A little trip down (a roly-poly) memory lane

The other day Ella came into our bed for a snuggle.  I just lay there looking at her and remembered this day . . . 

Such a tension in missing these days, joy in remembering, feeling sad that she is growing so fast, but being very, very thankful that my girl is healthy and able to grow and I get to enjoy her for the amazing girl she is and is becoming.

But really, how is it possible that time goes SO fast?! I heard someone once say 'the days can be long but the years are short'.  Fairly accurate I'd say.  Of course there are many things to enjoy about these years, and I have and do, but yes, there have been some challenges, too.

And so I started looking through 100s and 100s (hmmm, possibly 1000s and 1000s) of pictures of my sweet girl.  Especially drawn to the ones of her with all of those sweet baby rolls.  And she had so many!  Time is flying.  I love her now.  But I sure do miss those chubby baby days!  So much to love!

Oh I remember this face and this day so clearly.  Our first trip to Memphis around 6 weeks.  Those cheeks just blossoming!

Sunday School class in Round Rock, Texas.  Just chilling out in the bumbo chair with her little friends who, at the time, I thought were so big and grown (kids a whole 6 months to one year older than Ella)...Micah...Leilah...Summyr....oh, names are failing me. 

Four Month check up in Austin.  Doctor Casey was pretty impressed with those rolls.  This was our last well-baby check in the US.

I love this pic!  We were stuck in Denver, Colorado due to a cancelled flight.  Without luggage.  And as luck always has it, I had NO extra clothes in the diaper bag, which was usually stocked full.  How does that always happen?

Aww...our own little Naturalisation Ceremony to celebrate Ella becoming an Australian Citizen :-) (around four months old)

I'm pretty sure this was upon arrival in Australia...zonked by the jetlag

First trip to Grandma-in-Brisbane's house 

Had to include this comparison pic.  No evidence of those sweet rolls :-(  Ella has long loved this swing

Sleeping Beauty. Ella's bed for her first 7 months was the pack-n-play/portacot.  (Noah did the same...no wonder that boy likes pink)

Melt!

What's not to love about a chubby bub after bathtime?

Beautiful even when messy!

 An all time fave pic (although I have sooo many).  Rugged up for an Aussie winter and fast asleep after a morning at the community garden

Almost a big sister!

About to leave for the hospital to have Noah.  I think someone knew something big was about to happen!

And what a great big sister she is, even so young!

Two chubby bubs to love!  

Musings on Love

It's almost comical scrolling through my very diversified news source around special holidays.  (This news source I speak of is Facebook of course!  Shame on me being so lazy, but seriously, where else can you get news from around the world and opinions from every camp in just seconds?) 

Valentine's Day was no exception.  There are those that love it, tolerate it and can't stand it.  Those who boycott it, celebrate it, complain about it, share cutesy little sayings about it and declare their undying love for people on it.

For us personally, we've never done much more than go out for dinner and maybe exchange cards.  Hopeless romantics, huh?  Truth be told, we usually end up celebrating the anniversary of our first date which happened to fall on February 15th, 2001.  We've always been a little unconventional I guess. 

I try in the everyday mundane, to encourage my kids to find ways to 'live love', but why not use a special day to ramp it up a little?  

I prepared a little package for each of them with little things I knew would bring a smile to their face (and the bonus was they were hugely discounted things.  Love a bargain!)  On the outside of their package, I wrote a verse to share with each of them...Noah's from 1 Cor 13:13 and Ella's from Zephaniah 3:17 (LOVE this verse and the picture of God delighting in us...now that's some love!) 

We had to wake Noah up as Jason was leaving for work.  Needless to say they loved their Valentines gifts.  

My sleepy Valentines 

We also read to them a little about what God has to say about love.  Things that even little minds can at least begin to absorb.  Love is kind, patient, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrong.  Doesn't delight in evil.  Rejoices with truth.  Always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails!  What great things to strive for.

And to take the focus off the 'getting' some, Ella and Noah decorated hearts with stickers as Valentine's to give their friends.  

With kids aged 3 and 4, and a whole bunch of sweet little friends, I thought why not celebrate with a Valentine's Morning tea?  So I invited some friends and we ended up with 9 kids aged 4 and under, along with Mums for crowd control, and had a lovely little time.  The kids crafted and ate and played and scattered glittery little hearts from one end of the house to the other :-)

Setting up the table for morning tea

Waiting so patiently on their friends

How sweet are they?

These two!  

So that was our Valentine's Day this year; a lot of fun!  Oh, and I have to say the icing on the cake was the offer from a sweet friend to mind our kids while we had dinner out.  Bonus!  

I've been listening to an Andrew Peterson CD in the car recently (great music for the soul, by the way!)  There's a song with a line in it that says 'love binds up what breaks in two'.  I love that.  'Live love' in a broken world.  Love with your words and with what you do.  Love your family, your friends; the ones easy to love and the ones that take oh so much strength.  Love strangers.  Love people who may never be able to give back.  Smile, wave, wait, help.  Love -- knowing it helps to bind up pain, loss and heartache, and knowing that it helps in bringing about healing and joy!

Stingray to Seahorse

Celebrating with Ella this week as she was promoted to the Seahorse level at swimming.  Two of her close friends have been seahorses for a while and she has longed to be one, too.  And recently all of the things they've been working on have all just come together.  Strong legs, long arms, taking breaths.  And Monday ended up being the day to 'ring the bell'! 

Ringing the bell.  Together.  They do everything together.  Except ballet :-)  Ella can be a little shy and so was eager to have Noah by her side.

I hope they always enjoy celebrating each other's victories

I love that they're so proud and happy for each other.  Of course Noah didn't realise that this meant the end of their swimming together.  At least for a while.  Now Ella has the joy of swimming with two of her BFFs, Zahli and Romina!

 I couldn't help but take a trip down memory lane to Ella's first ever swim class.  Look at this sweet girl.  Not quite two.  Still chubby.  And still in that precious 'cheeeeese' phase.  I lost a little hearing during those first few classes; oh she did not take kindly to this new venture!  But as my baby girl does, she comes around when she is good and ready.  So proud of her.  And can NOT believe how fast time goes.  Excuse me while I go have a little cry.

Beach time!

We spent some time at one of Wollongong's beautiful beaches this weekend.  It wasn't the best weather; actually quite chilly.  

The kids were less than impressed at first, but gradually warmed up. And in the meantime I got some good snuggles from Noah :-)

Aww, sweet little sandy toes peeking out

Noah spotted some airplanes, helping him forget about the chill factor

Time for some beach Bocce.  And we added a few extra to our group in the process

And then it was time for a little surfing, whether it be sand or surf.   

Some real surfing lessons from Travis.  Noah isn't too keen at this point in time

And finally, Travis and Kiala introduced the kids to sand burials.  I think we're just going to give them beach duty from now on.  Have to say the whole sand thing is a bit much for me!

Ella was quite delighted with her mermaid tail

After seeing Ella become a beautiful mermaid, Noah said 'I wanna be Dragon Smaug'.  And then 'Lightning McQueen'.  The problem was he never stayed still long enough to become anything other than a pile of sand.  He would just jump up and start flapping his arms and swooping on his sister like a dragon.

Finally kept them still long enough to create two amazing Alligators.  

I think breaking free is the best part!  When I said 'well, see you later Alligator, I think they thought I was for real'