Lent begins

The Holy season of Lent is here.  One of our most memorable Lents would have to be 2013 (3 years ago?!?!) when we came home from Ellie's heart surgery on Mardi Gras.  Check out this throwback of family, food, fun and celebration hours after arriving and unloading our precious cargo.

This year was a wee bit simpler :).  We had lots to celebrate: Jacob achieved a milestone of altar serving at mass completely alone (there are normally five to help), Xavier's favorite team won the Super Bowl, Julia finished a school book, and Ellie gives us reason to celebrate every day!  So we feasted on Burger King at home - here's Ellie all stripped down ready to try some ketchup with her fries.  The rest of the group was washing up but she I was not going to make her wait! 

"Is all this food for me?!?!"

At Ash Wednesday mass Ellie was absolutely fascinated with the ashes on my forehead as I held her.  She stared at  me the whole way back to our seats and displayed great self control as she lifted her hand up several times but then knew she was not supposed to touch it.  She did go at hers a few times but it still stayed on for a quick smile when we got home. 

  

Julia's excitement that the pencil she used to complete her aforementioned book was worn all the way down to a nub seemed worthy of documenting.  It said "Kindergarteners are #1" on it and all there was now was "#1".  I should mention she insisted on sharpening it every single day and became a bit preoccupied with how small she could make it and still hold it.  Behold - "The tiniest pencil in the world".

 I leave you with the continuation of "What's Ellie Wearing".  As a new feature, this picture shows evidence of a new phase she's in.  I have about half a second after I say "smile" until she comes running to me to see the picture on the camera.  So....this is the best of the 10 or so I tried before making us late!

You just can't keep the girl from moving!  :)

Cost of Cleaning

When Ellie was a baby I caught our neighbor's cleaning service getting into their car and stopped them as they drove by.  I asked how much they charged as I was tempted to get some relief from toilets and mopping along with the medicines and feedings.  She said somewhere around $100 for a basic once over of the house.  As good as that sounded, I already felt like there were too many people in the house and could not take one more.

So when I want to get some cleaning done myself and I'm home alone with the kids - I find ways to keep everyone happy while I speed clean.  This weekend it happened to be that Ellie was having fun outside in the general area of some wet dirt, aka mud.  One second she was standing up around the mud while I weaved and bobbed around the corners with the vacuum...the next time I looked she was sitting down.  Right in it.

This is me knocking on the window and Ellie going "Umm, hey, is this ok?"

The price of cleaning folks.  Here it is right here.

As proof that baths are effective, here is the girl all cleaned up and ready for church with big sister.

And finally, Ellie joins the Super Bowl tradition of eating pizza before the game for the second year.  Here she is tonight handling the slice all on her own.

Here's 2015 only weeks after she started eating!

Back to tonight - the fans with the best seats in the house!

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!!!

 

Christmas!

Wordless, Wonderful Day!!!

Glasses

A quick second for an anecdote from Ellie's life...

Last week I had all the kids at church for a Holy Day and leaving mass I had my hands quite full. Diaper bag, purse and a bag of toys and keeping everyone safe in the parking lot while holding an ever-growing Ellie.  I asked each of the kids to take a bag without thinking that I had barely tucked my glasses into one of the outside pockets of my bag.  All of the sudden Ellie starts motioning and making her noise (kind of like "Neeeeeehhhhh" on repeat) and pointing and trying to get my attention.  I was feet away from the car and turned to say "what do you see, a bird?" but I kept walking as I was ready to go home and get lunch on the table.

The time I spent looking for my glasses when I got home made me pause - I know I had them at mass!  So I texted my inside man who works at the church and was in charge of another mass in a matter of minutes and asked him if he could retrace my steps. I told him where I parked and what did he find?!  A pair of (luckily unscathed!) glasses!!!  Ellie saw them fall and watched them lying there on the ground as we slowly walked and drove away from them.

"Sorry Mommy, I notice things but I'm just not quite able to communicate all of what's in my mind right now.  But I'm working on it - it'll be worth the wait"!  Love, Ellie

Preparation

Happy December everyone!  By far this month is a favorite around our house.  The month is started off with a celebration of marriage - December 1st is the beginning of our journey as a little family.

This month was spent tying off loose ends from the fall - putting away paperwork and doubling up on some missed school.  But it was also a month of preparing and waiting for the wonderful celebration of Christmas!

Picking up the quilt the first week of December that I had started in the summer was very cathartic. I thought I was going to work on it all fall but the sewing machine did not get turned on those months.   Here is Ellie helping me lay it all out on the floor.

And here she is doing a sweet little craft we learned in therapy - threading beads onto a pipe cleaner.  She really concentrated and with a little help she can get one on!   She's really starting to sit for longer and will try anything!

Here are the kids in front of a closet remodeling we did - we had some shelves put in and now we just close the doors at the end of the day rather than look at dresser drawers that won't close due to overflowing!

The boys' Christmas recital at a retirement community.

Xavier and Ellie playing together in the yard. Xavier was helping her put golf balls in her shirt :).

The third Sunday in Advent - the pink candle for JOY!!!

Julia was under the weather for a day or two so Ellie got to share "the spot" for all sick children...Mommy's side of the bed fully involved with all pillows.  When Ellie started being a little pig with the pillows you could hear Julia say "Ellie, Share!!!"  Hopefully pillows is all they shared.  So far no one else is sick!

And now with a week until the birthday of Our Lord...our four gifts wrapped up under the finished quilt.  I had to "wait" to make it while I did something very important.  Now that wait is over and we now wait for the birth of Jesus.

Ellie was insistent on including her gift bag in the photo.  The other night she saw me wrapping some things for family and just had to have a present!  So, in it currently is plastic bananas, the angel from the nativity scene and a matchbox car all wrapped up in tissue paper.  

 Just for fun I flipped the quilt over to get both sides.

And I love this picture so much...it's overflowing with so much love! I love Ellie and Xavier's hands...can you see the shape they are making?!   

 ALL OUR LOVE THIS CHRISTMAS!