Ellie's Horseback Riding Camp 2014

For her birthday, Grangran and Papa gave Ellie a week of horseback riding camp in June.  She had the best time (despite the weather fluctuating between 90+ degree temps and tornado warnings :-/)

She just loved her horse, Piglet, even though poor old Piglet has seen better days.  He was 25 years old and looked like he'd rather be doing just about anything else besides hauling another kid around on his back all summer long.  No where was this more evident than at the 'Rodeo'.

On the last day of camp, family and friends were invited to see the kids and horses put on a rodeo.  Piglet's top speed was about .5 miles/hour and his general demeanor indicated he'd rather be sent to the glue factory than trot!  

Thankfully, Ellie didn't really notice that she had the laziest horse in the whole stable, so she had great fun.  She can't wait to go back next year!

 Is it just me, or does she look super grown up in this picture?!

 Poor old, tired Piglet.

 Luke thought the Rodeo was great fun!

 Not a bad view!

You can relive all the exciting action via this video!!

Campbell: The Never-Ending Source of Hilarity

Here's the latest in crazy sayings that I happened to jot down:

I reminded the girls that they needed a bath and Campbell retorted:  "But we had a bath last night!"
Me:  "No, honey, that was night before last.  Tonight you need a bath"
Campbell: [Looking genuinely puzzled]  "Then why was I naked last night with water all around me?"

On a walk this afternoon when Campbell was lagging behind, Ellie and I were asking her to pick up the pace.

Campbell:  "But I have different feet that you guys do!"
Me:  "No, honey, your feet are just the same, just move them faster and let's go"
Campbell:  "But my feet are made differently!"
Me:  "What are they made of?"
Campbell:  "They're Muppet feet."

This evening the girls got all curious about marriage and who would be their husbands some day.  After repeatedly explaining to them why they can't marry Daddy, Luke, or Grayson, I tried to tell them who they should look for (someone who loves God and Neighbor, someone who treats his parents and siblings well, etc.)  I explained that having common interests is also important and told Ellie that she should look for someone who loves to be around people, and told Campbell she should look for someone who loves to watch movies, etc.  Anyway, I joked with Campbell and said, "What would you do if your husband didn't like mac and cheese!?"  She swiftly replied, "I would say, 'You're fired!!'"

This is cute.

No real milestone, or specific reason to post this video.  Just found it in my photo library and thought it was funny.

We were in a toy store where the girls were picking out Luke's birthday presents and he was entertaining himself in the back with the displays.

On Love, Character Traits, and Art

A couple of conversations with Campbell over the last few weeks:

[While watching a Sesame Street video in which Grover befriends a lonely Praire Dawn..]

Campbell: "Oh mommy, they're being so nice to each other!"
Me: "That's right, Grover is trying to be a good friend, isn't he?"
Campbell: "Well, you know when people start being so nice to each other like that, soon they're going to get in love, Mommy!"

At the dinner table last week, we were playing a little game and telling who our favorite Bible character was and why.

Ellie: "I like Mary the best, because she was God's mother and was very good and didn't make bad choices."
Campbell: "I think I like Abraham the best."
Daniel: "And why is that, Baby C?"
Campbell:  "Because he had lots of milk and honey, and I love honey!!"

[On a particularly cold, snowy day when the kids were having to come up with indoor activities..]

Me: "Campbell, what would you like to do?  Do you want to play with Play-doh, or maybe color?  Or you can paint if you'd like."
Campbell:  "Yes!  I want to paint, Mommy.  I want to paint with all the colors of the wind!"

I think she's seen Pocahontas one too many times :)

We Are the Fox Family

A couple of weeks ago it was our turn for Family Presentation at CC.  We decided to write a song about our family and here's how it turned out:

We Are the Fox Family

It was pretty fun and I'm glad I thought to ask someone to video it!

Growing Up

Here's a snippet from a recent conversation between Ellie and I (prompted by me noticing how tall she’s getting):

Me: “Ellie, you’re getting so big! What am I going to do? You’re supposed to be my little baby and if you keep growing, you won’t be a little baby anymore!”

E: “Well, Mommy, I’m still your little baby, but I’m starting to grow up like you. And someday I’ll be a Mommy just like you. And then I can wear belts and make-up!!”

A few days later...

Me: “Ellie- you’re supposed to stay little! Why aren’t you staying little anymore?!”

Ellie: (Exasperated) “Mommy, that’s not God’s design!”

----

Ellie had an eyelash on her cheek the other day, so I swept it off onto my finger and told her to blow it away and make a wish. A minute later, Campbell demanded, “I wanna blow an eyebrow and have a dream!”

---

I overheard the girls talking in the car about what kinds of cars they’d like to have someday. Here are the results:

Campbell: “My car will be puhpuhl (purple) with wainbows (rainbows) allllll ovah (over) it and, Sissy, you can wide (ride) in it with me, OK, Sissy?!”

Ellie: “Well, my car will be pink with sparkly spots all over it and it will have rainbows and a picture of my family on the side, and me and Mommy will ride in the front of my car and you and Daddy will ride in the front of your car, and we’ll all drive to a fancy restaurant”

Campbell: “Oooh. Dat will be so nice, Sissy!”

