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A Coversation with the oldest
21
Busy week
We made it to Houston and back. Do you know how hard it is to travel back to a place you used to live and see everyone you want. With family living in 3 different houses and friends in at least half dozen more locations, it never seems that I spend enough time with everyone.
We spend the night with my brother and had some good cousin time. I love that they all play together, mostly outside and I have to do very little. Even Megan got in on the action this time, and Braden did a great job taking care of his littlest cousin.
We spent some time with friends.
And of course we hung out with the grandparents and family.
I have to say that Megan’s favorite is Papa. Any time we would come go to my mom’s house, she would look around and say Papa? She was very interested in what he was doing – whether it was sitting with him in his chair or helping wash his truck. She is a Papa’s girl.
Headed back
The girls are I are flying to Houston this weekend for a full week. Ethan will be in Vegas, then meet us in Houston. Me, with the kids, shuffling from one family to another. He, alone in Vegas. Wonder who got the better deal?
My artist
Today I choose to write about something fun. Instead of the gross sickness that has trapped our family in PJs for 4 days, stranded us on the couch watching kids’ shows, and forcing us to only enjoy graham crackers and cheerios…
Alyssa loves to draw and color. She has recently added a “stomach” to her people, which I like to call a big bottom. But she insists it is their stomach. And as of this drawing they are now wearing clothes. It is so cool to watch their little minds figure this kind of stuff out. She is also picking up an interest in birds like her daddy. At breakfast the other day, she said, “Do you know what time it is mom? iiiiiiit’s bird-watching time.” And proceeded to get her own pair of binoculars out to look at the birds in the backyard. Here is some of her latest work.
A robin
Alyssa and Megan at the zoo with a turkey vulture, giraffe, and moose.
Pooh. This was drawn at the end of our Pooh movie. An artist shows you how to draw Pooh with the cross lines and everything. She did this all by watching the guy on TV.
Happy Easter
Today we enjoyed a wonderful Easter lunch with the Mankins. It is so great to be able to spend holidays with friends right down the street. Thank you for cooking this year, and I guess I am up for next! When I was young my mom used to make this bunny cake and I thought it would be fun to start up a new tradition. So following some of the instructions and using my own creative license I created this.
We enjoyed another egg hunt with Mallory after lunch.
Egg Hunting
We were invited with our church group to an egg hunt at one of the families place. They have some great land with horses, hills, trees and all. The girls had a great time playing outside and hunting eggs with some of their new friends. It was a very good substitute for the traditional Eller Easter that we will miss this year. Pics
New friends
This is our new friend, Morgan. She is much closer to Megan’s age at 2, but Alyssa still considers her “her” friend. Morgan and her mom, Erin, joined us today for playtime and lunch. Megan felt so comfortable with her new friend that she immediately stole her shoes. What is it with this child and shoes? We are very thankful for the friends that we have made at the church (not “our church” yet) and glad that we have someone new to play with. I am reminded time and time again why God deemed relationships so important.
Nobody say a word…
That is what I think when I can actually escape in the house while they are outside playing. I have even been known to call Ethan and say, “Do you know what your kids are doing right now?” Maybe this is common for you at your house, but getting Alyssa to play outside by herself is an unbelievable accomplishment. I can stay inside and cook dinner and they will play together outside. Thank you for sunshine and an old horse-shoe pit that we have not gotten around to removing.
Okay, this is SNOW!
We have had probably half a dozen snowings this season. This was the best. I had to even nag Ethan about his driving while we were going home on Fri night. At one point the brakes froze up b/c we had been driving 30 mph for so long and we skidded across the street, and ran up a curb as we turned into our neighborhood. It snowed all night and in the morning we had a blast making snowmen, snow angels, snowball fights and some snow tasting. We tried some sledding, but our make-shift trashcan lids didn’t work. It is so fun to experience this with the girls.
Love
How do they grow up like this? I don’t know how Alyssa figured out how to draw block letters, much less feel the desire to write a love note to God. She told me today, “You know who I love more than a zillion years, mom? God.” I am so blessed to have such a sweet, loving, creative, emotional, and cute as can be little 4 year old who has such a raw, innocent belief in the Lord. Thank you God for moments like this.