Christmas Eve - 2011

I'm finally coming out of the post-Christmas fog to post some pictures. I usually feel like it takes me a month to recover from holiday festivities...

Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year, we decided to back everything up a day to make things easier. We did that a few years ago when Alana was little and it worked well. Trying to do presents, Christmas dinner and church all in one day (with 3 kids) is too hard so we had our Christmas Eve on Friday night.

For Christmas Eve, we always have spaghetti for dinner and we make a red velvet cake as a birthday cake for Jesus. We sing "Happy Birthday" to Him and the kids blow out His candles. After dinner, the kids get to open one present - which is always their Christmas pajamas.

Here are my sweet loved ones pre-pajamas present. I must confess that I didn't take good pictures this year. I was too busy enjoying my family.

After the kids were in bed, Tom and I wrapped their presents and filled their stockings. We always get them three presents each (other than stocking treats). We have found that works really well to remind them of the real reason for Christmas - since Jesus received three presents on His birthday. Also, it helps to keep Christmas gifts to a reasonable level. This year, we stacked their gifts under their stockings because the space under the Christmas tree was packed full.

A close-up view.... I always want a good picture because I feel like Tom and I work so hard to get it ready and all set up and it lasts for maybe five minutes on Christmas morning:)

Here's our tree.

It may take me awhile, but little by little, I'll get more Christmas pictures up. In the meantime, Happy New Year!

Peter's Birthday - Part 2

The night of Peter's birthday we just had a quiet, family dinner with cupcakes and presents.

As you can see, I went all out:) Peter didn't care though. He loved his "snowball" cupcakes!

He was very excited to blow out the candle. He talked about it all day.

On Saturday night, my parents came over for another birthday dinner for Peter.

I love this picture of Peter looking at one of his cards. He looks like he is reading it.

This was Peter's favorite gift - hands down. A remote control "Tow-Mater." He was thrilled!

I can't believe my little miracle is 3!

Peter's Birthday - Part 1

This was the first birthday of Peter's that he wasn't sick and I was so glad! We decided to keep it simple this year.

This is the morning of Peter's birthday. He loves to wear the Mr. Potato Head glasses. He calls them his goggles.

My mom came over and brought us lunch and she brought this little doggie-cake for Peter.

More to come......

A Baby Changes Everything

For us, this baby, changed everything.He took us to the depths of sorrow..... And the glories of a miracle.
What we went through with this precious child brought us to an intimacy with our Savior and Lord like we've never known before - the kind of sweet intimacy that can only be achieved through suffering.

Because, that Baby, changed EVERYTHING!

Happy birthday Peter! You are a living reminder that God does have the whole world in His hands. We love you so much.

You shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Almighty God. - Psalm 118:17

Isaac - 6 Months

Our sweet Mr. Sunshine turned six months last weeks (Dec. 7th) - and I'm just now getting a chance to post about it! (Such is life with a six-month old - not to mention an almost 3 year old and a 10 year old.)

Isaac is still the happiest baby ever. He LOVES his Johnny-Jump. He will jump and swing and swirl and babble the whole time. We put it between the kitchen and office/playroom so we are always around him when he jumps and he is thoroughly entertained.

The day after Thanksgiving, we put Isaac in the high chair for the first time. He's done great. He's had a large variety of baby foods and we haven't found one yet that he doesn't like. He also still takes four 8-oz bottles a day. He is obviously still a good eater.

We're working on a sippy cup some. I'm not really pushing it, but every now and then I let him have it to play with and chew on and learn to use.

Isaac still takes two good naps a day and he is working on dropping the evening cat-nap. He and Peter nap together in their room now. About one day a week, they'll not do well, but for the most part, they sleep. One day I heard Isaac in there talking and I peeked in and saw Isaac looking over the bumper pad in his crib, babbling his head off at Peter. Peter just laid in his bed and tried his best to ignore Isaac. It was so cute!

I can tell Isaac is changing from little baby to older baby. He is still a total joy!

