Spring in Ellie's Terms

According to Ellie, spring is great! She loves the sunshine and the boosted mood of her Mom and Dad. She loves riding in her jogging stroller and looking at the trees and birds. She even saw daffodils coming up today! She likes not having to be bundled up in lots of layers in her car seat. She likes seeing the butterflies at the Meijer Gardens. She can't wait to play outside more!

March Madness

This month started with a record streak of sunny days (more in a row than we had in all of 2009)! It created the long awaited wonderful feeling of knowing that winter is almost over. The snow is gone and we are back to looking at brownish grass and our entire mailbox again. We took our first walk outside since December and even started up jogging again.

We are thankful that Elizabeth has been healthy and is growing strong. She is now seven months old, and is quite confident of grabbing anything in her sight or rolling until some form of furniture stops her. She eats 2-3 meals a day of baby food and loves her banana puffs. She recently discovered the fun of making a spitting sound with her lips. We watch in awe everyday of her curiosity of everything around her. We no longer can have her sit on our lap at the table, or plates and food would be all over us! She continues to makes us laugh and this is a recent video of her in amusement!

As we continue on in March, we look forward to more sunny days, preparing for the Calvin Spring Classic, and, of course, winning our tournament brackets.

Eating and Rolling!

In this past week, Ellie has been doing some exciting things.  She is now just over 6 months old, but is still on the small side at 14 pounds.  Even though she has been eating baby food for a while now, we just started giving her Gerber puffs this past week.  In a few days she went from being utterly confused about what to do with them to feeding them to herself.  It amazes me to see how she is growing into a "big girl"!

Ellie started rolling from her back to stomach this last week.  She has been able to roll the other way since Christmas, but never seemed to want to go on her stomach.  Her Aunt Patti was the first to notice it, and for the next two days Ellie entertained herself by rolling over and over.  It is so fun to watch her giggle as she looks at us and then rolls towards something new that catches her eye. 

Now, the question is...what will she do next?

Going...Grocery Shopping

I sure hope that Ellie grows up to love grocery shopping as much as I do. Until this week, she would patiently sit in her car seat in the cart while I zoomed through the aisles, hoping she wouldn't start to cry in boredom. This week, I figured I would try out the shopping cart cover we got for a baby shower. Now that Ellie can sit on her own, I thought that she would have fun looking out rather than just staring at the ceiling of Meijer. I was glad that she liked it-- she helped hold my coupons while fellow shoppers said hello!

Preparing for my shopping trip is a big event. That is why I only go about 2-3 times a month. It takes me about two hours to cut all of my coupons, look through the adds, and plan my list. I owe it to Catherine (and my mom!) who taught me all about saving, and now I cringe if I have to buy something that I couldn't get on sale or with a coupon. My time is well spent though, as I continually save about $25-$50 for every $50 I spend. Recently, I have been using a few blogs to help, such as Sarah's Deals where someone has already done half the work for me (thanks to Cat for this link)! My next step is to expand my coupon searching to the internet. There are tons of coupons online, it is just too much of a hassle for me to print them out (especially with a fussy printer like ours)!

I find much joy in a successful shopping trip. I love the feeling of having fresh fruit and veggies in the house and knowing that my time was well spent in saving money! The best part is when I get items for free or for pennies...such as the Pillsbury biscuits this last week. I like the challenge of still trying to buy healthy foods and not just processed foods (even though the processed foods are the cheapest)! I hope Ellie continues to enjoy shopping with me...now we just need to work on getting her Daddy wanting to join us!

Going...to Celebrate!

February has been the month of celebrations! We celebrated Matt's Mom's 50th birthday, Matt's 24th birthday, and Elizabeth's Dedication. Also, Ellie just turned 6 months yesterday.  We have been fortunate to celebrate and spend some great time with our families and friends this month!

First, we headed down to Findlay, Ohio, to celebrate Matt's Mom's birthday.  We had fun giving her a basket of her "50 Favorite Things" and going to The Bistro for dinner.  We also watched the Calvin/Hope basketball game on the big screen at the local Buffalo Wild Wings.  The best part of the weekend (in my opinion!) was going to the tea house with the girls.  We enjoyed scrumptious treats, tea and had great "girl" conversation!

Last weekend we celebrated Matt's birthday and Ellie's Dedication.  After the Calvin basketball game (of course!), we got together with my family and Matt's family for dinner and then headed over to the VP's for dessert.  Catherine had an amazing trio of desserts: individual strawberry shortcakes, blueberry caramel cheesecake, and peanut butter truffle brownies!  Yum!  It was so nice of the VP's to have all of us over!

On Sunday, we all headed to our church, Ada Bible Church, and were delighted to hear Pastor Ed Dobson speak on "Do Not Worry".  It was a real treat to hear him, as some of us used to hear him at Calvary Church before he retired due to having Lou Gehrigs's disease.  After, we had lunch at our house before heading back to church for Ellie's Dedication service.  It was a very meaningful service filled with worship, a challenge to parents, and a time to gather with our family to read a blessing.

