easter

here are my easter babes. as i mentioned earlier, we wnt to michigan to celebrate easter. as i was getting ready for the trip, i was feeling a bit disappointed in myself. i didn't feel like i had done enough to really convey the true meaning of easter to ellie. we'd talked about it a little bit, but i just didn't feel like i'd given the conversations as much attention as they deserved. in the car we talked about it a little bit more, but i was struggling to make the message meaningful to a three year old.

on sunday morning the pastor did a children's message. ellie was a bit reluctant to go up to the front by herself, so i offered to go with her. we marched up with about 40 other kids and found a spot on the floor. the pastor read the kids a book called the story of three trees. i've never seen this book before, but will be adding it to our personal library immediately.

the book was about these three trees in the forest day dreaming about what they will become in this life. they all hope and aspire to BE something and to DO something important with their lives. along comes a woodcutter to chop them down. the trees our excited and filled with anticipation for the next phase of their lives. one of the trees is made into a feeding trough (the tree feels like such a failure). into the barn he goes for a life filled of what he believes to be meaningless feeding sessions for the animals. along comes mary and joseph and "no room at the inn". they are sent to the stable for their nights stay. mary goes into labor and suddenly the tree has a new purpose. he is no longer a meaningless feeding tough! he has become the bed for the savior of the world. the story goes on to tell of the other two trees and how their purpose in life is also transformed.

i loved the message of this story! it illustrated to e (and everyone in the church that morning) just how transforming Jesus can be in our lives. living with Him gives us a NEW purpose! they went on to give each of the kids an evergreen tree to plant. they were encouraged to use the tree as a reminder of how Christ can change our lives. it was an excellent way to make easter meaningful in the mind of a three year old, and it certainly made me pause and give thanks for my own potential with Jesus.

here's where you can get the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Three-Trees-Traditional-Folktale/dp/0745917437

Do kola

we spent easter weekend in michigan visiting scott's mom. she had a wonderful lunch on saturday and some of his extended family came over. one of the highlights was seeing his grandparents. they are amazing people! they are getting older and this winter has been quite hard on them. scott and i cherish every visit with them and marvel at the way in which they have aged so gracefully. in spite of some health issues they are always cheerful and upbeat. they are also sharp as tacks. both of them are immigrants from eastern europe and they always share stories from their past with us. these moments are so special to us. we love hearing about their lives and having them retell their history to us.


delaney's middle name is mildred after scott's grandmother. it was sweet to see delaney and grandma millie meet for the first time. you could tell she was delighted to have her name passed on to one of her great granddaughters.


great grandma always brings us bags of special little trinkets- things that she has been saving to pass on to someone who will appreciate them. this trip was no different. she gave them coloring books, teddy bears, porcelain dolls etc. the highlight of the treats was a book called do kola. it means circle in czech. it is a book of rhymes for young children. grandma wanted to read some of the rhymes to ellie and to explain the book to her.

great grandpa sat on one side, ellie in the middle, and great-grandma on the other side. she read through several of the rhymes. since they are in czech, ellie didn't understand them. great-grandma would stop and explain what the words meant and point out little things in the pictures. ellie was a star. she would try and repeat the words after great-grandma would say them to her. she learned the word for mouse (mys) and goat (koza), and she would laugh at the sound of the rhyming words. she soaked it up and really enjoyed the experience. when we got home on sunday night she was picking out a story for scott to read to her she requested do kula.

as a parent, this is one of those experiences that you hope stays etched in your little ones mind. i don't know how long we'll have the great grandparents around. i hope for many years to come. i also hope that ellie is able to look back years from now and remember this moment- to hear great grandma reading to her in her rich accent. to be able to recall the joy that this moment brought to everyone in the room and to know the value of her heritage.

ding dong ditch

my sister sent me an email the other day and in the subject line she had written "ding dong ditch". (stacy and i had said we would help her with some editing of an email and then neither of us followed through.) i have not thought about the game of "ding dong ditch" for years and thinking about it again, it struck me as very funny. even funnier was the way my sister had used it in the email (how did she think of that?). scott walked into the room as i was chuckling at the computer. he asked what i was laughing about and i shared "ding dong ditch" with him. for those of you that know scott, this will come as no surprise. he did not know what "ding dong ditch" meant. you see, growing up, scott was a really good kid. he didn't play games like "ding dong ditch". (oh, for our girls to get this trait from their father!)