A Few More Thanksgiving Day Pictures

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2011 was.....

enjoying a little big-sister lovin....

a dinner of green beans and bananas.......
playing outside......

riding the lawn mower with Grandpa..........

enjoying a bottle from Nana..........

Thanksgiving 2011 was....... a GREAT DAY!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

From the Ellsworths:)

Family Day - Part 2

Here are the rest of the pictures from our family day.

Tom, Alana and Peter riding the train. Doesn't Tom look comfortable?:) Peter was, of course, THRILLED with the train.

Alana, Peter and I rode the carousel together, but we didn't get any pictures of that because that thing flew! I've never been on a carousel that fast before. I had to hang on tight to Peter and he was terrified. I tried to be calm and confident for his sake, but the truth was, I was kind of scared too. We were glad to got off of that.

Isaac was content to just ride in his stroller. He napped off and on and just took it all in. He is such a good baby.

It was a great day together.

Family Day - Part 1

I can only fit 5 pictures at a time, so I'll post the rest of these tomorrow.

Tom was off for Veteran's Day (11/11/11), so we took advantage of the time and had a family day together. We went to a local park that has a mini-zoo, a petting barn, a train and a carousel. We had a great time, even though it was REALLY cold and windy that day. Because of that, we didn't get to pet any animals at the petting barn because they were all in the barn since it was so cold. The kids didn't seem to care. There was plenty of other fun to have.

Mr. Happy took it all in stride. It was so much easier than our family day when Isaac was just 3 weeks old.

Our children are animal-lovers.

This owl was Peter's favorite part of the day. We had to go back and see him about 5 times. I'm not sure why Peter loved him so much when there were lots of neat animals. He loves the Owl from "Winnie the Pooh" so I'm guessing he associated this owl with that one. This poor owl had really bad cateracts in one eye and Peter kept saying, "Owl, boo-boo eye." In spite of his bad eye, he really was beautiful.

I like these people.

More tomorrow..........

Scripture Memory - November 15

I've been rather neglectful of my poor little blog lately. Life is just plain busy.

Anyway, it's time for our next verse. I had every intention of returning to the Proverbs 31 woman, but the Holy Spirit has been laying other Scriptures on my heart. Here is our next verse:

But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belong the kingdom of God." - Luke 18:16

A dear friend showed a special kindness to Peter this week. That one act got me thinking about how important little people are. Sometimes I get so caught up with living - food, laundry, school, life - that I forget that. But these little ones are important, they are important to Jesus. A big way that I can show the love of Christ to them is to let them come to me and not hinder them. I can be available for them, for those things in their world that seem insignificant to me, but are extremely important to them. I need to not hinder them just because I want to get another load of clothes folded or get the bathroom cleaned.

These three blessings are significant to Jesus, so they are significant to me.

Have a good weekend!

Isaac - 5 Months

Our little Mr. Sunshine is five months old today. How can that be?

Isaac is still doing really great. He had a nasty chest cold this month (along with the rest of us), but he got it over it just fine. He also now has 2 bottom teeth. That is the soonest I've seen teeth come in for all three of my babies. Also, Isaac has learned to enjoy his cereal. He wasn't a big fan of the rice cereal (just like Alana and Peter), but seemed to like the oatmeal. I'm even thinking I'm going to start needing to give him a little more because he's eating the whole bowl within 10-15 minutes. I'm thinking that I may start some baby fruits and veggies this week with a "lunch" feeding to add to his "breakfast" and "dinner." The boys LOVES to eat! He still takes three 8 oz. bottles during the day and one 9 oz. bottle before bed.

