Our Christmas Update!

Seasons are changing. This time of year I feel like Thanksgiving is hardly over and Christmas is in full swing. The weather turns from semi-warm to California cold in the space of a couple of days. Sometimes the seasons change gradually, and other times all at once. I’m holding on to thanksgiving as we anticipate Christmas this year. We have much to be thankful for.

Some of the the seasons that have / are changing for us this year include:

A new home, with lots of space inside and out. Perfect for our famiy to grow up in.

No more babies on the way. We are loving concentrating on watching the children grow up before our very eyes. Brandon pointed out that I have said that about every one of them this week. And it’s true!

Next week Brandon and I will finish our first decade of being married, and embark on a new one. We have grown together in so many ways in these first 10 years together and are excited to see what is in store in the years to come.

As for the rest of the updates:

Brandon is still at Sanger High School teaching the same class. He still enjoys volleyball, fantasy football, working on the house. This year he has become more involved in teaching at church on Sunday and mid-week.

I am seeking direction as to what I will be doing in the coming years, as I will have the majority of my kids in school. The kids and house is where I spend much of my energy, but still enjoy my work with pregnant mamas, sewing, decorating and reading.

At Thanksgiving each of the kids each wrote a list of what they are thankful for. I will share them here...they tell themselves well:

Susannah (8 in 3rd grade): God, family, friends, birthday, Christmas, vacations, clothes, autumn and seasons, bed, legs, being alive, grandparents, aunts, cousins, fun things, painting, school, teachers, money, food. I’m glad to be 8.

Abigael (6.5 in 1st grade): I’m thankful for my family, God and Jesus, brother, sisters, class, mama and daddy.

Jesse (newly 4): Jesus, this castle, my mama and daddy, my toes, babies, everything, food and eating, playing games, my sisters, playing soccer, my preschool, turning 4, outer space.

Maggie (20 months - mama and Susannah’s opinion of what Maggie is thankful for): Jesus, family, Susannah, words, baby, nursing, balloons, the learning tower, showers, balloons, markers and music class.

We are very thankful for you, our family and friends. We look forward to connecting with you more in the coming year. May you experience the peace and hope that Christmas brings in the coming year.

Christmas...

Just in time for the new year, I am going to try my hardest to get back to blogging! Here are a few pictures to tide you over till I get the Christmas update together! Also, we had some professional pictures done, and you can check some of those out at:

http://marianofriginal.com/blog/2009/11/the-ellis-family/

If you live in Fresno, and were walking down Christmas tree lane last week, you might recognize the sleigh. Apparently it was very "cute!" Thanks, Grandpa Dennis!

Back to School

I know I have lots of summer pictures to post including our 3 camping trips, but here are the most recent photos from "Back to School" Monday at our house...very excited people = a few really cute pix. Enjoy!

Abbey waiting to go into school...she's a first grader now!

Susannah in line too...she's in 3rd grade.

Mug shot!


Can't believe everyone's smiling!

My big kids!

Rhythms of life

I always think I am going to get "things done" during the summer. No routine, no where to be at specific times.But here I am, a few weeks before the summer is over, and no sign of moving forward on the things that I was going to definitely move forward on. It's not like I have been idle, just not crossing off the expansive list of things that I dream of doing. This summer, for example, I was going to get caught up on memory keeping. Well, we've been making lots of memories. And my hard drive is getting more full of pictures. But nothing has been collated. That's for sure.

We celebrate 2 birthdays in July. We've been camping 2 times...and I finished 2 quilt tops. I guess it's a "2" month. Maybe I'll get 2 scrapbooks done in the last 2 days of July...NOT.

We've hosted our first party at our new house. So nice to start seeing our house become our home. It's lovely. I've been riding around our new neighborhood(s) early in the morning with my little early riser. We're still swimming at least 2x a day. It's the highlight of the day for most of the kids. Serves as a good motivation to get some chores done.

And now, my thoughts turn towards getting some people ready to go back to school. Abbey will experience all day school for the first time. She'll love it. People are needing new shoes, jeans. It gives me such satisfaction to sort, get rid of the old...make space for the growth. Susannah is so ready to go back to school. And Jesse is showing he really does want to go to Kinder next school year. "Mama...what's 6 plus 3...it's 9! Mama, what are lights made out of? What...Why...How!" Yay for expanding and growing minds. I love it.

I am so ingrained in the new school year being a new year. It's amazing how the rhythms of life become so habitual and instinctive. Believe it or not, even the thought of another baby has flashed through my mind since Maggie is at the age where it has become the routine to be with child again...but I digress. In a couple more weeks we'll try hard to get some little ones to go to bed before it gets dark...and get them up earlier than they want (they've been sleeping in till around 9)..and start all over again. We'll be back to the familiar drop off and pick ups...and another year will be underway....

Weekend at the coast

Going to the coast is one of my favorite ways to get away from real life. Last week we got to go to a wedding there too. It was quite an adventure to find the requisite things that we needed for the trip in a garage full of boxes. But we did...and had a pretty good time at it. The big girls were flower girls in the wedding, so we got to be a part of it all. It was quite a long day following Maggie around as she socialized with everyone and explored every facet of the wedding decorations, food etc. I was beat after it all. But we still had a good time. After almost 10 years of being married, it's fun to see others just embarking on the adventure of marriage. I'm thankful for the lessons I've learned, hopefully the better person I've become and the family God has blessed me with in this marriage. I've gained children, but also been blessed by the in-laws and extended family I have gained. We spent some time at the beach itself before and after the wedding...sand is also always good for the soul!
Just the two of us!
Abbey dancing with the groom
Sisters
Thank goodness for lollipops!
The flower girls with the bride and groom
Baked beans
Cameron Diaz?
Watching in awe at the first dance
The sky is falling
Doing the job
Waiting for the proceedings to start

Walking down the beach with a sleeping babe
Family hands!