i explained the game of "ding dong ditch" to scott. you ring the doorbell of an unsuspecting person and then hide in the bushes. wait a few minutes and the home owner shows up at the door looking very confused when they find their front stoop to be empty. the owner goes back inside scratching their head. wait a few more minutes and ring the bell again. well, you can see where this game goes. it usually ends up with some poor mischief making kid getting a call to their mother.

fast forward to monday. my doorbell rang at about 3:00. i went to answer the door and saw two young boys flying off of my front porch while two girls stood on the sidewalk and watched. these kids didn't know the game well enough because they forgot to hide. their method of "ding dong ditch" was to ring every house on the block, forgetting that when i got to the door i would be able to see them "ding dong ditching" at my neighbors house.

my first response was "kids these days!". and then i broke out into hysterical laughter right there on my front porch. i had been "ding dong ditched" on the very heals of laughing about the game of "ding dong ditch". the kids even saw me laughing. and then i thought about it more- if kids these days are playing "ding dong ditch" instead of hundreds of other terrible things they could be doing, they can ring my bell any day of the week!

i went inside and immediately called scott and both of my sisters. it had been a pretty crummy day and this was just what i had needed to bring a smile to my face and put things into perspective.

delaney's first play date

while pregnant with delaney, scott and i attended a bradley method birthing class. the class was ten weeks long and went over every nook and cranny of childbirth. we realized that it was strange to take a birthing class with your second child, but we wanted to try and have this one naturally. for ten LONG weeks, we met in a hospital conference room with four other couples for 2 1/2 hours every tuesday. the class ended a few weeks before our due date and we haven't seen any of these people since.

today was our class reunion. the instructor and all of the couples were to get together to talk about our labor experiences and meet the babies. i was really excited. i had bonded, in a way, with all of this women and i was eager to know how their births had gone. i was excited to line up all the babies and take their "class photo".

as it turned out, only the instructor and one other couple showed up. i was a little bit disappointed because i had really wanted to see the whole troop, but had a good time none-the-less. the other couple that came had used the same midwife as we had. their experience went well and we were able to swap stories, sharing the empowerment that natural birth had brought to us. their baby was incredibly adorable and has been treating her parents well. (her name is sonya and they call her sunny- i thought she was an especially sweet little girl.)

in spite of the small turnout, we did take the girls picture together. they were very cute. sunny kept falling into delaney and delaney was pretty fascinated with this other "just her size" girl. they checked each other out and then were content snuggling together while we snapped away.

and just an update on d- she is such a sweet babe. she loves to watch ellie doing anything and is a very content and smiley girl. she is bringing an immense amount of joy to our lives.

KNEAD

ellie and i like to go to lunch, probably more often than we should. today we went downtown to check out a new sandwich/bakery shop that has just recently opened up. my friend steph told me it was great, and that was all i needed to hear.

it was delightful! i always love patronizing anything local. it allows me to feel like i am part of the pulse of our small town. and by choosing things close i am helping to ensure that our downtown stays vibrant- which is largely a part of what drew us to this area in the first place. anyways, we had a wonderful lunch. the place is called KNEAD and the menu is rather creative. they had the "stinkin' rose beef" (roasted beef, caramelized onion, stilton, greens on a baguette), "tied up in knots" (ham, honey mustard, cheddar cheese, red onion, tomato, on a pretzel roll), and my personal favorite, "pistol on whiskey" (pastrami on rye with horseradish, mayo & mustard). if you come visit me, i can pretty much guarantee that this is where i'll be takin' you to lunch.

ellie and i decided to sit at the counter. we sat, we chatted about her day at school, we discussed sandwiches (the panini press was right in front of us), and we watched a girl poach eggs. if you know me, you know i don't do much egg poaching, so this was the only glimpse my girl might get at this culinary skill. after we lunched (and delaney napped), we had a chat with the chef.

chef: so ladies, how was your lunch today?
e: (with a mouth full of cookie) very good.
me: ellie, he is the man that makes the sandwiches. you know, the chef. (ellie could care less. then she thinks about it for a minute. the man walks away to flip a sandwich of something.)
e: (very quietly, almost inaudibly) where's his hat?
me & chef: what? (we both think that we've heard her, but want to be sure.)
e: (louder this time and with more conviction) where's his hat?
chef: (looks at me as if to say, you're the mom. you field this one.)
e: chefs are supposed to have hats. i have a chef hat in my kitchen.
me: (i explain that not all chefs wear hats.)
chef: do you want to bring in your hat sometime and help me make some cookies?
e: i have two already.
chef: two what? two kitchens? (it is as if he had heard our chat about the red pottery barn kitchen.)
e: no, cookies. i have two cookies in my kitchen.

