4-year-old Ellie!

A happy day Sunday celebrating our big girl!  At the same time Ellie was waking up and having her breakfast, a mass was being held for her in New Jersey, a cousin was preparing to receive her first communion and a beloved Papa was also being thankful to be blessed with another year!

4 is a sweet age. It's the beginning of the target age for the show Curious George if that tells you anything :).

Do you mind being indulged by pictures from the day?  You'll notice a theme of new clothes and a very willing "model" :).

Happy Birthday sweet girl!  Many many more!  As her Aunt Louise would say, "Sto lat"!!!

Boys and Girls

Happy April everyone!

The weather has gotten the kids outside tons these past few weeks. Fun for them -we've gotten quite a few new toys including a croquet set!  Ellie took right to it!

And April brought a long anticipated trip to a certain city where a certain golf tournament is played and we were blessed to be invited by a friend.

The "men" of the family had a wonderful time - spiritual you could say, as they were so thankful and appreciative of God's beauty while there.

Meanwhile, the "ladies" of the family were on our own and we too were thankful for our time together!  We started out with a big outing on our first day of just us.  For fun we went into a toy store and took our time looking around.  As I stood there watching the girls play with the items - a "wave" came over me.  Approximately 6 years ago I'd often stand in stores similar to this one with two little boys.  We'd go shopping and they'd play with things and then be satisfied enough to not leave with anything (thankfully).  Then our family grew, and grew.  And things got complicated and busy.  And we stopped "shopping" in general.  So, in this toy shop I realized - here I am with just two again.  And they are simple, sweet, happy little children who aren't asking to buy anything.  They are just playing.  And things aren't complicated and busy.  Things are simple and slow in this exact moment.  But this time, they are my girls and not my boys!  I got to "recreate" something I'd lost for several years by taking my two girls out for plain old browsing.  I felt for a second like I only had two children and for a moment was able to fantasize what it would be like if the girls were my first two and the boys came later.  It was a neat moment and I got a good picture of how happy they were busying themselves with the lower shelf.  How I loved seeing Julia kneel down in fascination and Ellie had something in her hand at all times.

Next after shopping it was ice cream time!!!  Ellie had never really held a cone so this was a huge step for her!  I had the girl give her soft serve out of the machine versus a scoop and that worked great!  She loved it from the first second!

 Big lick!!

She then got the rest of her face involved but, most of it still went in her mouth.

Yummm!!

Then, because things are infinitely easier with two young children than four in the mix, we went to play miniature golf!  Another first for Ellie!  She did so awesome and her favorite part was putting the ball right outside the hole and "tapping it in" as they say on television :).  She even started this thing were she dropped her club (threw it really) when the ball went it and she put her hands up in the air to celebrate it!  It was pretty funny - she entertained Julia and I through all 18 holes. 

The girls played golf while the boys watched the pros in person!

A few memories I wanted to note here as this is an easy place for me to journal some special things:  Julia slept with me the night the guys were gone and we fell asleep holding hands. I wanted to remember her squeezing my hand then her grip getting lighter and lighter until I felt that "twitch" I've come to recognize over the past 11 years of a child falling asleep on/near me.  The house was quiet and clean for two days straight.  Meal preparation took only a few minutes with just the three of us.  Julia did cry the night Jeff was gone but talking to him on the phone to say goodnight calmed her down.  It was wonderful to see them back home and hear all their adventures.

All back together now I got brave and took them to a fabric shop to buy something I need for a current project. Luckily they had toys and my helpers kept Ellie busy.  This is a sight I almost never see as I mentioned above we really don't go out shopping any more.  It was fun and I'm glad we did it.  The clerks were just delighted to meet the children.

Here's one example of how I've been getting Geometry taught to Jacob.  Interior angles of a triangle don't necessarily come easily to me so I constantly suggest creativity on mornings like today when it's raining and I have to really concentrate.

The rain stopped and snack was served outside. Here the youngest and the oldest share a moment.  Ellie was really into whatever Jacob was saying to her.

"Hmmmm...you don't say?"

Easter!!!

Happy Easter everyone!  We love Easter so much around here.  We like when things have happy endings :).

Speaking of happy endings, let me tell you how Easter morning began here.  I had to go wake Ellie up at 8:00 to get everyone moving toward breakfast and mass.  When I got her up she was not her usual chatty, perky self.  Then when I brought her out to the den she went straight for the floor and laid down and closed her eyes!  I then picked her up and sat on the couch and she fell back asleep!  Throw in the fact that she was doing this weird breathing sound that was obviously voluntary but still strange, Jeff and I were thrown back in time 3 years to what to "look for" with a child with cardiac and respiratory diseases.

