Learning to swim

Having my children learn to swim early is important to me because it teaches self belief, self confidence, the ability of one's body, physical work and co-ordination. Every other year in our family, someone learns to swim. It's a rite of passage around here. It's so exciting for the others, that now the newest swimmer can also be privy to the world of summer fun. This year it was Maggie's turn. Newly 2 with the confidence of a 6 year old, she jumped right into it. Here are some pictures of her lessons.

Women to learn from

The end of the school year is always an emotional time for me. I know, I don't even go to school anymore. But good byes are hard for me. I've said so many permanent ones: to the land I grew up in, to my grandparents every other summer before I travelled back across the Atlantic; to the my childhood friends. This year was particularly hard for me. Not really sure why. I do love my kids getting older and more independent, but there is a part of their childhood that I say good bye to with each school year ending. They had wonderful teachers this year. I would count each of those women as wonderful teachers, and also friends. Not only have their teachers poured into the lives of Susannah, Abbey and Jess. I feel they have poured into mine with their wisdom, style, and their presence.

Jesse with his preschool teachers

Abbey and her first grade teacher

Susannah and her 3rd grade teacher

Long overdue.

Well, I keep saying this, but here I am trying to updae this more often. I often say I want to, but I have this perfectionist part of me that says if I can't write about everything, I am not going to write about anything. I am working on it.

My baby girl turned 2 this last week. Crazy. It is weird to have a 2 year old with no one else on the way. Her birthday brings up a lot for me as far as remembering her birth, and specifically the time leading up to her birth...being overdue.

Other than that there are a lot of ordinary days around here. Most of them involve large amounts of driving here and there, lots of food being made and consumed, large amounts of time pondering what's important, to me and for my kids. Books are pretty important for me and the kids. I spend large portions of time with my therapist friend, the sewing machine. Also, spending time talking, texting or "fac*booking" with friends is a highlight on this privileged journey.

Jesse is registered for Kindergarten. He is playing soccer and had a star game as Goalie today.

Abbey is transitioning into the thought of being 7. She loves her gymnastics and does more monkey bars than you could imagine. Her hands tell their story.

Susannah is growing into a young lady, and I am trying to be ok with that. I am ok with that, but I am learning not to squelch the delicate wings that are eager to unfurl. I am learning.

Learning is probably the common thread around here...tonight I am going to learn to go to bed.

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....