Running Club!

Chris' Dad is an avid runner (he broke his leg in the middle of a 50mile race and ran on it for another dozen miles or so before he had to stop-yeah, he's a serious runner). So, of course he's excited to see if any of his grandkids will take up his favorite hobby. My nephew Christopher has been joining him for a kids running club for a while now but Ella has been too young to join. However, a few times this summer Phil has invited all the kids out and they've had their own pseudo-running club at a local high school track. Ella LOVES it. And, this fall she'll be old enough to join the real running club-she can't wait!

Even my nephew Silas got in on the action.

Ella and Hannah just cannot get enough of each other! There are many pictures of them running holding hands!

Aunt Stacy and the kids

Looking forward to what running club will bring! Ella seems to have quite a bit of stamina and ran over a mile on the track last time and wanted to keep going after the other kids were tired out. Maybe she will be a runner! Oddly, I actually ran with this same running group when I was Ella's age! It's weird to raise your kid where you grew up but kinda cool too :-)

Summer so far...

We're having a fun summer!

My mom threw me a little baby shower and Ella and Hannah got to be hostesses and take drink orders and bring them to everyone. She even got them little corsages to wear! I've never seen Ella so excited or so intense...she took her job seriously and was SO proud of herself for doing such a "big girl" job so well!



Part of Chris' Father's Day present was some pancake paraphenalia because he is quite the pancake chef :-) He got the apron he's wearing (it says "Pancake Freak"), a super wide pancake flipper and some fancy syrups and molds to use. Ella and I benefit greatly from this interest of his :-)

There's a cute little snow cone stand near our house where the cones are $1-nice, sweet treat for hot afternoons.

And though I haven't gotten pictures of much, Ella has been in a bunch of camps this summer! She started with a week of science camp (which she loved), then a few weeks later soccer camp, then she's been at camp at her pre-school most mornings for the last 3 weeks. I get mornings off to get things done and she gets social time she CRAVES. It's been great! Next week the baby comes and then Ella will have music camp in the mornings the following week. The rest of the summer should be fun too as we settle into a new rythym with the baby arriving in 5 days!!

Soccer camp at the Y with her cousins :-)

Practicing for Baby

A few weeks ago we attended the Sibling Preparation Class at the hospital where I'll deliver (in less than 2 weeks!!!!). It was fun for Ella to see the nursery, see a room where mommies stay, watch a video on being a big sister/brother and do a few crafts. The best part was getting to learn how to diaper a doll she brought, swaddle it, and put on a little hat :-) Check out the cute videos of her showing my dad how to do it later!

A Manifesto for Joyful Mothering

My SIL posted a link to this on her blog a few months ago and being in need of some encouragement as I deal with a rather fragile child lately*, I decided to make it my own. Moments ago, I spent a little time rewording it a little bit to fit me and our family a little better, printed it out, and hung it in the kitchen where I'll see it often. There's lots of great encouragement to raise kids the way I long to-with joy, grace, lots of hugs, and aware of God's constant presence. Here's the original version, hope it's an encouragement to you too!

*I think the anticipation of the new baby is affecting Ella (and all of us) quite a bit. She's had a hard time obeying lately and been tearful and tantrum-ing more than ever in life in the last couple weeks. She's also been much more clingy to me and MUCH more affectionate than ever in her life (that's been a positive thing!) It's nice that rather than just acting out, she can verbalize things like "Mom, I just need as much time with you as possible before the baby comes" or "I'm worried you won't have time for me when the baby comes" except that it's completely heartbreaking!! Anyway, we'll get through this transition but I needed some hang-it-on-the-kitchen-wall-type encouragement!


A
10 Point Manifesto for Joyful Mothering



1. Today, I will make our home a house of prayer. I will pray at set times. And I will invite our children to come move into an interior space that lives with God.


2. Today, I will transfigure all things into beauty, and I will refuse to see anything else.


3. Today, I will not have any emergencies. There are no emergencies! Only amateurs hurry.


4. Today, when stress mounts, I pray to dismount it with gratitude. My stress management plan will be intervention with verbal thanks. I can only feel one feeling at a time, and I choose to give thanks at all times. Fight feeling with feeling!


5. Today, I will pray to speak words that are only STRONG words, words that make these children feel strong. Grace words. Grace is the only non-toxic air. All other words I breathe are death words.


6. Today, I will pray to be consistently consistent. I will create safe rhythms that our children can find security in. I will create daily ceremonies because everyday we are CELEBRATING the gift of now!


7. Today, the moment when I am most repelled by a child's behavior, that is my sign to draw the very closest to that child.


