another first for marin

several months ago townsend took a shower with daddy for the first time. he was so proud. well, both of them were actually. :) i suppose ellory should have been next but for some reason marin got her turn first. i had just finished working out and was going in to take a shower and daddy suggested that marin come in with me. she was ecstatic. and very dirty. she didn't seem to mind getting the water in her face and jabbered away the whole time. daddy threatened to take pics....but this is a family blog and all. afterwards, marin just talked and talked about taking a shower with mommy. it's the small things i guess. :)

lesson learned

we were just driving home from church and i decided to use the time to call my friend, michelle. in the back, townsend started saying something to upset ellory and she started having quite a fit. i held up one then two fingers to warn townsend he was on his way to "timeout." he continued bugging ellory so i pulled over to the side of the road. first lesson learned-don't pull over next to mcdonald's. although we rarely go there, the kids do like the nuggets. i told townsend that if he continued i would put him out on the sidewalk for his timeout. he looked over and said, "i want to sit out there!" i started pulling away and he began yelling, "i want to sit on the street!" the entire rest of the way home. once we got home i told him that he had timeout in his carseat. again, he said, "i want to sit on the street!" i then explained that i couldn't put him on the street because mommies weren't allowed to do that. and i apologized for telling him that i was going to put him on the sidewalk for timeout. overall lesson learned-do not expect to have a meaningful conversation on the phone when you have three young children in the car. (i guess i shouldn't be on the phone anyway.) because when the three young children start acting out, you will say things that you wish you hadn't. and your kids will beg you to sit on the street. never a good thing.

easter 2010

our church sponsored an egg hunt on the day before Easter. we didn't really know how many to expect. our guess was maybe 150. well, it was more like 1,5oo! i didn't get any pics because i was trying so hard to just keep track of the kids. i was so thankful that aunt susu was there. aunt ann, uncle jim, james and julia drove up for the hunt and then came over to our house. we dyed eggs and then had our own egg hunt. marin and julia were taking a nap during the egg dyeing process. i read a great tip about using a whisk to put the egg into and then dipping it into the dye. perfect.

marin woke up in time for the egg hunt. our kids had a great time.


you can see james in the background on the motorcycle. he found about 2 eggs and was done. he was more interested in riding around. :)

on the actual Easter day we got the kids up and let them look through their Easter baskets. then aunt susu had hidden eggs around the house with money in them so they got to have another hunt. we went over to the redden's house along with some other new denver church folks for a yummy potluck. we hung around there until church. daddy delivered a wonderful sermon and there were quite a few new people. a fun day. :)

america's next top model??

hmmm. although i think marin is as cute as can be-she doesn't seem to understand the concept of "smile for the camera." thank goodness daddy was there to jump around and act silly so we could get a few nice pics. aunt susu makes sure each child gets their annual studio pictures-thank you aunt susu!



i wish the background were different but she has a nice smile. :) way to go, marin!
this one seems to say, "gimme your candy or i'll beat you up!"

this was the face she gave us most of the time during the shoot. lovely.
and this one just cracks me up.

our beautiful ellory turns 3!

this was your first birthday. you still weren't big into smiling. eating? yes. smiling? not so much.
this was the night we brought you home from guatemala.



dear ellory,
what to say? what to say? you continue to amaze, exasperate, and delight us.
amazing ellory-
1. your communication skills have grown by leaps and bounds this past year. you speak so clearly now.
2. i love to watch you eat. the way you hold your utensils is so grownup-like.
3. i love to watch you color. again, the way you hold your crayon or marker is so "big girl." and you are even starting to stay between the lines and be so precise in your work.
4. you love to read books. count. say your abc's. sing.
5. you can pedal your dora tricycle now!
exasperating ellory-
1. transitions can be hard for you. we can't just tell you to stop what you are doing and switch gears.
2. you continue to be a mommy's girl most of the time. i think this makes daddy sad sometimes as he loves to cuddle and play with you.
3. you are our sensitive girl. sometimes just simply telling you to "stop" will bring showers of tears.
4. you want to "do it myself" more and more. a good thing at times but when mommy is in a hurry and just wants to dress you herself, it can be frustrating. :)
delightful ellory-
1. you can be quite the mommy. telling a crying marin, "it's alright baby." and patting her on the head.
2. i love picking you up from preschool. you always coming running over yelling, "mommy!"
3. you love to read books to marin. not that she always appreciates this.... :)
4. your smile lights up a room. you are such a beautiful little girl.
we went to the doctor for your 3 year well check. you weighed in at 37 pounds-94th percentile. and you are in the 69th percentile for height.
i recently talked with a friend who placed her child for adoption 3 years ago. she said that she thought of her child every day. most days i don't even remember that you were adopted. i feel like i gave birth to you and have known you from the very beginning. but i know i need to remember that there is a young woman in guatemala who probably thinks about you and wonders about your life. you still haven't asked any questions about being born in guatemala. or realized that your skin is different from mommy and daddy's skin. i wonder how you will handle the story of your birth and pray that we will navigate that time well. we are so thankful for you, ellory. happy birthday big girl.

