January

Happy Sunday everyone on this final day of a quiet month!  Last January was not quiet.  I can still remember counting every bite Ellie put in her mouth!

I have a helper in my lap singing her own words to the Beatles music I have playing. "Blackbird", Julia", "I Will".  Some of our favorites!

Crazy kids got a hold of the camera this week and I thought I would give them some notoriety for their creativity!  Especially figuring out the self timer function while I was getting Ellie to sleep!

Sweetness ready for mass today.

Girls at prayer time being silly.

A BEAUTIFUL walk to the park.  What big kids we have - watching them handle a play structure they've been around their whole lives.

Number two and number four swing.

All wrapped up

Always the little helper, Ellie was pretending to fold this crib sheet when she discovered it was the perfect size for a little blanket to go around her toes!

"I'll just sleep right here!"

Church time again.  How cute are these boots?  A throw back from 2010 and Julia.

But upon taking a few steps in them it was determined she's not quite ready to walk in them yet!  Quick wardrobe change and smile and out the door we went!

Sisters

Double feature at mass on Sunday...the girls together with their matching shirts.

And lunch today was too cute - Ellie was so pleased with her new plate with sections for different items.  Today we had peanut butter sandwich, cantaloupe and I happened to have just made salsa so Ellie got chips.  I'm not sure she's ready for jalapeno in her diet quite yet!  Raise your hand if you think Mommy's salsa is way too hot!!!

Sunday Best

Ellie friends,

I am happy to announce a new feature here at Holey Ellie.

Thanks to generous family, Ellie's closet floweth over with cuteness!  Many cute outfits were given to her - especially the dressier type.

So for fun (and if I remember!) I'm going to try to take a photo every Sunday before mass to show off her new apparel.

Today's ensemble shows how big her heart is.

Ordinary

I appreciate the ordinary SO much more now due to the unordinary times we've been through.

So the first week of January was very, very, very ordinary.  And I would like to remember it.

I would like to read this in 20 years when I sit and worry that I didn't "stop and smell the roses". When I wonder if I savored the "little things".  When I ponder if I didn't appreciate being "in the moment".  The first week of January 2016 I can say that we did all those things.

We played with new toys without cleaning them up.

We had early lunches with four, even five items!! (Tuna sandwiches on homemade bread, grapes, fruit salad with more than two fruits, potato chips leftover from holidays and a piece of candy even!)

One by one we stopped by the couch throughout the day and snuggled under the quilt that still rests there.  When Mommy was the one laying down - books were brought to her to be read aloud.

We went outside multiple times a day.

We did science experiments, crafts and anything else that usually gets put off until "later".

Here's hoping when things pick up speed I can find ways to sneak some "ordinariness" into everyday life.

Happy New Year!!!