddy. "Miss Isabella?!" I said, "Freddy keeps touching meeee!" She put down her book and got up from her chair. "I guess I need to write down the rules and go over them with you." She said in a stern voice, looking at "Freddy" with a sideways glare and clenching to hold back a smile. She posted rules on the wall that said: 1. No touching, 2. No yelling, 3. No looking at other people's papers.

Then it was time for a test. The test was to draw a picture of our house. "Freddy" was lying down in the bed and seemed to doze off. When it was time to turn in our test to see what grade we got, I got a 4 (which is an A in Ella's real school). "Freddy" didn't draw anything on his paper. He got a 1 (which is a D). As we wrapped up our game, Ella handed back "Freddy's" homework. On it she had written next to his sub par score, "Next time, do what we do."

Then we all loaded up in Johnny's car (two miniature chairs, a step stool and a bouncy seat to act as Josie's car seat) and Johnny (dad) buckled us in. As we "drove" home, he told me, "When we get home I am putting you straight to bed and I'm going to change over the laundry."

It was a very educational evening. :)

poor ella

Ella developed a bad cough over the weekend. Saturday night she came into our room and asked if she could sleep with us. I felt so sad to tell her no but Josie is often in our bed at different points throughout the night and I didn't want her to get sick. So I sent Ella back to her bed and instructed her to prop up her pillows so her head was a bit more elevated so maybe she would have less drainage issues. Such a champ she is. She went right back to bed. A few minutes later, I hear her call out with alarm, "MOOOMMM!!" I bolted out of bed and found her sitting up in the top bunk. She said, "I threw up in my bed." Poor little thing. Sleeping on the top bunk makes it hard to get to the toilet in time for a puke. (As a side note, our older two are pros at puking. They don't cry. They don't moan. They just head to the toilet, lay their arms and heads over the bowl, and let 'er rip. I'm a proud Momma.) Anyway, it was the description that followed that got me. She said, "I was coughing and coughing and then all of a sudden, I like, exploded." After I stripped her bed, got her freshened up and back in the (bottom) bunk, she said, "I hope I don't explode again Mom." Poor Ella. She did make it through without another explosion.

the baby whisperer

On the way home from swim lesson, Ella was making Josie laugh by making silly sounds, like "EE! OOO! AH!" As we got further down the road, Ella started reading her book (she's reading Little House in the Big Woods right now) and Josie got fussy. Ella called out "GOO GOO! GA!" and Josie quieted down. Excitedly, Ella said, "Mom! Did you hear me talking to Josie? She was crying and I spoke to her in baby language and she understood! Know what I said?" Smiling, I replied, "No, Ella, what did you say?" "I said, 'No more crying in the car!' and she obeyed! Did you know I could do that kind of a trick?"

Pretty awesome skills!

rain check

The kids are really into "checking the weather" right now. For Ella, I think it might be an excuse to get on my computer. She'll ask several times a day, "Mom, can I check the weather?" Then she'll click my bookmark (weather.com) and see if there are storm clouds or a bright sun and what the high temperature will be. As soon as she does this, Simon asks if he can check the weather. Then he opens the front door and stands on the front porch. I guess he's more of a "hands on" kind of guy.

adorable adjectives

In the last twelve hours, I have heard Ella using the cutest adjectives. The first came after our ride home from our friends' house where she and the other kids watched a movie about Tinkerbell.

Ella: Momma, I love the Tinkerbell movie...it's so....MAGICAL!

The second notable quote was after rest time when she had been dressing up her animals.

Ella: Mom! I have to show you my dolls! I made my kangaroo and bunny so FASHIONABLE!

