Ellie's 3 year old spoiling!

Our sweet Ellie just turned 3! It has been quite the week too. Tuesday morning we had her "friends" party here at our house. It was so fun, there were like 10 kiddos here, running around everywhere. They colored and decorated cookies, and ate their creations, and played with all Ellie's toys, it was so fun! Then Wednesday morning was her first Ballet class, and she had lots of fun there. And then Wednesday night was her Joshua Party. Now the week before the cooks had asked her what she wanted to eat on her Birthday and she said Macoroni and Cheese and Corndogs, so that's what they served. Then Rich asked her if she wanted it to be a theme night and have people dress up, and she said yes, like Princesses. He asked, what about the boys, and she said they should dress up like ducks. Ha! I think because in her mind she remebered Halloween when she was a princess and Jaron was a duck, so it made perfect sense to her. Well, the Joshua students love her so much and everyone dressed up. In fact, when we arrived at the building, probably half of them ran out to greet her and wish her a happy birthday! Rich played all her favorite songs, you know, Stuck in the Middle by Lenka, Are we Human or are we Dancer by The Killers, Glamorous and Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie, some Coldplay, you know, all the normal songs that 3 year olds love. BaHAhaha! She was so cute, she would get kinda nervous and shy, then she would here one of "her songs" and run to the middle of the dance floor and jump and dance, then run back to her seat. I don't think she even had one whole bite of her food because she was so excited and nervous. Then we brought out her cake, which I had attempted to decorate a crown on but ran out of frosting and I had forgotten the candle, so they just sang while I brought it to her, and then I took it and cut it. It was really yummy despite the unpolished decoration. Then as the students cleaned up and got changed for their meeting we had some family time (Rich's parents are up) and Ellie opened her presents. Thank you one and all, she absolutely loved everything! It was so cute as she opened them and would realize what something was, at least three times, she was like, "this is what I wanted". Well done! Then Thursday morning we had her 3 year old Doctor visit and she had to get shots, sad day, but she was a trooper, as soon as they gave her a sucker, she got over it. It was just her and me who went down together, so it was special. We went to Chevy's and they sang to her and brought her the sombrero and ice cream treat, so fun! She was very confused why they did not sing the normal Happy Birthday song, I told her it was complicated. Anyways, that was our week, well besides the baby shower I hosted on Monday night, Bible study on Tuesday night, a women's event and then Broom Hockey on Wednesday night, the Passover Sader at Joshua on Thurday night and dinner with the family at the Hospitality House tonight, whew! What a Birthday Week!

A Good Night Sleep

Rich and I got brave and decided to leave the kids here at Hume with some very sweet and willing Joshua girls, while we went down to LA for our friend's wedding. We had a great time and had a late anniversary dinner at the amazing Ruth's Chris. Yummy! Steak, Lobster, Creme Brule, and NO KIDS! Whoo Hoo! Okay, so we love our children dearly, but it was so fantastic to have a whole nights sleep, all in a row. It was very timely, since my brain had begun to quickly deteriorate with the little sleep I had been getting. All refreshed and back at home. Oh and the wedding was great too! The bride plays Belle at Disneyland and played Jasmine at Disney, Tokyo, so the special music was phenominal and of course, she looked gorgeous! If they made a "Belle gets married" Barbie this is the dress she would wear. And they are a very sweet couple who have been dating for several years. The groom runs Reflect ministry. A ministry to the poor children in Mexico. Very cool. Anyways, the girls survived and gave us hope for the future, particularly the Israel trip. No pictures, sorry.

So many things

Okay, so first, Happy New Year! We went to our friend's house and just ate and let the kids all play, while occasionally checking in with the ball drop. Pretty low key, we left before midnight, wow different stage of life. But the best part of the night was by far, when I randomly said "Happy New Year" to Jaron in this funny voice and he just thought it was absolutely hilarious! The next day, nope, he was over it, but that night he would just laugh and laugh. I hope you enjoy the video.
Well first event of 2009 for us, was going to Pine Valley for the week with the Joshua kids. The trip went fine for most of the students, but for our little family it was rather tiring. We were all sharing a room, which is always interesting, and our sweet little Jaron must have not felt very good because he spent most nights crying/screaming for several hours of the night. I took him driving one night and Rich took him the next. It was pretty sad and exhausting but luckily Ellie slept through most of it.
The students got a lot of work done at the camp and then had a free day in San Diego. I took that day to do a little shopping and then head up to mom's to visit with Josh and his family and mom. (And to let Rich get a good night's sleep before driving all day) Saturday, I met up with all the vans and grabbed a couple girls to ride with me. They were a big help in the car and the trip up went really well.
We are home now, and tomorrow should be interesting. I'm taking Jaron, hopefully, to the doctor, and Rich will be back in the office at Joshua. The whole class and staff start a fast tomorrow, so hopefully that will go smoothly. And it is the first "normal" week since the students Christmas break, so there will be a lot of catching up to do.
We are looking forward to having Rich's parents up next week and for Ellie to start Ballet and have her birthday. All very exciting!

Christmas Fun

Some of the fun times of our Christmas festivities