A prized whole sand dollar
The fam!
A beach baby

Moving the right direction

We've been moved for a week and a half now. Brandon's dad and step-mom have been her almost every day working on the walls, or other projects. We are so thankful for all the help we have had in getting to this point. Today the painters finished the painting that had to be suspended due to all the demolition of bathrooms/walls that was happening when they first came almost 3 weeks ago. Tomorrow we will get the settlement check, and we get carpet on Wednesday. I have never been so excited about carpet in my life! Yay! We've been keeping busy outside of the unpacking going on at home. Last week Susannah had "drum camp" which meant we were a 4 person taxi service, and this week is Vacation Bible Blast. We did squeeze in a trip to the zoo, Jesse's soccer, Abbey's gymnastics and my sewing day at church. This weekend is a wedding in the San Luis Obispo area...the big girls are going to be flower girls. Next week, God willing, should be our first taste of normalcy - guess not having places to be isn't really normal. But I am looking forward to it nonetheless. Getting 5 people out the door everyday really does get old sometimes. The pictures are of our adventures, including the pictures of Jesse and Maggie standing on the (approximate) spot of their birth at our "0ld" Pico house! 

"this is where I was born"
"this is the house I was born in"

Susannah and her friend Ella playing at their "drum camp" concert

"this is where I was born"
"this is the house I was born at..."
Abbey with my very most favorite Kindergarten teacher ever...we feel so blessed to have started off our school experience with this treasure.
Susannah and some of her best friends at school
Happy un-Birthday Abbey! Joining the likes of her mama, never to get to celebrate birthday at school. She doesn't look too sad does she!
My other "Bills guy!"
Susannah received this certificate of achievement in all academic areas. She also received her perfect attendance certificate - for the whole year. What a healthy (and eager) girl she is!
I love this picture...
the house...with the walls gone on the bottom of 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a walk-in closet
here's the culprit. It looks beautiful now complete with the fence

Long time no blog

The last few months really have got away from me. I am determined to better update...from now. The news is we moved. What a few weeks...with all the end of year stuff for all 3 kids in school, as well as all of Brandon's end of school stuff. Also, I did 3 births in a weekend, taught a weekend class and 3 daytime classes another week. Also did a mother blessing up in Sacramento. All fun things just slightly overwhelming on the cusp of a move. Then Brandon had a test to take, and we moved. All within the space of 3 weeks or so. It has been crazy. Thanks to the help of our dear families, we have survived. It was getting pretty dire for a while though. On top of the normal moving upheaval, 4 rooms of our new house were "flooded" when a workman "accidently" drained the pool water into the septic tank, which in turn came up through the toilets. Thankfully we had painters here who walked in on the disaster...or it could have been much worse. So, we are all 6 in two rooms right now, but enjoying life at our new place nonetheless. 

We have been processing the move for quite a while...having given birth to 2 children in that house makes me quite sentimental about it. I made a list of all the milestones that took place within those walls. When I find it, I will share it with you. However, saying good bye to it tonight was not as sad as I thought it would be. We love where we are in our new house. The kids are holding up well. Although being 1 and 3 and moving seems to be a tad traumatic. Especially 1. We are ready to get in some kind of routine again, and I never knew I would be so happy about the prospect of cooking dinner and washing dishes again. (we are still waiting on a stove/oven and the dishwasher!)

So, the summer starts tomorrow. Susannah is going to drum camp. Swimming lessons are on tap. Lots of organizing in our new house...a wedding, 3 camping trips and a few more road trips no doubt. Also looking forward to lots of reading and dare I say sleeping past 6am. We are so thankful for our blessings and the way that this has been so watched over. We are thankful. 

Here's a few glimpses of some cute people to leave you with... 

Feliz dia de las madres!

It's been a while! Just means that the current of life is moving me along at a quick pace, and I can't feel my feet on the ground for long! But, I wanted to write an admittedly impersonal note, to wish you, my friends, a very happy Mothers Day. I have learned so much from each one of you, and am so thankful for this journey. I have found you, the companions on this journey, to be full of wisdom, different vantage points, correction, humility and grace. These attributes have combined with the way my children are instruments of change in my life, to truly leave me a changed woman. This is my 8th Mothers Day. I look back on who I was 8 years ago, and see so many differences. This mothering journey is powerfully transformative. I am so thankful for walking beside me.

Flashbacks and Walking

This time last year I was a week and a bit overdue with my fourth child. It was such a tenuous existence. It was bone-jarringly emotional, physically exhausting and generally not fun to wait. I feel like I am reliving it as I wait for Maggie's 1st birthday. Amazing the things that come back. Every time I write the date I remember that day last year; hoping, praying, pleading that God would have mercy and let me birth this child. As I wait for her birthday this year, I remember all the people who reminded me last year to cherish this time of being pregnant for the last time. I couldn't bring myself to do it much. This year is similar in that sense. I love to watch my children get bigger, gain independence, learn to sleep, learn to read etc. Maggie has been in a not-so-good-sleep phase. I want to be done with sleep issues. But, she is learning to walk. I am trying, in my very-impatient way to cherish this time. The last time I will watch the wobbly, Frankenstein attempts at walking. It's so entertaining to watch. She is SOOOO pleased with herself, I can't help but try to find something to be sooo pleased about with myself. I love it. I love the gleam and glimmer in her eye as she makes it. I'll make it. I'll probably never be fully content, but I will try and cherish.