Ellie's Speech

So in the 5th grade everyone has to come up with a topic and give a 3-5 minute speech. Four kids are chosen from each class to then go into the other 5th grade classes and give their speech. There is then one kid chosen as the "finalist" from their class...so a total of four to represent the 5th grade and they do their speech at an assembly. Well Ellie was one of those four chosen! She decided to do her speech on how to make a pizza...which of course she has plenty of opportunity to practice! She wrote the speech herself (asking for a few of the specific portions) and then practiced down at Papa Murphy's one morning for about an hour. You all know how Ellie loves to be dramatic so she was looking forward to this! By the third time doing this speech I was ready to be done bringing all the pizza supplies to school for her...but I am SO proud of her...she did such a great job! I am attaching the YouTube link if you want to watch. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qDDZQuYPjM

Girls are another year older!

It seems I hardly have time to do simple things like posting on this blog! So here they are, a month late but better late than never. Lily turned 8 and Ellie turned 10 this year. They love music and singing and making up dances. There is one song by Taylor Swift (who is one of their favorite along with Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Celo Green) that talks about never growing up. I always tell them that is my favorite and please just stay little. Every year brings a whole new set of parenting challenges and sometimes I think I am failing miserably!
We were lucky enough to get to go to the beach house with the Snook's over Ellie's birthday and enjoyed the 4th of the July festivities!

The girls had a joint party this year, only inviting a few friends each. We went and saw Mr. Popper's Penguins, had yogurt of course (that's a whole other post!), pizza and played some "Minute to Win It" games...and ended with a sleepover.

They got lots of clothes and accessories from their favorite store "Justice" as well as lots of supplies to donate to the kitty shelter. And now that Lily knows how to ride a bike she got a new bike!

I think they both had a great birthday...as always we manage to drag it out for a week or so, celebrating with ALL our family...and a few trips to Red Robin for the free birthday meal! So Happy Birthday girls...I love you lots...and remember...don't ever grow up! xoxo

Jalen turns 4!

I can't believe my littlest one is already 4! Although he is a "big boy" in many ways...the baby in him comes out every once in awhile (like every night when he sleeps between us!, or when he wants "uppy...code word for pick me up and carry me, or when he is riding in the car getting sleepy and says "i love you mommy", or the fact that he loves to cuddle as much as I do!) I know most of these things he will grow out of, but I hope he stays the "mama's boy" that he is for awhile longer! This year we celebrated his birthday by going to JJ Jump with his friend Brody from pre-school, going out to lunch with Daddy, then Grandma and Papa took him to see the movie Rio since Jamie and I both had to be at the grand opening of the Tualatin Yogurt Shack. We had a little party at Papa and Nana's (the Snook's) the next day and had pizza and a dinosaur cake. The theme this year was dinosaurs...Dino Dan is one of his favorite cartoons so we got him a hat, and some shorts like Dino Dan wears and he got plenty of different play dinosaurs to play with. That was at the top of his list as well as a magical sword, and fake gun (aka nerf gun and water blaster), fake knife, fake wood (we still don't know what he meant by that!). And Jamie and I surprised him with his own DS and a Mario game so he didn't have to carry around the girls old pink one anymore! I think it was a successful couple of days...we had a very happy birthday boy...and lots of toys cluttering up the house to show for it!

Lily's First Communion

Yesterday was such a special day that Lily has been waiting such a long time for! Every Sunday she would ask if she could get the bread and today she finally did! This was a long and crazy weekend with Ellie's last volleyball tournament in Corvallis, the Mother's Day Luncheon at the church and Lily's first communion. Luckily, we managed to gather all the family...grandparents and aunts and uncles to be there...as well as lots of family friends!

Nana bought Lily her dress and shoes and just as Ellie did Lily wore my mom's wedding veil in her hair. Seeing her in all white with the veil brought tears to my eyes...she is so beautiful, and innocent. Father Bill made this mass all about the kids and invited them to bring up the gifts, to sit with him during the homily, as he prepared the host and again as they sang the closing song.

Lily has a natural spirituality about her and it was shining through in her eyes and smile. I am so proud of you Lily and feel blessed to share this special moment with you.

We went to Spaghetti Factory afterwards to celebrate (spaghetti is Lily's favorite...but we were sure to change out of the white dress first!!) She was given some special gifts including a music box, a daily reflection book, a handmade box with lots of little treasures in it and a First Communion dress made especially for her doll Alex. Another few years and all five of us can receive communion together, but for now we've got four and Jalen will be the one looking at me with big eyes asking if he can have the bread!

