catching up...

it's been so busy with the extra curricular activities and life in general. here are some recent highlights to catch up on...

i treated james and jenna to some fun at the beach during jessica's soccer practice. her practices are far away and another mom takes her out there for me, then we come early to watch then pick her up. this is one of the last warm and beautiful days of summer and i wanted to take advantage of it! we had so much fun...

i haven't taken many pregnancy photos so far, so i thought i'd take one of me, 15 weeks along. i was going to crop it, but when i noticed cute jenna smiling in the corner, i thought i'd keep it this way.

with james in joy school, jenna and i have alone time together for the very first time! sure, i sometimes use the time to run errands - but we also do things together like take walks, dance around or build things out of blocks.




i bought washable paints, along with these great little plastic things which can hold six colors. the kids were ecstatic when i told them we'd be painting. i showed them how colors mix together and make new colors and they took turns mixing with their paint brushes. we were painting for a longggg time - it was fun! james was especially proud of his artwork, as he kept holding it up for me to see.

i love when cute stuff happens...which is pretty often around here. when jenna wakes from her naps, she knocks quietly on her door til i come open it. it's so cute to hear her little knock. on this day, as i approached her door, she said, "it's meee!" i opened the door and found her like this:


after that, she was all about the hankerchief! she wanted "a hat" so i put it on her head like this. so cute...i had to take pictures. i'm going to miss that little profile...

lost and found

this post has been moved to my private blog. for anyone interested in gaining access, just let me know!

p.s. i am annoyed with blogger right now because i can't seem to upgrade from template to layout. so i am stuck with a boring-looking blog right now. if anyone knows how to fix this, please tell me!!

~ellen

lately...

jim has been gone again, for yet another out-of-state two week military training. it's been busy!! school started for jessica, joy school for james, piano lessons and soccer practice during the week for jessica (with games on saturday)...plus, i have still been nauseous and there simply aren't available babysitters like summer offered. *sigh* throw in various errands and appointments and you've got one insane, exhausted mama!

jiiiiim, come hommmme!

so, it's been crazy-busy but i also appreciate how it's made time go by faster. it's nice to have a schedule again, with things to do each day. i don't feel as sick as i was before, which enables me to get things accomplished even though i do feel icky as i am doing them. as least i'm vertical these days.

my friend, jeanne made this awesome GACK and we took some home with us. the kids had oodles of fun with the strange stuff. even i was playing with it. talk about weird science!

i'm in a book club (sorta) - i'm always invited but haven't made it to a gathering yet. right now, we're reading the book thief by markus zusak. it is phenomenal - so unique, so well-written. i highly recommend it. i invited my sister to join in, but it looks like neither one of us is going to make it to book club this time, so we created our own so we can still discuss this book. today, she came over and taught me to knit (yes, i know - i'm finally doing it!!), and we talked about the book thief. tre fun! here i am, in all my thirteen-weeks-pregnant glory, knitting...

that about sums it up for now. it's late. i am exhausted and the book thief beckons. g'nite!

first day of school

jessica began school today! she'll be in ms. blix's second grade class. i still can't get over how big they're all getting. james will start joy school next week.