We were glad to have the opportunity to publicly dedicate ourselves as parents to raise Elizabeth Joy in Christ.  We hope that we may model for her and teach her how to follow Christ.  In our letter to Elizabeth, we told her...God loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die so that you may have an abundant life in Him - both on Earth and in Heaven.  As believers in Him, we know that nothing else on Earth even compares to the JOY of knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior!  We were so thankful for our families and close friends to be there with us for that special day!

Elizabeth has truly been a joy to play with in the last month.  She is sitting, grabbing for ANYTHING in her sight, and she loves to giggle!  She likes her veggies (we will see how long that lasts)!  Our cell phones and the remote are more fun than her toys.  She is quickly growing out of her clothes (had to sadly retire her Trumpette socks). She sleeps through the night, but still needs her swaddle.  The activity center makes her laugh out loud every time she is in it.  It has been fun to watch her develop more each week!

We have been so blessed to have these special moments with our families and friends recently!  Time has gone by so fast in the past few months, and we cannot believe that it is already half-way to Ellie's 1st birthday!  We are trying everyday to enjoy each moment together, and are thankful to God for His good gifts each day in our lives, as we know that "Every good and perfect gift comes from Him" (James 1:17).

Growing...A Christmas Reflection

                                        
It is Christmas Eve, and as I think about this day I realize all that I am thankful for.  I cannot express in words how grateful I am that God has sent His Son to earth so that we may be with Him forever.  I overflow with thankfulness that Jesus came down to us and died so that our sins may be taken away.  By simply believing in Him, we are given the precious gift of eternal life.  It is a beautiful, breathtaking thing.  And for that I am thankful.  It is awesome that all around the world people are celebrating Jesus' birth today. In response to this gift, I pray that I may love others like Christ loves us.  But, how does Christ love us?

Last night, while I was feeding Ellie at 5 am, God reminded me of something very important.  He LOVES me.  All of these years I have been trying to be likeable for everyone else, but that whole time God has been crazy about me just as He created me.  He has created each of us in His own unique way, and we can live our lives for Him best by being ourselves.  During the years of my life when I have tried to be more like this person, or that person, God has always loved me exactly as myself.  My smiley, spontaneous, caring, multi-tasking self.  He has given me freedom from the pressure of trying to be like someone else.  I have confidence that the best way I can show my thankfulness for God and what He has done for me is to be myself.  Just as He has created me.  Therefore, I will not be afraid to do what God has put in my heart, whether that is to be a mother, a teacher, or a friend.  He will enable me to do what He knows I can do best in serving Him.  I rejoice in knowing that God loves us just as He created us!

Today, I reflect on last Christmas Eve.  It was an emotional day, as I had complications with Ellie, just being seven weeks pregnant.  Even though we had only known for a short time, we already had a fierce attachment to this unknown baby.  It was hard to walk into the hospital that day, unsure of what the outcome would be.  We were overjoyed when we saw her little heart beating on that ultrasound, her arms and legs showing as little knobs on the amoeba shape they called "baby".  It was the best Christmas gift, knowing that she was still growing strong.  It is amazing to see that a year later she is here.  A bundle of joy, smiling, giggling, the perfect personality that God has created in her.  I think about how much God loves her.  He is crazy about her.  So crazy about her that He sent His Son to earth, as a baby, to die, just for Her.  I pray that she may always know that.  We have a Father who loves us more than we can imagine, and for that, I am thankful today.  Merry Christmas!

"For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mightly God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

Going...to the Symphony

Last week we had a Christmas celebration with the VP's.  It was the most fun we've had in a long time.  First of all, we got to dress up, which we never do anymore.  Also, it was just our second time out on our own without Ellie.  It was really nice to go out and know that she was in safe hands with her Aunt Laura!   Instead of doing Christmas presents with Catherine and Aaron, we have the tradition of going out for a Christmas dinner.  This year was extra-special as we found half-off tickets to the Christmas Pops concert with the GR Symphony.  It was Catherine's idea, as she has always wanted to go.  Then, it was my idea to make it a surprise for Matt.  Knowing me that didn't last too long.  That was ok.  He was just as excited when he found out!

Any chance that we get to go downtown is special.  We just don't do it often.  Catherine works downtown so it is no big deal for her, but for us, we want to make the most of it when we go.  So, as I learned from Catherine, I searched our coupons for a good deal.  We ended up going to the Louis Benton steakhouse half-off.  It was delicious.  Too bad we had to skip out on dessert so that we were not late!  We jumped in the car and scooted across town in the first snowfall of the year to the concert.  It finally felt like Christmas.  Especially since Catherine and I stood out in bright red and green!

The Pops concert was amazing.  After years of playing flute, I have a deep appreciation for good music.  The soloist Leon Williams sang beautifully.  We loved every part of it.  Santa even came out and directed a song (yes, a bit cheesy)!  I was a bit hesitant when they asked the audience to "sing-along" to the final song.  Matt wasn't.  He got complimented for his singing by a lady down the aisle!  We all laughed.

I still smile at the many funny moments of the night.  I can't wait to continue our tradition in future years.  This definitely is at the top of our Christmas celebrations!