Easter

We had our first official "beautiful" day of the year on Saturday...sunny and 75 degrees. And then we woke up on Easter...to cold and rainy. Not sure why the weather never cooperates for Easter egg hunting but once again we moved the search inside behind chair legs, window sills and shelves. After going to church we joined the Snook's for a brunch and a group movie of Lion King. We then went back home where we had over all the Foelker's for dinner. Other than us all feeling like stuffed bunnies it was a great day that we were thankful to share with all our family.

We had a wonderful bible study group that we did a Lenten study with. Each family put together Easter baskets for the kids and adults living in the shelter at Mt. Tabor. This is a picture of the kids holding some of the baskets.

Dirty Digging

Okay...the sun came out today...which after the last month of weather feels like a miralce! BUT, it was still super cold, maybe a high of 52?! Yet when I let Jalen go out to "play with Happy" as he says I had no idea what would come of it! I walk outside to find Jalen opposite Happy helping him dig a hole! No idea what was in there (don't think I really want to know!)...but they were both digging like they meant it!

He had already taken his socks and shoes off, and then he started taking ALL his clothes off, and I mean everything! I still don't know why...I guess he didn't want his clothes to get too dirty?! I didn't think he would last too long with it being so cold out, but him and Happy kept digging, and then ran, dug some more, jumped around, and dug some more.

My mom and I were watching from the window just laughing...he was having the time of his life out there! Looking back on this when he is older I am sure he will be mortified that I posted these pictures but I can't resist, they are too funny!

A Blustery Day at Pacific City

While all of our friends and family went to places like Arizona and Disneyland for spring break we ended up at the Oregon Coast. We knew it wouldn't be the best of weather but figured it was better than being stuck at home. We went with Uncle Aaron, Auntie Amber, Braylon and Alexa which made it fun! We were only there a couple days and one trip to the actual beach was enough for us! We bundled up ourselves and the kids, packed up the beach bag with shovels and buckets and once the rain stopped headed for the sand. We timed it great because it was dry and even a glimpse of sun through the clouds. The kids of course headed straight to the ocean and within minutes were stripping off their pants and jumping waves that were up to their knees as we stood in our parkas and boots shivering. Alexa was content to sit and build sand castles and Aaron and Amber took the big kids to climb the huge hill. Just as they were coming back down (the kids were rolling down!) it started to rain. By the time they got back to us it was pouring and there was a chorus of whining and crying kids because they were so cold and numb and covered with wet sand. We threw them all into the back of my car (you can imagine what that looked like!) and hosed them off in the sink in the garage and then put them in a nice warm bath. Three loads of laundry later we were all caught up from our trip to the beach. So needless to say when they asked to go again the next day the adults unanimously agreed...NO!! We stayed inside the warm house listening to the rain on the windows, watched TV, read magazines and relaxed. It doesn't exactly compare to swimming in the pools in Arizona but we had good company and some well needed down time!

Anne Frank

In the second grade each child has to study a "Great Person of History". Lily first chose Mother Mary (which is so sweet...she is definitely my spiritual one!) but after long thought and discovering how hard it is to research her since it was so long ago she decided on Anne Frank. I don't think either of us realized how many similarities Lily shared with Anne Frank but as I watched her today give her speech in front of her class I was so touched. She stood up there in a skirt with knee high socks and little Mary Jane's, a white blouse with a sweater over it, and we curled her hair to make it short like Anne's and clipped it back on the side like she did in so many of her pictures. Even to my surprise she had memorized the first two of her flashcards and started her speech with a big smile and looking everyone in the eyes. She explained the history and then described how much Anne loved writing and how she was such a happy girl despite her circumstances. That pretty much describes Lily as well! She has about ten different journals all over the house and car and between writing prayers and poems and drawing pictures (she loves art) they get filled up very quickly! And maybe it's a middle child thing but she is so laid back, easy going and always has a smile on her face. She is content to sit for hours working on a picture or making crafts (especially with Grandma!)and is the most independent seven year old I know. She has strong morals and sticks by them and she is a friend to anyone and everyone...a quiet leader. She told me the other night before bed that she was gong to be a great person and change the world...I wouldn't doubt it. But if I were making bets I would say she is most likely to change the world for some cute little animals...like saving all of them!

the look...

In case you were wondering how exactly a 3 year old "looks" at you when you ask him to do something he doesn't want to do...priceless.

