Princesses and Easter

We had such a great Easter weekend! We drove over the mountains to spend Easter with Jared's family. Jared was able to get off work early on Friday, and we had a beautiful sunny day for driving. I had found out about a local "Cinderella Tea Party" that was going to happen on Saturday, and made reservations for Ellie. I wanted it to be a surprise for her, so I didn't tell her anything about it until Saturday morning, when I gave her a hint: "You get to dress up as a princess for something today." She was very curious, and got a few other hints out of people throughout the day.

After lunch she got into her Belle dress and I curled her hair. She got to wear Grandma's pearl necklace, which made her feel even more special! We drove into town, and by then she knew that she was going to some kind of princess party. We went into the tea house, and it was decorated beautifully. There ended up being 17 girls at the party, all dressed up! They got to meet Cinderella when they arrived. Then they all went into the "ballroom," where Cinderella told them the story of how she met her prince. Next the girls had a treasure hunt, and then they danced to some of the Disney princess songs. After that they came inside and decorated their own cupcakes and drank their tea (Ellie put about 5 cubes of sugar, plus sprinkles and frosting in her tea!). They played another game and danced some more, and then the party came to an end. Ellie said that it was the best surprise ever. She had such a wonderful time!

Ellie with a few of the other girls

Ellie dancing with Cinderella

I had to get a picture with my beautiful princess:)

The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun, too. We had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house and went to another one at church. We had a yummy Easter dinner. And best of all, we got to spend a lot of family time together:)

Parker and Ellie had perfect weather for searching for eggs in Grandpa and Grandma's yard!

They had fun opening their Easter baskets, which were full of goodies.

We got to the church Easter egg hunt late, but they each still found a few eggs.

Grandpa helped Parker a little!

It was a great Easter!

I always love Easter time! Although I believe we should remember Christ and His death and resurrection all throughout the year, Easter is a wonderful time to set aside time to remember. We have a loving God. A God who sent His only son to die a horrible death, so that you and I could spend eternity in Heaven with Him, rather than in hell. I hope you believe this. I hope you have accepted His gift of eternal life. He is risen!

Easter Party!

We had such a fun morning this morning! For a couple weeks now we've been planning our Easter party, and today was the day! Several of Ellie and Parker's friends came over and we colored Easter pictures, decorated eggs, ate lots of yummy snacks, had an Easter egg hunt and played a lot! We had a wonderful time!

Ellie and Parker wore their Easter clothes. They looked so great!

So many yummy things to eat (there are LOTS of left-overs to enjoy for the next few days)!

I made little Easter baskets for party favors, and the kids helped me paint a bunch of coffee filters, which we put chocolates in and tucked in the baskets.


I think the kids all had fun decorating Easter eggs! They colored them with crayons and then dyed them.

"Mmm! Good cupcakes, Mom!"

Parker enjoyed all his snacks!

Learning so much!

As you know, this year I've been homeschooling my 4-year-old daughter for preschool. Because she has a December birthday, she still has another year before kindergarten. We're not sure what next year holds yet - if we'll be sending her to a Christian preschool or if I'll be homeschooling her again. For now, though, I am enjoying (almost) every moment of her schooling. Ellie has always been an amazingly smart little girl with an outstanding vocabulary. It has been wonderful watching how quickly she's learned things in school this year. She has almost all her letters down (recognizing them, writing them, and knowing what sounds they make). She can write and recognize letters up to ten, and can count to 29. She has an AMAZING memory, and learns her Bible verses so quickly and perfectly! She is very artistic, and the difference between her drawings at the start of the year and now is phenomenal! And just last week she began to learn to sound out words. She spelled and wrote three words all by herself! I plan on spending the summer focusing on teaching her to read, while we aren't working on other subjects. And the really great part is, she LOVES to learn! Now, we still are not sure whether we'll homeschool the kids or send them to school once they're kindergarten age. I have very mixed feelings about what would be best, and we are just trying to listen to the Lord and follow His guidance. But so far I love homeschooling, and I think I'd enjoy it for years to come!

Each morning we start school by praying, then saying the "Pledge of Allegiance" and The Lord's Prayer.

Ellie loves doing crafts. It's one of her favorite parts of school.

We are still working hard to get her into the habit of holding her crayons and pencils correctly, but she's always diligent in her work!

Ballet Recital!

This year Ellie has been going to ballet class. She LOVES it, and I often find her dancing all over the house! Her favorite movie right now is Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses, and she tries to copy the ballet moves each time she watches it. It is so much fun to see her enjoying ballet so much! Last weekend she had her ballet recital. She was very nervous, but did a great job! My mom and one of my nieces made a trip up from Oregon to watch Ellie, and of course Jared, Parker and I went to see her. There were 8 girls in her class. They all looked so cute dressed up in their ballet costumes! And I think they all had a lot of fun!