the chef went back to making his sandwiches, ellie went back to eating her cookie, and i was smiling from ear to ear.

if you call me at lunchtime and can't reach me at home, chances are, we're at KNEAD. and now that i'm thinking about it, we might have to buy the man a hat.

a conversation at our house

this morning as i was helping ellie get dressed we had an interesting conversation.

e: momma, i just thought of something.

m: what did you think of ellie? (trying not to giggle at the cute way she is framing this conversation, but also unprepared for what she is about to say next.)

e: remember that red kitchen?

m: (searching my brain... red kitchen?... OH! THAT RED KITCHEN. they sell it at pottery barn and it costs A LOT! e had her eye on it at Christmas time.) you really liked that kitchen didn't you?

e: i asked for it for Christmas. why didn't you get it for me?

m: because you already have a very nice kitchen.

e: but i want it.

m: well, a girl only needs one kitchen and you already have a beautiful kitchen.

e: but mom, i want what i want!

we proceeded to have a nice chat about "stuff" and how we are very fortunate and we have a lot to be thankful for. we talked about not always getting what we want and how some kids don't have any kitchen at all. i don't know how much she took away from our little chat, but she did stop talking about the kitchen.

this conversation comes on the heels of a crisis i was already having concerning "stuff". you see, ellie has this huge playroom filled with toys. at the end of every day lots of her "stuff" has made its way into the rest of the house and getting her to participate in the clean-up process has been a challenge. we've even gone as far as telling her that if toys are out of the playroom when she goes to bed they will be gone in the morning. we've done this, and she just doesn't seem to care. and why would she? she has TONS of "stuff"!

i called my sister stacy to ask for her advice on this matter and she had some great words of wisdom on the situation. (she has 5 kids and is a parental genius.) anyways, she had a few solutions that we think will get to the core of ellie's "stuff" crisis and are implementing them right away.

also earlier this week, i came across this web video. check it out if you have a few minutes. it's pretty fascinating when you think about it. pay special attention to the "golden arrow" segment. this clip is largely an environmental awareness piece, but at the core of it is our need for "stuff".

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

btw: the picture above was taken last summer when cousin jed came to visit. they are playing with ellie's kitchen. you can't see the kitchen, but it is obvious that they are having fun:)

dinner time

this was the scene at our house yesterday evening. while i was unloading the dishwasher and getting dinner started, ellie decided to "read" to her sister. it was quite adorable. d was in her papazan seat listening intently to her older sister. ellie was the star and d did not take her eyes off of her. i saw a lot of myself in d's adoration of her big sister- i used to stare at my sister heather in much the same way. ellie was amazing. she went through her entire bag of library books, making up stories, showing d the pictures and bringing much joy to her momma's heart. it gave me a glimpse at who she is. her gentle nurturing spirit shone brightly in my eyes and for a moment i paused to marvel at how full i feel these days. my cup runneth over! i should also note we were listening to the indigo girls (southland in the springtime)- they always seem to find their way into the cd player on those first few "spring is around the corner" kind of days. if you don't know the song, i highly recommend that you download it immediately:)

let's get ready to rumble

on friday morning scott emailed me to say he had been given four tickets to see arena football and wanted to know if i was interested in going.

me: what is arena football?

scott: you know, football on a smaller field.

me: humph.

scott: let's go. it will be fun. ellie will love it.

me: sure, why not.

on sunday afternoon we experienced arena football for the first time. it was an interesting experience. as soon as we sat down ellie decided that she wanted some popcorn. scott gets up and comes back with popcorn and a pretzel. ellie is content eating her popcorn. she also indulges in some pretzel.

e: daddy, this is just like the movies!