Outside Mario Cart

The sun finally came out for a little bit this afternoon...and it is something we haven't seen around here in WAY too long! So we got off the couch, put away the wii and went outside for some real play. Daddy drew a race car track with chalk and Jalen raced around it over and over and over again. Of course it was a lot more fun when Daddy chased him with a big PVC pipe that was laying around the garage. I think it intended to be the finish line but it was way more fun to watch Daddy running after the super fast race car! I think the vitamin D did us all some good!

A dusting of snow!

Not exactly what we had hoped for but we woke up to white everywhere! They had predicted up to 7 inches which meant sledding and snowmen! Jamie even went and bought two new sleds (the other one got cracked from the kids "riding" down the staircase in it!) So the seven inches turned into two but hey no school, and the kids managed to have fun playing in it. I got a call from my mom this morning asking "do you know what your kids are doing?" I think that the polite way of saying "I can't believe you are letting your kids do this!" but yes, I knew they were in their bathing suits getting in and out of the hot tub and doing snow angels and running to the play structure for a swing in between. I wasn't about to ruin their fun...plus I was enjoying the quiet inside! After getting them dressed we did manage to make a few runs down the hill on the sled, but the grass and mud quickly made itself visible and the fun was over. I have to say snow days are way more fun when there is actually a lot of snow to play in!

Not your typical Valentines Day

Not that ours ever our "typical" but even for us this was out of the ordinary! We are used to kids Valentines parties at school, putting pepperoni on heart shaped pizza crusts and throw a basketball practice in there and that's our day. Not this year. Lily had been sick since Saturday night when she had a sleepover with Papa and Grandma. Grandma took good care of her on Sunday while we were in Salem for Ellie's volleyball tournament. She slept on the floor next to my bed Sunday night and while she usually likes me to run her tummy when she doesn't feel good she did not want me touching her. She yelled out in pain when I put my hand on her stomach or her back. I contemplated taking her to the ER but decided to try to get her to sleep and see how she was in the morning. It was a restless night and after getting Ellie off to school I came up to check on her. I tried to get her to drink some water, which she did but immediately started moaning that it hurt. I bundled her up and took her to the doctor to see what was going on. He did an quick exam and thought for sure it was her appendix and told us to go to Emanuel's Children's ER right away. Lily was scared, and I was upset because I felt so guilty for not taking her the night before. We got to the hospital, got checked in and they gave her an IV to get some fluids in her since she was so dehydrated, as well as some sugar since her blood sugar was low. The ER physician also suspected appendicitis and ordered an ultra sound to verify. We waited a LONG time to get into the ultra sound...and it was already 1:00 and neither Jamie or I had anything to eat the whole day and the chairs in those small ER rooms are not all that comfortable! Jamie finally found a cafe and brought us coffee to which we toasted happy valentines day! Finally they gave Lily some morphine to help with the pain of pressing on her stomach during the ultra sound and rolled her back into the US room. That also was a long process...and we were so nervous as we sat there trying to figure out what was on that screen. The tech left for a few minutes, then came back in and told us it was NOT her appendix. What?! Relieved as we were, we were also confused and worried what else it could be. The doctor came in and told us that it must just be a stomach virus and a lot of times when kids get that dehydrated there is a lymph node right next to the appendix that gets inflamed and can cause a lot of the same symptoms as appendicitis. Good news! We joked that it was a long expensive day for a stomach virus but so happy it was nothing more serious! We picked Ellie up, and headed home to let Lily relax. Jamie left for the pizza shack while the kids and I cuddled into bed. To top things off Jamie had a city league basketball game that night! Once the kids were asleep I turned on the Bachelor to end my not so romantic Valentines Day...at least I could watch someone else's scripted romantic getaways! Thank God Lily is okay...that in itself is a great Valentine's present! XOXO

Giddy Girls

Tonight was the night of the telethon for Children's Cancer Association with 105.1. Ellie, and her friends Rae and Marie were the only three kids amongst all the volunteers answering phones tonight. She sent out an email earlier in the week to friends and family explaining that she was trying to raise money for the CCA and asked if it would be okay if she called them. We went with a list of 18 people tonight and she raised over $600! All three girls combined raised over $2000 in one hour! When they were done making there calls they were giddy with excitement...they were so happy they had raised that much money. They wanted to see where Nelson and Terry talk on the radio so we wandered back and as we were watching through the window a guy came out and asked if we wanted to go in. The girls jumped at the chance and even got their picture taken. It was so good to see them get so excited about helping others...I hope that warm and fuzzy feeling sticks with them! For all of you that helped Ellie raise that money tonight THANK YOU!!!