happy 4th birthday, ellory!

the birthday day begins-the kids were out of bed right at 7am. they came downstairs and ellory opened her presents and cards. a new green comforter for her bed. dora dvd, and a laurie berkner cd. plus some college money from gran and pawpaw. more gifts will be trickling in. we decided to go to gunther toody's for a birthday breakfast. (the best we could do that would qualify as a "party." )
the kids had M & M pancakes-yummy!
family shot try #1
family shot try #2 (please be assured-no child was actually choked during this photo session)
family shot try #3- we're done.
the wait staff gave ellory a hat and sang happy birthday.
that night after dinner we had birthday cupcakes. cute smile.
we love to see ellory laugh. daddy was acting silly behind me as i took the picture.
ellory loves that she is now the same age as townsend.
couldn't snap the shot before marin had already taken a bite. the girl loves her food.

dear ellory,
four years ago a 26 year old woman in guatemala, maria, gave birth to YOU! i think she is probably thinking of you today. wondering where you are. who you are. it is bittersweet for me to think about. what was probably a painful decision for her allowed us to have a beautiful daughter. we are so grateful for you elly bell. you continue to both delight and confound us. one minute you have your lower lip sticking out in a huge pout. the next minute you are sweet as pie. and we still haven't figured out what triggers either. sigh.
some things about this past year:
1. we saw dr. moser a few days ago. you are in the 90% for weight and height. he said that you were perfectly healthy.
2. you are in the big "crocodile" class this year at preschool. i am so glad to hear you talk about some of your friends-parker, hope, joey, luke.
3. you went to your first birthday party without your brother and sister. we went to natalie's 5th birthday party where you saw "toy story 3." or at least part of it. the party was at night and you had to go to bed. :)
4. we got you and marin bunk beds and you sleep on top!
5. you still have a blankie that a neighbor made in alpharetta. i call it your pepperoni blanket. you put it up to your nose and just seem to breathe through it. like you're smelling it.
6. you have started enjoying coloring and writing. i think your fine motor skills are getting better. and you usually take your time instead of just scribbling.
7. you continue to be the slowest eater of the family. i'm sure you've just read that it is better for digestion to eat slower and thus are taking good care of your body. :)
8. you are still cautious when new people come around. but once you warm up to someone it's a different story.
9. you took swimming lessons for the first time this year. you were pretty scared but each day you overcame your fears and got in the water and had a great time.
10. you love to dribble and play basketball.
11. mommy was kind of bummed when you started having opinions on your wardrobe. basically you want to wear jeans and three shirts. that's it. tears/whining/crying/refusing happen when i make you wear something different.
12. you had xrays taken at the dentist last month and we found out that you have two extra teeth on top with your permanent ones. you will have to have surgery later this year to take them out. good thing you can't read this post yet!

we love you so much ellory!

a little treat?

norton was out of town at a conference this week. so mommy decided to relax a few of the "rules" around here. i let them all drink their milk in sippy cups on the couch in the morning. i let them eat their breakfast on the couch while they watched "dinosaur train." just a few little things like that. and i always prefaced everything with, "this is a little treat for you!"
this next part might seem a little off topic, but keep reading.
about a month ago i finally decided to buy some of those disposable wipes to use on the kids when they go number two. too many times, the kids would be getting red bottoms because they would wipe themselves and not do a good job. so the rule was, "tell mommy when you go poo-poo so i can wipe your bottom." a couple of days ago townsend was in the bathroom going number two. i tried to wait for him to finish-sometimes he's on there quite awhile-to wipe his bottom but suddenly i had to go too! so i told him that i was just going to give him the wipe and he could do it himself. he replied, "kinda like a treat for me?" maybe you had to be there. but it was funny. :)

a look into the future??

the other day the girls and i were in the family room playing. townsend walked in with a huge pile of papers and announced, " everyone, sit down. i am going to preach!" then he proceeded to shuffle the papers, (it was a stack of at least 30 pages-that's some sermon!) and told us that "God wants us to love each other."
with norton being a "preacher" and all, maybe this shouldn't have come as a surprise to me. but i don't think we ever use the term, "preacher." and townsend hasn't ever been in a service to see norton preach and use papers and such. so we don't know where this came from. but it was sure cute. marin, of course, decided she wanted to "creech" too. so she went and got a pile of papers and started "creeching." then townsend and marin started fighting about the papers and all the "love" went out the door. :)