Ellie in her recital costume - so cute:)

The back of Ellie's costume

Some of the girls practicing before the recital

Part of the girls' dance was to "grow like flowers"

Ellie and Daddy after the recital. Daddy was so proud!

My Little Lamb!

This past Sunday Ellie was in the Christmas program at church. She, with all the other preschoolers, was an animal in Bethlehem. She was a sheep, and was so cute! When she came into the sanctuary and saw Jared and me, she ran up to us and gave us a big hug. Then she ran up on stage. She sang and baa-ed, and even danced around the stage (not in the script, but she's GREAT at improv)! At first she seemed a little shy and nervous, but once she was up there for a few minutes I think she learned to really enjoy the spotlight! It was so much fun to watch her, and Jared and I were so proud of her!

Parker and Ellie, all dressed up for Christmas Sunday

Ellie is the little blue one with sheep ears!

This was her face when she saw us in the sanctuary! Such excitement!

Wow! She's 4 years old!

This past week we celebrated Ellie's 4th birthday. On Wednesday (her actual birthday) we went to Olive Garden for dinner (Ellie's favorite restaurant). Then we had her birthday party on Sunday. Ellie's really into Hello Kitty right now, and that's the theme she wanted for her party. It was a lot of fun! It was our first birthday party in our new house. I made and decorated her cake on Saturday. Then we decorated the house. It turned out really cute! At her party the kids made Hello Kitty Christmas ornaments, ate cake and ice cream, opened goody bags, did a pinata, and then Ellie opened her presents. She was super blessed with great friends and lots of fun gifts!

We've had a fun and busy past few days, and I plan on writing all about them in the next couple days. For now, I'm going to go snuggle with my handsome hubby and watch a movie!

Ellie and her good friend, Ciara.

Ballet!!!

Ellie has recently started taking a ballet class. She has always loved to dance (and sing, and act, and anything that involves entertaining). We have been wanting to put her in a dance class, but really didn't feel like we could afford it at this point. And now one of my friends is teaching a ballet class in her home, free of charge! The little girls are all so cute, dressed up in their little leotards and tutus! They're learning the ballet steps and practicing for a recital, and are even going to dance at a nursing home. Ellie has only been to one class so far (this morning will be her second), but she LOVES it! I am so thankful that she is able to do this, and that God has blessed us in this way!

Ellie has so much fun dancing, and ballet class is a great way for her to meet some new friends!

Ellie's all smiles as she gets ready for ballet class in the morning!

A time to shine!

We celebrate Halloween in our family. I know that this holiday can be a little controversial, but we have always chosen to celebrate it. Now, we don't ever celebrate in scary ghost, witch, or skeleton ways. And we don't teach our children that this is an "evil" holiday (we don't believe it is, unless it's celebrated that way). But we use even this holiday as a way to teach our children about the God who loves them. For the past two weeks of preschool, Ellie has been learning about why being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. We have a cute little poem that we read each day at the end of school: "Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washed all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed, carves you a new smiling face, and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see." We talk about what each part of this poem means, and how God is always changing us and making us more like Him. It has been a great tool.

Fun at the pumpkin patch!

Ellie and Parker each made their own homemade pumpkins during preschool.

Of course some of our celebration is just for fun! Our church puts on a Trunk or Treat party, and we had a lot of fun going around the parking lot and getting candy from each of the cleverly decorated cars. Parker dressed up as a pumpkin and Ellie was a bride. They were both super cute (of course)! And they now have enough candy to last them a LONG time:)

Cute little pumpkin, Parker Paul!

The beautiful bride, Ellie!

Halloween can be a time to shine in dark places. As Christians, I believe that we are called to do just that:)

Rainy Days:)

Fall is absolutely my favorite season! I love the cooler weather because I get to wear sweaters. I love the smells, both outside and in (fall inspires me to bake quite a bit, and when I'm not baking I usually have a "fall-ish" candle burning). I love the beautiful colors, and although nothing can beat the beauty of central Washington in the fall, I'm really seeing a lot of beauty here, too. I think the colors come on the trees a little later here, and they are now becoming very pretty! I love knowing that Christmas is just around the corner, and starting on Christmas crafts. I love being cozy inside and drinking coffee, hot cocoa, tea, or carmel apple cider. I think I could go on and on, I just LOVE fall:)

We have a maple tree in our yard that is turning a beautiful red!