8. Today, I will hug each of my children as many times as I serve them meals -- because children's hearts feed on touch. I'll look for as many opportunities to touch my children today as possible --- the taller they are, the more so.


9. Today, my priorities will be all Things Unseen.


10. Today, I will laugh! And I will let the little children laugh! I will create a culture of JOY!

Exteme Makeover: Home Edition!

We had some major excitement this weekend! Chris and I have been watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for at least 6 years and have recently introduced it to Ella. I'd actually been wanting to post about it because it has been an awesome parenting/teaching tool! We have a "rule" that whenever she has a question or doesn't understand what's going on she raises her hand and we pause the show and talk about it. It's been an awesome platform for talking about things like disease, amputations, parents dying, kids dying, what the military does, and more. These are all tough things to explain or bring up with kids but realities nonetheless. Plus, it's much better to explain why some people ride in wheelchairs or have prosthetic limbs in the comfort of our living room rather than in the grocery store in line next to someone missing an arm. It has been such a blessing to share some of the tough realities of what families go through but in the context of the show where something wonderful happens for them and there's always an exciting, positive ending.

So, it was GREAT timing that the show was doing a build nearby! Friends of ours were volunteering all week so we got the inside scoop on where/when to go and finally, on the last day of the build, we were able to head down there! Not surprisingly they couldn't use me (something about me being 9 months pregnant) or Ella (no kids allowed in the construction zone) but they happily handed Chris a waiver to sign and a blue volunteer shirt and sent us off to the build site!

Though she doesn't look it here, Ella was really excited to ride a bus over to the site with no car seat or seat belt! "This is what big kids do in kindergarten!!"

Not even having planned it, we immediately ran into our friends Kate and Mark who had been working on the house all week! Kate was able to give Chris her hard hat (they were all out!) so he could get to work.

The house at about 8:30am on the day of the reveal. No front door, no grass, no furniture inside!! Because of rain storms all week the reveal had already been pushed back 2 days so this really HAD to be the final day. We decided to leave Chris there to work all day after seeing how much work was left to do.

The house, by the way, was being built for a non-profit called Boys Hope Girls Hope that houses at-risk kids from tough family backgrounds and provides positive role models, educational support, and requires community service and academic excellence. The Boys who are currently in the program have a house and are the ones who applied to ABC to get the girls a house-they've been trying to raise money for years but until now, the girls had nowhere to live. The show built them an 11,000 sq.ft. house on the same street as the Boys house!!! It was the biggest build ever for the show and Chris spent most of the day inside painting, moving furniture, hanging pictures, cleaning and said it's AMAZING inside. Can't wait to see the show in September and see it all!

Ella and I came back at about 5:30pm (the reveal got moved back from 3pm and didn't actually happen til about 7:30pm!) and the "famous" bus was in place in front of the house to block it from the girls when they came in the limo.

Kate was so sweet to help me with Ella-it was 95 degrees and we stood in the crowd for 3+ hours! Chris and Mark were across the street right next to the house with a group of volunteers so they got to see much more of the reveal than we did. We kept asking Ella what was going on because she could see more on Kate's shoulders than we could! The funny part was she kept saying "I see Daddy!" and we kept asking "Do you see Ty???" (Ty Pennington is the host of the show and totally my Hollywood crush)

Ella did really well with all the waiting and practicing yelling "Move that Bus!" for 2 hours before it actually happened! We ended up being there until about 9:30pm and she never melted down!

Ty practicing his lines in front of the house just before the reveal.

After the girls got to go in and see the house they came out and were shocked and screaming again when they found 2 new cars the show is giving them! That's Ty laughing and clapping in the back.

Chris got a pic with our favorite designer/carpenter from the show Paulie!! He actually was up close and personal with Paul, Michael, and Ty throughout the day-cool!

Jillian (the Bachelorette chick who is an interior designer), Paulie, Michael, and Xzibit-the celebrity design team for this episode (Raven Symone was also there-Chris was cleaning in the room while she shot a scene with Xzibit).

Chris and Mark got to work together most of the day and thanks to Mark's leadership (Chris would have stayed away from the cameras) they "happened" to be in the background of lots of the filming so we'll probably see them when the show airs!

The girls who will live in the house (7 of them!), the Boys Hope guys with a producer explaining what would happen next. After this they set up a shot in front of the house and Ty announced they Notre Dame and Loyola are giving all of them full scholarships for college! Plus, all of their mothers get free career counseling and some free classes at either school. Pretty awesome!


