Remodeling

Hi everyone!


After 4 years of Holey Ellie being pink with the 5 birds flying off the page, some new designs came out that I just could not resist!


Would you allow the patchwork background and potentially "busy" theme to fulfill my enthusiasm for making the connection between sewing and Ellie's heart being "patched up"?


I didn't think you'd mind.  Thank you dear reader!  A cute picture of Ellie for your loyalty.  (extra large photos were part of the new design - woo hoo!!)

The doctors "stitched" me right up and I was all better!  Now look at me in these cute "threads"!

May Greetings

Happy May everyone! A lovely month ahead of us here of wrapping up school, winding down the year of hard work and getting in the mindset of summer!

Speaking of hard work - Ellie works very hard at her weekly therapy visits.  We're now on a schedule that's quite "doable" for our family which requires one morning out each week for an hour and typically we bring some school with us. Whether or not we get it done depends heavily on how much talking the therapist does to the other children.  They are very involved in her speech and physical sessions as "assistants" :).   Here we are in the car arriving to the place and the boys were working on a school book and didn't realize we'd stopped.

Another shot in the car, this time on a surprise trip to see family!  We took a day trip and surprised some loved ones and Ellie did awesome!  She eats little snacks and this time even played with the Kindle!  That Kindle was a gift to us in 2012 for our own sanity as parents and it has been a special tablet to us.  It's gotten us through doctor's appointments, travel and lots of school too looking up words, etc.  Ok, also looking up Nintendo character pictures for drawing purpose. I have to stay true to my promise to keep things real here at Holey Ellie.

And now, is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  It's........"SUUUUPER ELLIE"!!!  Ellie had this Easter towel and had seen the kids make capes before so she clearly communicated to me she wanted this on her back.

It was difficult to get her picture as she ran around the room!

And, she's off!

She would occasionally stop to land for a second on a surface and raise up her left leg.  I imagine it was some sort of ritual that made her feel she was indeed doing something brave and daring to save the world!

After her heroic adventures, our superhero was hungry!  Thanks to a new picnic table Ellie was given, she had a nice place to sit with her Daddy for a snack.

Another moment of keeping it real - what's outside the shot of the "table for two" is the older kids racing to the finish line with a video game they can't get enough of these days.

More time having meals with willing participants.

Julia and Ellie like to pretend to sleep on the floor together during school time :). 

Ellie had an awesome 4-year check up this week at the doctor and also had a cardiology appointment as well.  She's looking FANTASTIC all around!  All is well and we'll do some "routine" things this summer like annual ear, eye, thyroid checks.  It's all on "the list" and all paid for through our wonderful coverage.  Speaking of that - the next big project is to try to get Ellie some needed equipment in the house. I'll save that for another time when we hopefully will show you in pictures!  We like to make sure our girl has everything she needs!  

The other kids are doing great too - looking very much forward to the summer.  If I may recognize Ellie's brothers for their serving at mass together - this week was a special occasion of them doing it for the first time together.

We are so thankful for our four little "super" children.

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?"