A Visit with Nana and Baba

We had a special treat this weekend as Nana and Baba were here and the boys had a great time playing and showing Nana and Baba their new favorite movies, that being "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and "Star Wars." We did get to play outside some which was nice, but once again winter has returned to the area and it was a bit chilly and rainy at times, but the boys did not seem to care. We had a good weekend and Nana made pancakes for us, even though she could not eat them. What a great Nana! Eli ate two for breakfast and then another one for a snack about an hour later. Hopefully We will get to go visit them at their house soon! We had a good time and we love you, Nana and Baba!

Eli, Evan, Nana, and Baba watching "Alvin and the Chipmunks"

This is a funny little video. Evan was insisting that Baba lift him up to the monkey bar and swing him. He was swinging about tow times back and forth and the dropping to the ground. It was quite funny so I ran to get the camera. This time at the monkey bar, Evan grabbed on and would not let go. You can hear him say "I want down," to which Baba replies "well let go then!" as Evan falls in a heap on the ground. We all had a good laugh along with Evan.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Today was Eli's last day of school. On the last day, they have a Teddy Bear Picnic which the kids absolutely love. They began with a parade where they carry around their bear (Eli chose his Oregon State Beaver as a final stab to his teacher who is a Duck!). Usually the parade takes place outside, but today was a rainy day, so they paraded to each classroom. Next, they went to different stations in the school and up at the church building. There were all sorts of things such as a water station, rice table, bubbles, trike racing, tattoos, hula hoops, balls, and other toys. Then the kids went back to their classrooms and had a hot dog picnic on the floor followed by a Popsicle. Eli had lots of fun and commented this evening that he did not want school to be over. I got numbers for play-dates and we are going to do some swimming lessons over the summer, so hopefully he will not be to sad without school! Evan got to go to the Teddy Bear Picnic as well and had lots of fun, seeing as how he thinks he is big enough to go to school anyway. The water station was definitely his favorite as he was completely dripping wet and had rice stuck all over himself. Fortunately we had Eli's spare clothes box. Everyone had a really great day!

Water station

Rice table

Eli waving for the parade

Suddenly Summer!

Well all of that complaining I did about the weather sure seems silly now. We seemed to have skipped spring and moved from winter directly into summer! My plants are in a bit of a state of shock. Hopefully they can acclamate to the temperature. It isn't supposed to stay this hot for long though. We were able to get lots of outside time involving lots of water. We played in the pool, with water guns, in the sprinkler, and just dumped buckets of water on each other. Evan's favorite is the water guns. He is a bit of a close shooter and gets about six inches from your face before squirting. Hopefully we have not gotten too much sun today. We feel a bit pink! It sure was great to be outside so much and hopefully this means the begining of a fun summer!

Nothing like a good pipe!

Mother's Day

We had a very nice, very low key Mother's Day, as I am feeling a bit cruddy still. I was greeted when I came down the stairs to go to church by a beautiful ceramic pot with a maroon/white calla lily(not the flower on the right, that is one of my tulips) in it. I was surprised as I had been to the nursery a few weeks before and said that that was my Mother's Day gift getting all of my potted plants. Eli of course started reciting the card to me before I opened it, which was very sweet. All day whenever the boys overheard someone say "happy Mother's Day" or any reference to the day, Eli would say "Happy Mother's Day, Mom," and Evan would say" Mother's!" By the end of the day Evan was saying "Mother's Day" and " Happy Birthday to you, mom!" We had a late lunch at Red Robin, which was technically Eli's choice, so he was thrilled when I picked that and said "that's the same choice as me!" I kind of had a Mother's day weekend, since I did not feel good and cough all the time, and John was so awesome and cleaned and did laundry and took the kids on errands, so I laid around Sunday afternoon. We ended the day watching the Survivor finale. It was a great season, but a disappointing winner. Oh well.

We finally had some good weather so I took some action pictures of the boys. This week it is supposed to get up to 92. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm hopeful that we will be able to get the kiddy pool out!

Light saber battle. Every time Evan sees the Klobas' garage door down, Evan says "Dark Rader (Darth Vader) in there!"These are videos that I shot with our regular camera, so the quality is not real great, but it will have to do until we get a digital recorder. Eli was doing his fancy spins on his bike (on the top), and Evan is taking a drive on the tractor (on the bottom).

Back to Bloging

Well, after almost a year, I guess it is time to update our blog. For a long time I thought I was too technologically impaired to figure it out, but it really is not that bad. Hopefully we can be better about regular posts. Just a brief update, Eli is in his last month of preschool. He loves it and I think it will be hard over the summer, but I have talked with several of the moms in his class, and we are going to try to arrange summer play dates. Evan is doing good. We go to "class" at the Library on Mondays which he enjoys singing and playing with the other kids. We also go to the gym quite regularly and the kids love the Kid's Klub and ask to go there almost everyday, which is good accountability for me. John is busy with work and with school. He is in his third term of organic chemistry and then will be preparing for the MCAT. I am happy being a stay at home mom and I enjoy this time that I have with the boys. I am also still doing transcription. We are looking forward to this summer playing outside, riding bikes, and sitting on the patio, that is when our eternal winter will be over. We seem to be getting sick a lot, I don't know if it is the weather, but it would be nice to get out of the house. Eli, and now Evan, have pink eye currently and are getting over colds and coughs while I am in the beginning stages of a cold. Not so much fun.

The following pictures are from Eli's birthday and Evan's birthday. We had lots of fun with friends and family and enjoy seeing the boys with those that love them so much. We are so blessed to have so many people that the boys look up to.

Pin the bow-tie on Pablo (from the Backyardigans)

Pinata time!
Happy 4th Birthday! Eli had a yummy strawberry cake that is the same recipe that Grandma used to make Aunty Holly for her birthdays!

Eli and his new Razor 360. It is very cool. He can do spins on it and it getting better at riding it without fishtailing down the street!
Happy 2nd Birthday! Evan had a Curious George party with cockeyed cake, which is what his mommy has every year for her birthday!
Curious George birthday hat!
What cute boys! We didn't play any games at Evan's party, but we did play a lot as it was a beautiful day!
Quilts from Nana! They love them and sleep with them every night! I will take more detailed pictures of them to post.

The next few pictures are from Eli's Spring Program at preschool, The Tree of Knowledge. He did a great job singing!
The next few pictures are just odds and ends in our garden. One good thing about our long winter is that my spring flowers have lasted a long time!
They were not particularly wanting to pose for a picture at the moment, but this was the best out of about six.

We hope that you enjoy the pictures and we will do our best to keep you posted on the happenings of the Ellison family!