Ellie: “What kind of job are you gonna get so you can have your car, Campbell?”

(We’re starting them early on the whole 'no job = no car' concept! ha!)

Campbell: “I’m gonna be a mommy!”

Ellie: “I’m gonna be a mommy too!”

Me: “That’s great girls, I’m glad you want to be mommies. Do you think you’ll make enough money doing that to pay for your cars?”

Ellie: “Yes, you get paid lots of money to be a mommy!”

Daniel and the Girls Meet Baby Reese

Back in December, Matt, Sarah, and Reese were able to come over for a day on the tail-end of a visit with her folks. I was able to go take care of Reese for a weekend in November, but this was the first time Daniel and the girls had met her.

We tried to get a group picture of all the cousins, but it was just not in the cards.

By the time we gave up all three of them were acting like lunatics.

I guess that means we need to get together again soon and try again!!

An Interview with Baby Campbell

In honor of Campbell's birthday, I thought I'd post this [long] video... I really should have edited out some of the dead space, but just can't find the time :)  Hope you like it!  I can't believe my little baby is TWO!

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Campbell is talking more and more these days and it is TOO CUTE!  I wanted to record her saying "pumpkin patch" because she was so excited the day we went and kept calling it the "Punky Patch" (emphases on the "P" sound!), but when I started recording we wound up having a nice little conversation (interrupted by Rosie at the end of course!)

Enjoy.

Winter '09 -'10 Recap

Now that Spring is finally here I figured I better post a recap of all the happenings in our house this past winter. We had one of the coldest and snowiest winters in the last 30 years (!) and enjoyed lots of snow-play related activities and lots of 'creative' indoor activities too.

Here's some pics of us 'sledding'. Since normally we only get one or two snows each year, I've never invested in a sled. This year I scrounged around and we ended up using the top to a Rubbermaid Tote. It was pretty ghetto, but it worked and we had a blast flying down our hill!

It's pretty safe to say that the only thing Rosie loves more than water, is snow. She basically goes completely crazy and runs around from here to there like a wild banshee (more than her baseline, that is). Her favorite snow-related activities include chasing snow balls and trying to catch the sled... which is what she was doing this day. It was beyond annoying.

Here's our fledgling attempt at a snowman. The snow was so powdery it was hard to get it to stick together, much less keep pebbles in it. So, we improvised with food coloring for the eyes and mouth. While it did result in some unintentional yellow snow, it came out pretty cute (though totally freaky looking once he started to thaw!)

Baby Campbell 'tolerated' the snow. I finally started putting plastic bags around her boots so her feet wouldn't get so wet and cold.

As with all things weather-related, the snow got old after a while. I was pretty much ready for Spring by early February and I was running out of things to do with the girls inside. Here we are making a miniature igloo out of snowballs on our deck. Please excuse the 'interesting' outfits the girls are wearing. Between extra laundry because of the snow (and not really having more than one outfit of snow gear anyway), and Ellie's insistence that she be continually dressed in a princess dress, I got to where I'd just throw on whatever warm clothes I could find and head outside!
Ellie looks like she could be the Bird Lady from Mary Poppins!

Old Rose Pose was pretty worn out after all that snow-ball-chasing!

After the snow finally thawed out (which took almost a month!), we found Baby Campbell's long-lost hat. It was frozen solid, having spent the last several weeks in a tundra. Ellie thought that was pretty hilarious.

Enjoying some "Hot Chox" by the warm fire.

Ellie had a Ballet 'Recital' (not sure that's exactly what I should call it since no two dancers did the same thing at the same time... still it was cute!)

My parents and brother came to visit and installed a new shower for us (to replace the cracked tub we found upon moving in... grr). No pictures of that yet because I'm a complete loser and haven't painted the areas that need patching yet.

As luck would have it, though, our kitchen sink sprang a leak about 1 hour before they had to leave! So Derek and my dad unloaded the cabinet in record time, did a lightning-fast repair job and it was good as new!

I got to meet Roy Williams at a book signing. He was SO very nice and friendly!

I should have blogged about this back in the fall, but I guess I got busy and forgot (not sure how I could do that, since it's like the coolest news ever!) We parted ways with our beloved Fwagon (or maybe I should say it parted ways with us in the form of repair bills totaling more than its worth!)

Daniel's dad got on it for us and found us a sweet deal on a van... he even drove it up from Florida for us! (I'm not sure if he's for-hire, so maybe I shouldn't be advertising his services here :)

Anyway, owning a van is pretty much the culmination of all my life's dreams at this point, so I am over-joyed!

Check it out! Isn't it sweet?? You know you want one.

Mom-mom sent Ellie an easel for her birthday and it was a great winter-time gift! She spent hours inside creating with chalk and markers.

Ellie also drew her first real picture! She's always loved to color, but this was the first time I could identify what she drew (usually it's just random scribbles). She told me it was "Mommy, Daddy, Ellie, Campbell, and Rosie"

For Christmas I had put "The Napping House" on the girls' Amazon wish list. Well, I accidentally linked to the "BIG Book" version and that's what got ordered. Oops. I had planned on returning it, but Ellie got such a kick out of reading a massive sized book, that we decided to keep it.

