Emma Hits the Ball

You might want to turn your volume down so that mine and Chloe's yelling doesn't hurt your ears.  In defense, the first time that she hit the ball, she was so surprised that she forgot to run.

This is Not Good. This is Not Good.

Setting: The Ellis House
(Mom is sweeping the floor after dinner)
Dad: I'm going to check on Chloe, she's been too quiet.
Dad: OH CHLOE NO!!!!
Emma: (starts crying) CHLOE, WHY, WHY WOULD YOU CUT YOUR OWN HAIR?
Mom: (laughs in disbelief that it has been almost 30 years since she heard her daddy yell, "OH DANA NO!!!!")

But, they didn't have i-phones or blogs back in 1982 so my mom wasn't able to torture me as well...

April Fools Day

I'm so behind on posts it's not even funny.  You can read the previous post for at least part of the reason of my blogging absences.    Anyway, since there was so much expressed interest on facebook about my desire to torture my child this morning, I figured I'd announce my results.  Hopefully I'll get around to an update of March soon.   And for you generous souls that suggested that I'm the "most fun mother ever".  It is a dream of mine.  But I assure you, it has more to do with the fact that I'm the youngest of 16 cousins which left me with a pent up desire for revenge that had to wait until I had my own children to pick on.  

I'm still trying to figure out this new computer and new version of PS which is my excuse for the lousy collage you'll find below.  

And to my OLDER sister who was born a fool, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!  

Dana

Fashion Show 2011

Since Last Time on Thoughts on Life and Dirty Diapers

The starting of  Project: Get house organized before summer

Emma decides to play softball

The planning of a no-kids, relaxing overnight trip with my mom and sister to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.

Restoration of a mobile home that should have been condemned for a single dad and child.

Emma dresses up like Lucy from Narnia for famous character day at school.

Adam down with terrible pain from his sciatic nerve.

softball practice

Fun no-kids overnight trip with mom and sister with the kids because Adam was down with his sciatic nerve.

Lots of Hugs and Kisses

Photo shoots

Massages and stretches for Adam three times a day for sciatic nerve.

Adam back on his feet, slowly but surely.

Dreams of organization fading

sunny spring weather good for playing outside

Contract renewal for cell phone with AT&T results in inexpensive Iphone

Pandora opens whole new plethora of Jazz music resulting in upping psyche for Dana.

Emma drops two day old phone on driveway and shatters screen

Adam and Apple become heros by getting phone fixed for FREE

Chloe down with a stomach virus.

Dana wears vomit and washes every piece of linen in her house.

softball practice for Emma  

Dana's admission to the online marketing program at Wilmington University

Dreams of organization crushed.

Computer owned for only a year and a half down with no recovery.

Expletives directed at HP and disbelief at their horrible business practice of charging for customer service.

lots of snuggling with Chloe.

Chloe recovers from stomach virus and awakes at 2:00 a.m. with a sudden appetite after a liquid diet for several days.

Fun ladies night out to an Anita Renfroe and Mandisa concert. 

Dana stresses over the fact that she still hasn't done her income taxes. 

Admission that Adam was right that Dana should have purchased a macbook to begin with.

Purchase of Macbook that Adam and Dana don't have the money for.  

Great love for the macbook that put Adam and Dana in debt.

Thankfulness from Dana about her husband's amazing nerdiness that makes him know all about Macbooks

Super fun day with Veronica and Katie.  

Expletive thoughts directed at specific people, not for public view. 

Thankfulness for true friends that stick around even when Dana feels like spewing expletives.     

Prediction of nap in the near future..

Blessings sent to you from Dana

Little Darlin..

"Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter

Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here 

Here comes the sun, ere comes the sun 

and I say it's all right"...

I can definitely tell where the long cold winter has had it's effect!  But God must have  known that we couldn't take much more.... We've been spending wonderful days out in the sun.. It has been absolutely beautiful!  And it is good for my soul!  

An exciting note: Emma is going to play softball.. She's really not half bad considering the fact that she's never played before.. We've spent lots of time in the back yard with her and it's proven to have been perfect weather for that... 

I'm sure another cold snap will come along before we hit spring.  Perhaps I will be able to catch up more then.. But for now, computer and sun aren't a great mix.  So I assume this won't get much traffic anyway..

Off to soak up the sun!

Visit with the Payne's

Posted on June 8, 2011  

Or part of them that is...