I am so curious where these little tidbits of learning originate!

forgetful & funny

Ella has been beyond naps since she was four, but she still has an hour and a half of "rest time" in her room where she plays quietly with toys and books and things while Simon sleeps and I get some quiet time. After rest time is over, Ella is supposed to make sure her room is picked up before we move on to the next thing. Today, it was that time of day and we had moved downstairs to get a snack when I remembered I hadn't checked with her to make sure she'd picked up. So I asked, "Ella, did you straighten up your room after rest time?" to which she replied, "Hmm...Yeah....but I'll go check to make sure." As she ascended the stairs, I heard her say to herself: "I can't remember... Sometimes I have short term memory loss."

signs of summer

A fond memory of my own childhood is catching fireflies (or lightening bugs, whichever suits your fancy). I've loved introducing this magical wonder to our kids and we've had fun pretending to be kids again ourselves jumping around in the grass trying to catch the bugs in the dwindling sunlight. Ella has kept them in her room in a jar (the first firefly we caught early in the week passed away several days ago and his carcass still sits motionless in the jar.) Last night at the kid's grandparents' place, we caught quite a load and put them all in a sippy cup which sits next to Ella's bed with the other dead one to remind them of what's to come. Tonight as we put the kids to bed, I heard Bryan say, "Poor bugs." to which I had to chuckle, knowing that he must have inflicted much worse torture on various creatures over the course of his childhood.

Later, after books were read and I spent some time quietly chatting to Ella in her bed, she posed the question, "what if I were to drink down all those lightening bugs and then they were all in my belly?" She giggled to herself, knowing it was a silly question, but we had quite a time coming up with all the possible outcomes to this scenario like:

1. Her eyes would glow so that she could never fall asleep because it was too bright.
2. Her belly button would blink like a stoplight.
3. Her teeth would glow in the dark.
4. Strands of light would shoot out of the tips of her hair.
5. (Ella's favorite) If she tooted, light would shine out of her butt!

We had quite a laugh tonight.

knock knock...what the HECK?

Ella loves telling knock knock jokes. I don't quite know where she picked it up from, but for her, the ultimate fun is telling a good knock knock joke. And now that Simon is really speaking more clearly, he has now started telling jokes too. Today's lunchtime was a solid fifteen minutes of knock knock joking.

Ella's jokes sound like this:
E: Knock knock.
Me: Who's there?
E: Refrigerator.
Me: Refrigerator who?
E: Cup. Cup.Cup.

Simon's are the same every time:
S: Not not.
Me: Who's there?
S: Boo.
Me: Boo who?
S: sshwhwshshsww whwhshshs..... (with a big grin and a giggle.)

In further news, we were playing in the back yard after dinner and Simon and Ella were happily digging in the sandbox together. It was a serene moment where they were engaged in a game together without fighting and I was contemplating the value of that sandbox and it's simple entertainment. All of a sudden I hear Ella say, "What the HECK??!" She sniffs her hands. "This sand smells like POOP!!"

I ran over to inspect the conditions, and, yes it's true, some foul animal has been using our sandbox as a litter box. And the worst thing about it is, I'll bet it's a possum. Ughhhhhh....Our serene moment came to a screeching halt and we all sanitized ourselves in the kitchen sink and promptly headed for a bath. A very gross way to end the evening.

gobbling fish

Ok, so this entry is really more of an excuse to post this humorous moment I captured of Ella at the zoo the other day. As noted in the earlier post, we were in the herpetarium with the fish and lizards and such and I caught her "gobbling" at the fish. And so the hilarity ensues...enjoy...

the family bed

Ella has been sneaking into our bed at night a lot lately. She has figured out that if she climbs in and snuggles up next to Daddy, he's too incoherent to do anything about it whereas Mommy will escort her back to her own room. A good part of the week, we wake up with a third party snuggled up in our covers! Last week I talked to Ella about this:

Me: Ella, you're going to have to stop sleeping with Mommy and Daddy.
Ella: Mmmm...maybe someday.