Thanks be to God after taking separate cars and giving her some more time at home, we made it to mass and after a little snack she was back to herself.

Then after nap you could say she was "bright eyed" and jumped right in to the fun that was underway!  We were so grateful - Jeff and I kept making little remarks to each other about how relieved we were that she was not sick or worse.  The other children were very relieved too as they were very concerned about how she was acting in the morning.

This was Ellie's year for Easter egg hunting!  It was indoors due to the rain and worked out great for her - she practically ran around the house grabbing the "low hanging fruit". 

What a cute picture this is - it was hard to get a good shot with all the movement!

Back at egg central, everyone dumps and goes through the loot!

I love how Jacob is hiding something in his cheek while trying to pose for the photo!

It's so nice that our kids put all their candy together in one giant bowl so their parents can eat some and they won't know what's missing they learn how to share.  :)

3/21

One of the many benefits of this blog is that it's a medium for me to document stories that I would either a-forget or b-never believe they actually happened.

We have a "prayer jar" with about 25 names in it of family members (including the 6 of us), extended family, friends, priests, etc.  Even the Pope made the jar!  Each night a child (we take turns) selects a name and we all go around and pray for what that person might be going through and if we don't know what to pray we just say "that they may receive the blessings they need".

Tonight, Julia picked Ellie.  We all prayed she was "safe, felt loved, learned a lot at therapy, ate well and had a fun Easter".  As we finished I remembered what today was.  Down syndrome is when there are 3 of the 21st chromosomes.  So, one day a year we celebrate individuals with Down syndrome (a tiny bit more than we celebrate them every single day).  3/21.  When I got out the book (the book you get when you have a baby with Down syndrome) and showed the kids they were all astonished Julia had picked her name.  We were supposed to "wear funny socks" today according to the movement so someone would ask us in public today about our socks and we could tell them about Ellie.

To have God divinely work Julia picking out Ellie's name was a way to celebrate Ellie at the end of the day without 3/21 going unnoticed.  He is in the big and the small things and I didn't want to forget that.

Oh, and today on the way to therapy with just the three of us girls, Julia said, "Mommy, when you go to heaven will I be Ellie's Mommy?"  I told her, "No, I will always be her mommy, but...", and before I could finish she said, "I'll just take care of her?" I said, "Yes, that's right you'll take care of her and you'll have your own children that will call you Mommy and they can call Ellie 'Aunt Ellie'".  The smile that came over Julia's face in the rear view mirror while stopped at a red light was something I was so glad I caught. It was as if she looked forward to it.  

Short Sleeves

I hope wherever you are the weather is as nice as it is here, or at least it will be coming to you soon!

Ellie stayed on her schedule with nap today with the time change. We'll see how tonight goes with going to bed with the sun shining outside the window!

Holey Ellie - improved!!!

Hello friends!  We're back after a couple weeks with an upgrade to Holey Ellie!  But, I'll get to that in a minute!

Firstly, Julia and Ellie happened to be nearby when Mommy was having a "moment" a couple weeks ago in the kitchen.  The kids had made me some cards for my birthday, emotions were running a little thick that week and a tear started to slip of my eye out as the girls passed through.  Ellie stopped and looked at me then reached up on the desk to get me a tissue!  She wanted to dry my eye for me!  Julia grabbed the camera and did a nice job capturing the gesture made by Ellie.

Everyone needs a hug after crying!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...Ellie's attire!  Here's the cute little ladybug ready for church!

Now, before you get down to the next photo, you should have some background information about our little blog here.  About a month ago our camera of 12 years (bought when pregnant with Jacob!) got dropped one too many times and called it quits!  It was sad to see an old friend go!  In the meantime we've been using our phone but shopping around for cameras.

May I present to you the first picture taken with our new camera!  TA DA!!!!!!!

Our girl looks great, doesn't she?!  Such bright colors, it's fun to take such clear pictures of such a sweet face!  We were realistic in buying a camera that was not the fanciest thing out there, but we also have a case to protect this one a little more.  Maybe this one will go another 12 years for us!

Xavier wanted in on the fun so he posed next to his birthday cake for his party today.  "X turns 9" - a play off Roman Numerals and his name :).  A lemon poppyseed cake decorated like the sun for his sunny, bright smile!

We'll be back soon with more pictures!!!