Now that we live on the west side of the mountains, we are experiencing the wetter side of life! I am happy to have a winter with less snow, and hopefully we won't get too sick of the rain! Right now I'm enjoying it. I grew up with weather similar to what we have now, and it's kind of nice to be back in the rain. As crazy as it sounds, I really missed it when we lived on the east side and didn't get very much rain. Ellie and Parker really enjoy playing in the rain and stomping in puddles! Ellie is the only one in the family with a rain coat and umbrella, though, so we may need to purchase a few more for the rest of us.

Ellie and Parker LOVE playing outside in the rain!

Yay! I painted our living room a couple weeks ago! I really think it looks a lot nicer now. It makes me excited to paint another room, but it took 17 hours to finish the living room, with prepping the walls, priming, and painting, so I'm going to rest a little more before beginning the next room! I've been waiting to put up pictures until I paint each room, so once a room is painted and has the pictures on the walls, it feels so much more like home:)

Doesn't the paint lighten up the room?

I am so thankful for the blessings in my life. I pray that you are counting your blessings, too. They are there, we sometimes just need to take the time to see them:)

Daddy's Little Princess:)

A few weeks ago my sweet husband came home with a bouquet of flowers for me. When he came through the door holding the bouquet, Ellie ran up to him and said, "Yay! Are those flowers for me?" Jared told her that they were for Mommy, and she almost started crying, she was so heart-broken. So last night Jared ran to the store and when he returned he had a bouquet for Ellie. She asked if they were for Mommy, and Jared told her that they were for her. Oh, was she excited! She just lit up, knowing how special she is to her daddy! It really made her feel like his little princess. It was priceless! Now her bouquet is sitting on her dresser, where she can see them all day (and night). And, to top it off, Jared also brought me a beautiful red rose! He is such a wonderful husband and father, and we are so blessed to be his girls! We love him so much!

Preschool, kittens, and more!

Well, we've had a fairly busy past week. Last week Ellie started homeschool preschool three mornings a week. It's been a really fun experience for both Ellie and I so far. She's so smart, and she's really doing well with school. She absolutely loves to learn! It's a little tough keeping Parker entertained sometimes while we do school, but for the most part he does great with some cars, coloring pages, or puzzles. I also try to let him be involved in the schooling whenever possible, which he likes a lot. It's fun to have a little bit more of a schedule now (although we still haven't completely settled on which three mornings we'll do school), and I hope to get our schedule even a little more organized in these next few weeks!

Ellie is great at saying the Pledge of Allegiance!

Last Friday the kids and I headed over the mountains for a wedding. Ellie was the flower girl, and she was absolutely precious! When she got to the front of the audience, she opted to come and sit with me rather than standing up front. As soon as the bride started down the aisle, with the wedding march playing, Ellie said to me (in a very loud voice), "Mom, they're playing Farmer in the Dell!" Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home, so I have no pictures except a few low-quality ones on my phone. Hopefully someone else took some, and will give me a few:)

On our way home on Sunday we stopped and picked up our newest addition to our family - a sweet little kitten! Her name is Rose (Ellie's suggestion), and she is very cute. Ellie and Parker both love her, but she's not so sure how she feels about them! So far she likes to spend a good portion of the day hiding under Jared and my bed. Whenever she's out, though, Parker is chasing after her, or holding her if he manages to catch her. He is not super gentle, but we're working on it! Ellie, on the other hand, is very soft and sweet with the kitty. We're really enjoying Rose.

Horses!

This past week the kids and I went to Oregon to visit family. The kids had a blast on my mom's farm, as always. But this time we did something a little different. We all rode horses! As a kid, I used to ride all the time. I loved it. And now, so many years later, I miss it. There were a few years recently when I couldn't really ride, either because of being pregnant or having very small children who needed my attention all the time. But I realized recently that it would be a wonderful idea to start riding again. My sister still has a few horses which are very well trained. So...even though it's been YEARS since I've been on a horse, I still feel somewhat confident on them. One evening my sister, my niece, and I went out and saddled up the horses (well, actually my niece rode bare-back, which I think is pretty neat). We rode a few times around the field while the kids watched with Grandma. We mostly walked, but we did trot and even gallop for a short time. It was a great time of riding to get back into it. The kids enjoyed watching, but really wanted to get on the horses themselves. So after several times around the field we got off and let the kids ride. They LOVED it! Last summer Ellie tried riding once, but once she got onto the horse's tall back she was frightened and didn't want the horse to move. And Parker had never been on a horse. But they both enjoyed it so much this time. It was already past there bedtime, so the rides were fairly short, but they both wanted to stay on longer. It was such a fun time, and we've decided to make this a tradition whenever we go stay with my mom. Someday I hope to be able to have a horse or two, but for now we're so thankful to my sister for sharing hers with us when we come to visit.