video saga part 2

the day finally came for us to take the destroyed video back to the library. (i guess i should say the destroyed video case. the video itself was just fine.) i got townsend's piggy bank down and we headed over. i coached townsend on what he should say, " i'm sorry i ripped the video cover. how much do i owe you?" as soon as we walked into the library i was a little bummed. there's a really Nice Guy that works there who gives the kids stickers and talks to them. then there's Grumpy Guy. he looks like santa claus but does not act like him. guess who was working?? we walked up and townsend handed over the video and made his little speech. very quietly but he said all the words. Grumpy took the video case, opened it up, and started typing on his computer.
finally he said, "well, i'm just going to charge you for the case and not the entire video."
i was a bit startled i must say. i really thought they would just say, "no problem. this happens all the time." then it got worse.
Grumpy- "that'll be $10 for the case"
me-" i could go to target and buy the whole thing for $10!"
Grumpy- "it costs us $30 to replace an entire video"
so i opened townsend's bank and we started counting out his money. about this time Nice Guy walks up and sees what is going on. he says to Grumpy, " are you going to make him pay all that? he's just a little guy." Grumpy stood firm.
it's a bummer because townsend doesn't really understand money. ten cents and ten dollars are the same to him. i really wanted him to pay something. just not that much.
as for Grumpy. i don't understand putting a person in a customer service position who has no people skills.
live and learn. townsend has not touched a video case since we got home that afternoon. :)

the Christmas Story

when we were in texas in early december, my friend, rhonda, gave us her kid's rocking horse. once we got home and put it out townsend and ellory immediately started calling each other joseph and mary. ellory would get on the horse and townsend would pull her into bethlehem and they would look for a "room in the inn." it was kinda cute. :)

christmas 2009 #2

hmmm. still not alot of pictures here. pitiful. gran and pawpaw flew in on Christmas Eve for our second Christmas of the year. we decided to start some Guatemalan traditions so for dinner we had Guatemalan tamales. i had found a Guatemalan grocery story/cafe in downtown denver and ordered some to be ready on the 24th. they were huge! nothing like those little cornhusk ones that are so popular. these were wrapped in big banana leaves! i couldn't even eat the whole thing. but did i take a picture to document this? on to dessert-a popular dessert in many latin places is tres leches. three milks cake. i made this one from scratch and it turned out pretty well. a big sponge cake with a mixture of whole milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk poured over the whole thing and allowed to sit in the fridge for several hours. yum! oh, and topped with real whipped cream. and a cherry.

we finally had our first fire of the year. thank you daddy.

the next morning we opened presents. and presents. and presents. so fun. :) then continued to eat alot. our meal was a little different this year. norton and i decided to cook ribeye steaks. there was a recipe in my new pioneer woman cookbook for a whiskey sauce so norton did the honors. it was good. probably won't make it again but it was fun to do something besides turkey. :)
the day after christmas gran and i went shopping. of course.
the day after

catching up-still christmas

i forgot how much i love teacher supply stores! it's a good thing because things aren't cheap there. back in early december i went in to one and looked around for some activities to do with the kids. they had this bulletin board package with a tree and lots of ornaments to put on it. one afternoon when the kids were having cabin fever, i pulled out the package and we put the tree up in the girls' room. i think the hope was that they would use all the paper ornaments and then on another day they could take them down and rearrange. yeah, not so much. the kids definitely took down the ornaments but instead of putting them back on the tree i started finding ripped up ornaments all over the place. i don't understand this desire to rip. especially townsend. but the activity filled at least one afternoon so i was happy. :)

emily

last year we were so bummed when our wonderful babysitter, olivia, decided to move to california. (she's since moved back actually!) but i started praying for a new babysitter and one day was talking with my friend julie and she told me about a friend's daughter who babysat. i got the number and called emily. she agreed to babysit one thursday night during our small group. i was so thankful on many accounts. one blessing is that although she is not old enough to drive, her family lives 2 minutes from our house. so that first time was in august or september and here we are in march, going strong. the kids love her and literally scream when she walks in the door. there have a been a couple of times that emily has put one of the kids in time out and i'm so glad she feels comfortable enough to just take control. she's learned all the routines so norton and i can just leave as soon as i've picked her up. we are so grateful we found her! thank you miss emily!!