While eating our lunch today, we talked about it again since she had pulled her sneakery again last night. Bryan was telling me he is confused on how she is able to make room since he somehow woke up in the middle of the bed as though she had made him move over. She was eavesdropping on this conversation and piped in: "I found room right next to you Daddy, and then when you got up, I found LOTS of room!" What a silly goose she is. She's a nice cuddler too, even though she should stay in her own cozy bed!

boots are made for walkin'

Ella's favorite song right now is "These Boots are Made for Walkin'". We dance to it daily. Simon is loving it too. Boy we can have a lot of fun dancing the day away! Just had to post this and make an attempt at adding the video!

name that tune

I often turn the radio on in Ella's room to the oldies station just for some fun background music and every so often, Ella will recognize the song...especially if it's one by the Monkees. Just a moment ago, Ella came rushing in my room and began swaying her hips as she said, "Mommy MOMMY! The 'a-wiggle-butt-wiggle-butt' song is on in my room!!" I paused to decipher what song she could possibly be hearing. "Ohhhh. Ella, do you mean the 'a-wheeem-a-way' song 'In the Jungle'?" Yup. Har har!!

a new game

Ella is going through this thing right now where she's constantly wanting to play a "game". Yesterday Simon was napping and Ella and I were playing in her room when she asked, "Mommy! Let's play a game!!" "What game would you like to play, Ella?" to which she replied, "Let's play Jesus!" Hmmm...not sure how I feel about this one but I inquired, "How do you play that game?" She said, lying on the floor, "I'll be in the water and I'll call you and you grab my hand and get me out of the water!" So, there she is, pretending to struggle in the water (which is just her wriggling on the floor) all the while calling out, "Jesus, help!" So I grab her hand and she tells me to put her in the boat (which is her bed). As we sit there on the bed, she looks at me with loving and gratitude in her eyes and says, "Thank you, Jesus, for saving me." That was pretty incredible! I hope she'll say that someday and it won't just be pretend.

today was a double doozie

Ella was an ornery yet funny girl today. So I have two stories to recount. First off, we went to Trader Joe's for groceries which is always a treat for her because #1: free helium balloons and #2: if you spot the hidden elephant somewhere in the store, they let you pick a treat out of the treasure box. So the treat Ella picked was a butterfly temporary tattoo. Now, I am somewhat alarmed or at least cautious because Ella has a fascination with tattoos already. She is very careful to keep them unwashed for as long as possible. So after we applied the tattoo in the kitchen, she decided her new name is going to be "Jada". Now doesn't that sound like a name for an exotic lady with tattoos? WHaaa? Fortunately, she informed me that it was only her pretend name. (pheew! I was just imagining Ella getting herself emancipated from us at age 16 so she could change her name and cover herself in tattoos and piercings!)

Ok...story #2. We were discussing vacation plans today and Daddy asks, "Ella, do you want to go on vacation?" to which she replies excitedly, "YEAAAH!" Daddy teases, "Do you want to go on vacation by yourself?" She says, "No." He continues, "Why not?" And her very obvious answer is, "Because I don't know how to drive." Of course!!

talkin' crazy

Inspired by Jodi's blog accounting all the wonderful intricacies of Elliott's childhood, http://jodi-e.blogspot.com, I attempt my own journal of child-rearing minutia. Sometimes I'm afraid I will forget all these wonderful little things Simon and Ella do each day. So, though it may pale in comparison to Jodi's detailed and beautiful descriptions, at least there will be a collection of recollections on file in cyberspace to chronicle some of the wonderful things you kids say and do that light up my life so wonderfully!!

This last week we've had a wonderful couple from the Ukraine visiting us (Illya and Alyona). We didn't know much about them before they came late last Monday night but we soon found out that Illya spoke fluent English, while Alyona was very reserved in trying out her English on us. Very often she would speak to him in Russian and he would translate for us. At one point, Ella was in the hallway with them, looking up as they carried on a conversation in fast paced Russian, her head following along back and forth like she was watching a tennis match. When the conversation ended, she asked, "Why are you talkin' crazy?"

Oh the hilarity!