Back in January, Kenny Payne and two of his kids came to visit and tell the church about the work that he's doing with the Sparrow's Hope Orphanage in Ukraine.  Kenny is the minister that Adam did his youth ministry internship under.  We worked with them again when we were in Panama City Florida and Kenny was in and out of the country as our Missions Minister at Palo Alto.

Leanna, the oldest in the picture was around Chloe's age when I met her and Adam and I just fell in love with her. It's hard to believe that she's now and adult!  Since then, Kenny and Lora have added Dima whom they adopted from Ukraine and it was a fun surprise when Lora and I ended up pregnant at the same time and they have another one Emma's age, Lexi.  We hope to get to see Lora and Lexi some time in the near future.  But it always blesses us to spend time with any of them.

While they were here, I started looking through some old photo albums for some pictures of Leanna.  And though I didn't find what I was looking for there.  I did find this cherished surprise:

This is my friend Susan and me at Camp Wiregrass in about 2000.  The theme for the banquet that year was Rodeo Round Up or something like that.   The night that Susan passed away so unexpectedly, I tore the house apart looking for this picture and didn't find it until months later...  I have hundreds of pictures of our kids together and many of Adam and Tony.  This is the only picture I have of the two of us... It's very poor quality but I'll take it!  And I'll cherish it forever...  I've had a rough time since losing my cousin Tony and then Susan and just recently, my grandfather... Healing is slow.  But, taking it day by day, we're all starting to be able to celebrate their life and look forward to the day when we'll be with them again.

What She Said This Time

Recently added to the "What she said this time" section located in the right hand side bar.

2/4/2011

Chloe:  I want to watch the movie with the walled in it? 

Me: The movie with the walled in it?  

Chloe: No, the movie with the WALLED in it.

Me: The movie with the word in it?

Chloe: The movie with the WALLED in it.

Me: The movie with the walled in it?

Chloe: NO MOM!  THE MOVIE WITH THE WALLED IN IT.  WITH AN "R"!

Me: OH!  The movie  with the WORLD in it!

Chloe: Yeah.. (with a look of, oh my gosh my mom's an idiot)..

2/14/2011

Emma on Valentine's Day night:  I know why ya'll want to put us to bed early. So ya'll can do things together.... Just don't watch the Cosby Show without me.

We Changed the Weather!

  My friend Kristi and I decided to go get pedicures on Grand Hog's Day.   Emma had a half day at school that day and when I picked her up, I discovered that it was not going to fly for me to be the only one in the house with painted toe nails.. We decided to celebrate the lack of shadow with pretty toe nails to bid spring on it's way.  Read Two Big Weather Changes Ahead to see that it worked!

"Here comes the sun do do do do"...  

Thanks can be recorded in the comment section :)

PS: It's a shocker but, two posts in one day (got to get em' in when Adam is at home to chase the kids)! Don't miss my Happy Birthday wish to my mom below.

Happy Birthday Mom-- 60 years..

Dear Mom,

I started this post about thirty minutes ago and have written and deleted and written and deleted...and after a half hour, the only words I have past "Dear Mom" are the ones contained in the sentence you are currently reading.  I want to write something beautiful that honors you...something that will do justice to how much I value each of your sixty years.  I want to say the kind of words that people say about someone once they're gone, except I want to say them to you NOW.  I want to write words that will make turning sixty feel like a victory...I mean after all, you have survived a lot.

But...here's the thing:  I haven't been able to write ANYTHING for months.  I've been thinking and reflecting and then thinking and reflecting some more and I've decided that I'm in the throws of an early mid-life crisis. This crisis it seems, may be your fault.  I know,  I know, I promised a victory for you somewhere in all of this.  Just hang in here with me.  I realize that the blame I'm placing on you is not in the least bit fair.  Even so, let's be honest and say it...mother to mother:  we know that fairness makes no difference at all when it comes to children, mothers and blame.   You see, I crossed the thresh hold into my thirties without giving it much thought.  But, I have found that you turning sixty, has given me a new perspective.  Let me see if I can explain....