3 or 13?

marin has gotten into a bad habit. a very bad habit.
she has started calling me "mom" and norton "dad."
i thought we had another ten years or so before this started!
i don't like it. not one bit.
marin, you are our BABY. hear me??
love, MOMMY AND DADDY

oh, the questions

the kids have recently started this little "game" with me. here's an example.
them- "what do we do tomorrow morning?"
me-"breakfast"
them- "what's after breakfast?"
me- "preschool"
them- "what's after preschool?"
me- "quiet time"
them- "what's after quiet time?"
on and on they go. you get the picture.
tonight marin asked, "where are we going tonight?"
me- "nowhere."
marin- "what's after nowhere?"
for some reason, it just cracked me up. :)

tennis shoes aren't just for your feet

marin has had a runny nose for the past couple of days. so she constantly asks for a "tennis shoe." we laugh every time. i get it, though. tennis shoe-tissue. say both real fast and it's perfectly understandable. :)

overheard tonight

i was giving ellory a bath tonight. marin had already had her bath and was in her pj's. townsend had disrobed and was waiting for his turn. i heard him ask marin, "do you want to play naked dancer?" then he proceeded to run around the house yelling, "i'm a naked dancer!" i was grateful and actually pretty surprised that marin did not join in.
now this being a family blog and all, there are no pictures posted to document the event. :)

booooring!

i guess mommy should come up with more exciting snacks, huh?

don't go breaking my....

COLLARBONE! i mean CLAVICLE! (pawpaw the MD corrected me-thank you)
the first broken bone in our family. townsend was painting at the table in late november when he stood up on the chair. he was wearing socks and suddenly slipped off and landed on his shoulder. he didn't seem to be in that much pain and he could move his arm. we gave him some tylenol and put him to bed. he woke up a couple of times during the night crying. he said he couldn't move and was in pain. the next morning i took him to the doctor. they did xrays and found that he had completely broken his collarbone. the doctor said that if you had to break a bone, the collarbone was the one to break. there was no setting it back into place. we just received a sling and were told it would heal on its own. by the next day, you wouldn't even know townsend had hurt himself. he was back to running, jumping, etc. i think that i was more anxious than he was!

marin turns 3!

dear mare-bear,
i think out of all the kids, you have changed the most over the last twelve months. everyone who met you this past year couldn't believe you were only 2 years old. i'm sure having two slightly older siblings has encouraged you to try to keep up with them. and you have done a pretty good job at it too!
some highlights of your year:
1. you pottytrained!!! a couple of months after you turned two, you decided you wanted to wear big girl panties. we were so glad.
2. you got a big girl bed! we moved ellory back into the girl's room after buying a bunkbed. i was hoping that the nice, comfy larger bed would keep you asleep longer. nope. still up by 6:15am.
3. you love to memorize God's Word and amaze us with how much you can remember. even the references!
4. you have such high energy. you talk and bounce around from the moment you get up-6:15am-until you go to bed-7pm. wh0 do you get this from? daddy and i cannot figure it out. we get tired just watching you.
5. you are sooooo compassionate. when you hear anything remotely like a cry, you are immediately concerned and trying to help whoever is upset. "there, there, it's ok!"
6. you love most foods. except carrots. and broccoli. and cheese. (unless it's spicy-then you love it.)
7. you can sit for long periods of time reading books with whomever will read to you.
8. you continue to show your balance and coordination on the skuut bike.
9. you LOVE caillou! (pbs kid's show)
10. you have started becoming more huggy and snuggly.
11. you have pretty much dropped your nap. every once in awhile you'll fall asleep but not usually. again, how can you keep going on only 11 hours of sleep a day?
12. you have a will. a strong one. mommy and daddy are tired. sometimes you win.
13. you get so excited for things. like your third birthday. i don't remember the other two talking so much about their birthdays. but you were convinced that there was going to be a big party with all your friends. we didn't have a party but we did take you roller skating and paige and taylor came with a present.
14. you say things like, " i love ellory. she's my sister." "townsend, you're my big brother."
15. your hair has grown enough now that no one asks, "what's HIS name?" anymore. :)
16. you are in the 90% for weight! and the 75% for height. i was concerned about the weight but the doctor said that with the height being what it is, he wasn't worried. and the fact that you jump around from morning till night. :)

marin, you are one of a kind. so special. we love you baby girl.