a few minutes later ellie decides that she is thirsty. scott is up and off again. he returns a few minutes later with a pink-lemonade and a hot dog. ellie's eyes light up. a hot dog! (i had a sneaky suspicion that the hot dog had been intended for scott.) ellie proceeds to eat most of the hot dog and wash it down with her pink-lemonade. again, she is content. after she finishes, she does a little clapping. she didn't really know why, but hey, everyone else was doing it and it looked like fun. at this point scott leans over to tell me that the opposing team is philadelphia. i'll be honest with you and tell you that i didn't know. the whole scene was pretty overwhelming. i hadn't gotten around to looking at the scoreboard yet. i was too busy being a "snack assistant" for ellie. a little time passed (by little i mean 3-5 minutes) and then ellie declared she had to go potty. after a trip to the bathroom, ellie declares that she would like another snack. i produced some miss kitty gummy snacks from my bag. scott goes off again in search of some t-shirts to give as a thank-you for the guy that gave us the tickets. e begins to fidget. she starts scoping out the various snacks that the people around us are eating, but doesn't find anything that really appeals to her. scott comes back empty handed- they have run out of shirts in the size he needs (we look around and discover it is because EVERY kid in the stadium has suckered their parents into buying shirts). at this point, ellie declares that she is ready to go. and back to the car we go.

in a nutshell, arena football was a snacking marathon for ellie, quite a workout for scott and a celebrity citing for me (bon jovi was at the game). note to future boyfriends of e's: she's not a cheap date! thank God for free tickets:)

btw- my father informed me that chicago (49) lost to philadelphia (60). he also confirmed that bon jovi was there b/c he owns the philadelphia team.

a moment of clarity

e REALLY needed a haircut. she loves getting a cut mainly because it means a trip to her favorite mall. in some ways a trip to the mall makes me sad. it evokes a longing for my old mall- the mag mile in downtown chicago. for 5 years, that was my retail experience. i miss the hustle and bustle, the selection, the wind... but i digress. e needing a haircut is an exciting time for her. our suburban mall trip is action packed. we go out to lunch at egg harbor cafe, we play in kb toys, we let our imagination soar in the indoor tree house, we ride an indoor train a few times, AND we get a haircut. with two babes, this is getting to be quite the production. i'll get back to the mall trip in a minute.

on thursday night i went into the city for dinner with three of my close friends. our dinners always rejuvenate me. these gals are filled to the rim with wonderful traits. they are talented, successful, spiritual, wise, caring and also downright funny. we had a wonderful dinner and i enjoyed each minute, but left feeling somewhat sad. i miss these girls and don't see them as often as i would like. on my drive home, i started thinking about our move. i started asking myself, "what was our big hurry to get to the burbs?". i know the answer and also know that i have no right to feel sad about it. we loved the city, we think raising a family in the city is wonderful, and yet for us, it was a God thing. he wanted us in the burbs and who am i to argue or ignore the call from God? but none the less, i was having my own little pity party. fast forward to the haircut.

so i'm in the car pulling out of the neighborhood, passing through a little stretch of the forest preserve. e and i always look for deer. we haven't seen any in months and i'm getting a little irritated with the deer. don't they know that i have an eager 3 year old in car dying to catch a glimpse of them? we get to the end of the possible deer viewing area and neither of us spot one- i begin thinking about getting a salt lick to put out for them. suddenly e is screaming, "deer momma, deer!". i look up and standing at the edge of the road are SIX deer. hallelujah. i pulled over and e and i watched the deer for a few minutes. she was SO excited! suddenly, i found that my suburban pity party was over. the city may have the mag mile, but by-golly, on this grey winter day, e has her deer. and suddenly, the joy it brought to my little girls life, melts away my doubt over taking the suburban plunge.

we went on to the mall and i savored every minute of my girl's haircut extravaganza. she had a blast... driving her city taxi and all.

this video isn't very good. i promise to work on my skills for future postings.

purpose

i've been reading a lot of blogs lately and finding myself fascinated with the various types of commentary out there. i have one friend who is a photographer, another a student, another a home based business owner, and the list goes on. each of them (and many others) are blogging their way through life, stopping periodically throughout the week to pause. in this pause they are taking time to reflect and share bits of themselves with their audience. i like what i learn about these people. i like the honesty that comes through and the unexpected glimpses that their postings reveal. and although they choose what they will post, for me the reader, it often feels like i'm peeking in their window. and so i invite you to peek in my window, see into my writings and share in my life and the life of my family.

as i contemplated starting my own blog, i contemplated point of view. (i've been watching a lot of project runway and tim gund keeps asking the designers about this.) for me it is sort of muddy- i can't really articulate it and so i'll say this. my point of view is what i can see from where i am standing right now at this moment in time. and each day, i happen to stand in different spots.