It was awesome to be up close and person with this show and this story of meeting the need of a house for these girls. It's also fun to know details like the fact that the back of the house has no brick on it yet because they ran out of time and there are 3 rooms full of junk that they hadn't even painted yet! So, the house is not 100% done but I'm sure those girls won't mind a few more days of construction while they settle into the nicest place they've ever lived! Hopefully next time the show comes around I won't be enormously pregnant and can help and pay them back for the way they help me teach my kid about doing all you can to help those in need.

Aspiring Foodies

For a few years now Top Chef has been my favorite TV show. Thankfully I've found other friends who are similarly obsessed with Padma and Tom and the excitement of ogling food and picking your favorite chef personalities. Well, last season was especially exciting with two brothers making it to the finals. The losing (but still really good) brother actually has a restaurant within driving distance so our little group made a reservation (over 2 months in advance to get a table!), saved our pennies, and finally got to go last week! It was awesome!

Here are interesting things about the experience at Volt...
1. There was a super cool, comfy lounge/bar that Chris and I sat in because we were early. He got a local beer and I got a Shirley Temple :-) 2 awesome things about the bar: we sat on an orange couch which I totally want in my next living room and there was a flat screen tv with live video of what was going on in the kitchen! SO cool!

2.There seemed to be as many people working there as dining there. We had a primary waiter (an older man who was clearly a professional waiter-he knew his stuff) and then many other people who performed various tasks throughout the meal. Probably at least 4 people were involved in serving us-almost one per person! This allowed them to accomplish things like always placing our dishes in front of each person at the same moment and bringing us more bacon brioches from the bread basket when we all decided we needed them (they were SO tasty).

3.There were a number of times during the meal where our numerous waitstaff folks would bring out something for us "compliments of the chef." First it was a squash soup with chive oil and some other fancy addition to "open our palettes." Even once we were stuffed, tiny desserts were sent out from the pastry chef. And, my favorite final touch, individually wrapped blueberry poundcake muffins were sent out with the bill for everyone to take home!

4.There should have been a dictionary with the menu. Even us aspiring foodies needed many explanations before we could confidently order! It made it more fun for me though-like a mystery and trivial pursuit all at once!

5. We went all out and had the 4 course meal. Here's what I chose in fancy food language from the menu and then what it really was...

1st course: shiitake 
velouté, pinenuts, 
chili 
oil, 
opal 
basil
(mushroom soup)

2nd course: 
 cherry 
glen 
farm 
goat 
cheese 
ravioli
, celeriac,
 maitake
 mushrooms, sage 
brown 
butter
(cheese ravioli in a super yummy sauce)

You get the idea :-) My entree was halibut which was tasty but I must say, a bit overcooked. Dessert was awesome though-pineapple, passion fruit, meringues, coconut powder, and caramel ice cream

6.Holly and I are very pregnant so we made numerous trips to the restroom which was in a silver pocket door in the hallway directly across from the kitchen/chef's table. We peeked in many times but never laid eyes on Brian Voltaggio, the Top Chef contestant/owner. Bummer. Guess when you get famous you don't actually cook in your restaurant every night!

7. The men's and women's bathrooms were only separated by one sheet of frosted glass. Weird.

8. I understand why it's so hard to get reservations now (other than the overnight fame of Top Chef dude). First, it took about 2 1/2 hrs to eat dinner and we didn't dawdle a whole lot. That means, they probably only sat 2 parties at our table all night. Second, the restaurant is in a beautiful, historic (read-old and small) house with only a few tables in each of the few rooms used for dining. I loved the architecture (ornate and stately) mixed with the decor (modern and tasteful). The white, brown, and orange color scheme worked for me.

9. The waitstaff (except for the senior seeming ones who were suits) wore chucks! Loved that "modern" touch to such an upscale environment :-)

It was a really fun experience to be so pampered and the six of us enjoyed each other and the food so much! So thankful to have been able to do this!

Chuck & Holly, Melissa & Sean, and us outside the restaurant-this is the only picture we took with the real camera (we didn't want to appear too overeager while inside the classy dining room). But that didn't keep us from snapping a couple quick cell phone pics (below)

My dessert

Chris' "textures of chocolate" dessert

Super fun date!!!

GG

I know I just posted recently about my grandmother but she's just that cool and I have more cute pics to show!

Ella has invited GG into the current silly bands fad! It cracks me up to know people from 3 to 91 are wearing these things!

Showing off her pink patent leather shoes which my grandmother would totally wear if they came in her size. I think they have a similar sense of style :-)

Sweetness

My favorite folks :-)

Loyola Girls!