Do you remember our trip to Panama City Beach when I was 6-years-old?  I'm sure you do. That was the trip that YOU chipped my tooth. We had gone with some friends whose  daughter was Denise's, age (6 years older than me).  I was 3 years younger than I would have been if things had gone according to your original plan (You know, the plan in which I was also going to be named "Danny"). You were paying your usual penance for having a "tilted uterus", by filling the role of my playmate (since you were unable to get pregnant with me in time to make me a viable playmate for all the other children in our lives).  I was wearing a little purple bikini covered in little white hearts with ruffles on the top and I was dreaming of the day that I would take your place as the most beautiful woman in the world (when I would look the way you did in your blue bikini).   I had a deep sense of pity for all of the poor mothers who were laying on the beach because they didn't have a 6-year-old as cool as I was to share a day at the beach with.  I mean, they were so bored that they looked as if they might have actually fallen asleep! You and I were riding the waves in the ocean...you on one side of the raft and me on the other.  We were laughing and chatting.  I remember feeling like I was on top of the world and you were obviously having the best day of your life because you were lucky enough to have someone as fun as me to play with.  And then, reality slapped me right upside the head (a phenomenon that I have since discovered to be a constantly recurring theme in my life). This particular time, reality came in the form of a giant wave...just as you decided you could no longer stand my adorable 6-year-old cuteness and leaned in for a kiss.  Now that I am a mother myself, I know the panic that you must have felt as you struggled  to find your footing so you could keep me safely above the undertow.  But at the time, in the safety provided by your presence, I instead found freedom to express my fury regarding your impeccable timing.

At this point in the story, things get a little foggy.  I do recall my toes finding the ocean floor again as I stormed off saying, "I WANT MY DADDY!"   I also recall the irritation I felt over your ability to laugh at my quirky little personality, while I felt you should have been begging my forgiveness for the injustice forced upon me due to your inability to control the ocean tide.  That ability to laugh, by the way, is one that I have seemed to have inherited and it has proven invaluable in embracing the quirks of MY delectable second child.  

I still have a habit of narrating my own version of life.  Is my glass half empty or half full?  My hopelessly romantic nature often leaves my glass filled past the rim and overflowing.  This results in the most amazing life...until life hits a bump and I'm left looking like I wet my pants.  Okay maybe that isn't the best analogy for a story about playing in the ocean since we are, after all, already wet.  But, it's still fitting for my life since my bubble regularly gets burst in a wide variety of settings. 

But you know what else is memorable to me about this story?  (I mean other than the chipped tooth that I sported for years?)  According to my calculations, you were MY age.  That was 27 years ago and it seems like yesterday, even to me.

Mom, I promise that I listened when you told me how fast it was all going to go by!  One month into Emma's life, (when despite my attempts to soak up every second, I couldn't see where the month had gone), I knew that you were right.  I know that they are growing up WAY faster than I have wanted them to.  But what I haven't considered until now, is how old I'm going to be when we get there.

So what is it that makes growing older so difficult?  I mean, the alternative isn't exactly an option we'd want to choose.  I'll admit that looking in the mirror and noticing that the lines on my forehead have gotten deeper isn't fun.  But, as unsettling as that can be, I don't think it's the problem.  I think that (not so deep inside me), there is a fear that I will breeze through these years so exhausted by today's trials that I won't make the days valuable for tomorrow.  I'm afraid that I might somehow live these wonderful days so lost inside myself that I never get in the ocean to play.

So THIS is what I want you to know:

When I wake up in the mornings and look into the mirror and see that woman in the blue bikini staring back at me,  (Okay so I seriously doubt I'll be sporting a bikini anytime soon), I ask her what I can do that day to make me be the the kind of mother that you are.  I constantly ask myself how you would have handled all sorts of situations.  Those questions usually leave me running for the camera when Chloe gets into my makeup...or leaving the house a mess to go outside to play...or taking a break from making a grocery list to play Candyland,...or even deepening the lines in my forehead by getting up at 4 a.m. to work in the silence that I need to write a blog post.  Asking those questions also gives me the assurance that when I choose to make the grocery list instead of reading "The Cat in The Hat" (for the ONE HUNDREDTH TIME!),   or when I DO get frustrated about the 26th masterpiece that has been created on the wall with crayons or fingerpaint,  that my love for them will prevail against those frustrations.  Because of you, I know, that there is a way that tomorrow I'll be able to live with today.   When the next 27 years have passed even faster than the last, if I am somehow able to know that I have reached sixty years old, with my kids feeling about me the way I do about you, I will claim it for the victory it is...with no regrets.  

To the mother I dream of being, Happy 60th birthday!  I hope you celebrate it as the victory it is.  

I love you,

Dana

PS:  Despite the frugality that I also inherited from you, I intend on investing in a non-generic box of Kleenex with aloe comfort for my nose before I write another sappy blog post.