Isaac is still sleeping well - 11 to 12 hours at night and a morning and afternoon nap as well as an evening catnap. His naps have been rocky for awhile, but I feel like he's slowly getting the hang of it. I also think the cereal is helping his daytime sleep. Isaac sleeps in his crib in the boys room at night and during his morning nap, but he's still in a pack-n-play in our room for his afternoon nap because Peter naps in their room. I'm thinking I may start moving that afternoon nap to the boys room in another month or so. They have done fine together at night and I'd like to have my room back because sometimes Mama needs a nap:)

Isaac is definitely playing a lot more. He grabs toys and of course, everything goes in his mouth. He likes to play with his hands and feet too. He rolls easily from his back to his stomach (and often sleeps on his stomach now), but not as easily from his stomach to his back. He can do it, but he hasn't completely mastered it yet. Often, he'll start crying in this playpen and it's because he rolled onto his stomach and he's tired of it and can't roll back.

Isaac is a joy. A true blessing and a reward. I am so thankful God surprised us with Mr. Laughter (the name Isaac means "laughter").

Scripture Memory - November 1

Sorry I've been MIA lately.....

After the boys and I got over that nasty chest congestion thing we had, Tom and Alana were hit with it and they were both really sick - way worse than the boys and me. Both of them ended up going to the Dr. and were diagnosed with bronchitis (as well as an ear infection for Tom). They've been on a Z-pack all week and are on the mend.

Anyway, it's time for our next verse and once again, I'm going to take a little detour from the Proverbs 31 woman. Here's our next verse:

Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" - Luke 9:20a (ESV)

I had a really neat thought occur to me about this verse this week. You may recall that this is Christ's question to Peter, which precedes Peter's big confession, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" Jesus first asked the disciples, "Who do the crowds (paraphrase - others) say that I am?" The disciples answered that others had differing opinions - some thought Elijah, some thought John the Baptist, some thought one of the prophets of old. None of these correctly identified Jesus. Peter's answer was the only one that was right.

Like all other women, I struggle with what people think of me. I think this is a temptation for all humankind in some degree or another. What occured to me is that when I am worried about what others think, I'm letting them determine my identity. It's like I'm running around saying, "Who do you say that I am?" I go to Tom and say, "Who do you say that I am?" I turn to my children and say, "Who do you say that I am?" I ask friends, "Who do you say that I am?" And to my shame, I most often look at the world and say, "Who do you say that I am?" But Jesus Christ is calling me to turn to Him with His own words and say, "Who do YOU say that I am?" Because just as Peter correctly defined Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God, so I am defined by Christ as joint heirs with Him, a part of the royal priesthood, clothed in His righteousness, a daughter of the King. The world's definition of my identity are wrong, only who Christ says that I am is right. What a lesson!

Playtime Fun

We are still recovering around here. I was hoping Alana would avoid getting it, but I was wrong. She has the same nasty sore throat and bad cough that the boys and I have had for about 10 days. It's one of those viruses that lasts for a long time.

Anyway, I thought I'd just share a few pictures of life around the Ellsworth house lately.....

When we added on the screened-in back porch, this is what I always envisioned for its primary use.

It's sort-of like an outdoor playroom.

I never used a playpen much with Alana and Peter, but with Isaac being the third, I have found it to be essential. It's a great, safe place for him to play but still hear and see us around him.

It cracks me up how Isaac seems to look so surprised in every picture! I think it's the flash.

And just because they're so cute - a glimpse at some thunder thighs:)

He is still our chunky-monkey.

Sick Days and Comfort Food

We've had a bit of a rough week around here. Peter, Isaac and me have all been sick. We all have matching coughs, runny/stuffed up noses and just general crud. No fun!

I even emailed my principal on Wednesday and told him that the teacher is taking a sick day. He said since I have no substitute to fill in, he'll just have to dock my pay. I said that's fine since I don't get paid anything anyway, it won't amount to much.

This is how Isaac has been taking his naps this week to help with the congestion.

Don't you wish they made adult bouncy seats? Babies make them look so comfortable.

Peter has been watching a lot of T.V. this week.

Apparently Roo......

and this teddy bear have wanted to watch T.V. too.

It's fun to watch T.V. with your friends:)

I knew I was feeling pretty awful when I started craving chicken and dumplings and green beans. I have made chicken and dumplings about twice in the almost 16 years I've been married. But I made it this week and it was DELICIOUS! Peter even liked it.

I'm hoping we all get well soon.