When I started Grad School at Loyola in 2008 I expected it to be an educational experience but not really a community or a place where I'd make good friends. I figured with grad school everyone would have their own lives, come in and out for classes, and that'd be it. Well, I've been wonderfully surprised to make some great friends there!! I am SO thankful for them. It has been amazing to have people who understand the calling to counseling and have the same kind of passion for helping people who are hurting. It's been amazing to have women around me who love God and have a burden for the mentally ill in the same way I do. SO grateful for them!

My friend Alicia who I got to work very closely with in our first year working as therapists! Not sure what I would have done without her when we both had no clue what we were doing!!

A Cosi date with Kate, Melissa, and Erin. Bad cell phone pic but these girls have been WONDERFUL friends to me over the last couple years! By God's design, we all have strikingly similar stories and struggles. This has allowed us to give each other some free therapy and encouragement that few people could, had they not been through something similar. What a blessing to have deep conversations and silly fun with these girls!

Kate and Melissa both graduated from our program this spring! They started when I did but moved much faster in the program than I have. They say being kid-less allowed them to finish so fast, so having 2 kids while in the program, I get a pass for still having another 6 classes to take :-) Seeing them finish and go through the whole licensing process gives me SO much hope that I too will actually be a licensed therapist!

My buddy Erin started the program a little later so she'll still be around at school with me next year :-)

Look forward to lots more time with these girls in the future! Who knows what God will do. I'm sure we'll be friends and colleagues long term-maybe even private practice partners! So thankful for the surprise of new friends who "get" me SO well!

Careful what you start...

Recently I found a bookshelf/dollhouse I've been wanting to buy for Ella on clearance so I was excited to buy it and build it! Chris was out of town so I got help carrying it and then thought it might be a fun project for Ella and I that afternoon.


It started off well. We were both excited, we gathered the tools we needed and Ella was very helpful in laying out all the pieces and piling up the trash and handing me tools. Then...it became clear that this was too complex and time consuming for Ella to really stay engaged the whole time.

Then, it became clear that at 8 months pregnant, I had no business thinking this would be a quick or easy project. Reaching anything in front of you is much harder with a basketball strapped to your midsection. Try it some time.

Then came our search for the drill which we could NOT find anywhere.

Ugh.

I made some progress....
While Ella sat in a chair behind me eating snacks and watching our new favorite Ella-Mommy show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"

I was determined to finish but it took 2 1/2 hours and my thumbs were numb from screwing in dozens of screws with NO drill. I bit off a little more than I could reasonably chew but the result was definitely cute. Next time I'll wait for the drill and Chris :-)

Sleeping Funnies

I found Ella asleep like this a few months ago. It's very possible she was praying since she's been asking to kneel like that and pray before bed. SO cute!

This one CRACKED me up. I went to check on Ella before I went to bed and found her fast asleep with stuffed animals tucked into her shirt like this! HILARIOUS. She told me in the morning she wanted them to have "a comfy blanket" like her so she thought this was a good way :-) Love it.

GG, Mama, Anne

My grandmother is a super wonderful, sweet, generous, funny, wise woman and loooooves Ella (and the rest of us of course). She writes us sweet letters all the time and signs them with all of the names we call her. For Ella "GG" (Great Grandma), for me "Mama," and for Chris, "Anne."

She's been in and out of the hospital lately but seems to be on the mend. We pray she's with us many, many more years so we can all continue to enjoy her. At 91 she is completely mentally "with it," still drives, thinks trials are things to be turned into laughter, and smiles and dances her way through everything. She's a joy to be around and we can't wait for our newest little one to meet her. She's an example to me in so many ways-I hope to sance my way through my 90's with such joy for life!

At the hospital a few months ago

At the hospital last week :-)

Random Cell Phone Gems...

I haven't been very good about uploading pictures from my cell phone but here are some from the last few months that are worth saving!

This was from November, 09-the first time Ella wrote her whole name!

A pic I snapped during one of Ella's hearing tests. Because her hearing hasn't changed we now only test (aided and unaided) every 6 months. She's also graduated through various testing methods and now for part of the test gets to clap when she hears sounds like a "big girl"!

Every few months Ella and I bring a stack of books or a coloring book and have a Starbucks date-this was a fun one recently :-)

I came in one morning and found Ella had unscrewed the top of the spray bottle we use for her hair and had put it in her drink and was spraying it into her mouth. Wow. Creative.

Ella needed help with the spelling but wrote this herself after she finished her dinner one night. Chris and I were cracking up. She'd only tell us what she wanted to say word by word and we'd spell it for her :-)