Daniel was able to put the girls to bed (read: fall asleep before they do) a few times.

All in all it was a great winter (though, don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that Spring is here!) We had our fair share of illnesses, so I'm hoping our immune systems will be stronger than ever now and next year will be no sweat. Daniel is finished with the toughest part of his intern year schedule (is that the Hallelujah Chorus I hear playig somewhere???), so I can see a little flickering of light at the end of the tunnel.

This Spring we have all kinds of things planned: Vacation (yay!), visits to family and friends, busy work schedule for me, a clinic month for Dan (double-yay!), yard work, and hopefully lots of nice weather to play in!

Aspirations

Week before last the girls and I went to Bowling Green to visit good friends. The girls had a blast playing with all the kids and their toys. One morning I eavesdropped on a conversation she and Davis (6) were having:

Davis: "What are you going to be when you grow up?"

Ellie: [confused]"I'm gonna still be Ellie"

Davis: "Well, are you gonna work?"

Ellie: "Well..., maybe"

Davis: "You have to work. That's how you get money and clothes and stuff."

Ellie: "What are you going to be when you grow up?"

Davis: "I might be a spy. Or I might be next-door-neighbors with Grayson. Those are the only things I know."

Ellie: [Thinking] "Maybe I could be a spy too!!"

Punnett Square

The other day Ellie was asking about eye color. I had commented on her big brown eyes and told her that she got them from me. I could see that caused a little confusion, and here's how the rest of the conversation went:

Ellie: "How did I get my brown eyes from you?"

Me: "Well, kids get something from each of their parents and you got my eyes"

Ellie: "Where did you get your eyes, Mommy?"

Me: "I got my eyes from Gramps. And Gramps got his eyes from Mom-mom"

Ellie: "Did Baby Campbell get her eyes from me?"

Me: "No, Baby Campbell got her brown eyes from Mommy, just like you did"

Ellie: "And did Rosie get her brown eyes from you too?"

Me: "No! I did not give birth to that fur-faced maniac!!!"

Ellie: [falling on the floor laughing]

Worn Out and Incoherent

Last month Daniel had a really heavy rotation and by the end of the 4 weeks, he was totally beat. He came home from work one afternoon, post-call (meaning he'd just worked 30+ hours w/ no sleep) and Ellie begged him to read her a book.

He got through one book somewhat smoothly, but by book number two, it was going downhill, and fast. I was folding laundry in the same room and heard the following:

"Are you hiding in the forest,

Teddy really wants to know.

Did you know that you have muscles

from your head down to your toe?

There's a party in the forest,

Don't you really want to go?

Teddy's waiting for you to play

in the soft and fluffy snow."

???

A couple concerns:

1. This book had NO words... just pictures and a teddy hidden on every page (none of the pages have ANYthing to do with a forest... or muscles.... or snow.)

2. The book he'd read right before this had similar meter and was about squirrels (maybe that's where the forest came in??)

3. Yikes. Go to bed!

Ellie kept saying, "Daddy! Those aren't the right words!!" I cracked up when I realized he was basically talking in his sleep (still, I was impressed with the rhyming!), so I grabbed my camera and a paper to write it down.

The happy ending to this story is that when this picture was taken he was only 48 hours away from a week of vacation! yay!!

A Visit to Santa

Why the picture of pigs flying? Well, because that's what I thought would happen before Ellie would willingly sit on Santa's lap and smile (see below for our only other attempt).

2007

This year she actually asked to go see him, didn't chicken out while we were in line, and even told him what she wanted for Christmas!

At the last minute, she did request to sit on Mrs. Claus' lap and have Campbell sit on Santa's lap instead (didn't mind throwing Sissy under the bus!) I about cracked up when he asked her what she wanted:

Santa: "Have you been a good girl this year"

Ellie: [in awe] "Yeah"

Santa: "What would you like for me to bring you for Christmas?"

Ellie: [matter-of-factly]"Some luggage..... You can find it at Target!"

Somewhere out there right now, pigs are taking flight.

I have no idea where she heard this...

Yesterday, Campbell was in a grumpy mood and just basically whined and complained about every situation in which she found herself. After a few hours of this, Ellie turned to her and said, "Baby Campbell: You go back to your homeland!!"

???

Growing Up

Tonight as I was getting the girls out of the bath, it struck me how big Campbell is getting. I told her that before long she wasn't going to be a baby anymore. Ellie started quizzing me about that statement... which led to this conversation:

Me: (to Ellie) "You were my little baby, and you grew and became a big girl. Now, Baby Campbell is growing up and pretty soon she'll be a big girl too! Who is going to be my baby if you two keep growing up?"

Ellie: "Maybe Daddy can be your baby, Mommy!"

Crayola Color Wonder

We've officially made the switch to Color Wonder paper + markers in the house.

Why.... you ask?

Oh, I don't know.... maybe because of .... THIS

and THIS!

and THIS!

I'll let you know how the transition goes =)