Ellis is Two...What?

This is how we celebrate birthdays!

The time has flown since having Ellis.  It is like yesterday I was pregnant with him and now poof he is two.  What a great adventure being his Mom truly is.  I am so blessed to have him here with me on my journey.  Here is the letter I wrote to him:

Dear Ellis-

Happy birthday!  I cannot believe how fast the past two years have gone.  It is as if I blinked and you were suddenly two. The past two years have really been the best. You bring so much light,and happiness into our home. You bring life to us, your parents, through your curiosity and energy. Simple things like using a spoon is exciting and new to you. I get to teach you so many things. Even just this past week, I got to show you a snail for the first time, which reminded me how we are surrounded by interesting and amazing creations that I often take for granted. Thanks for reminding me to stop and be in awe of these “little” things.

Fun with Cousin Isaac!

You have grown so much recently.  When we first got to Grandma and Grandpa’s in late June, you fit nicely into the Pack and Play you have been sleeping in while there, but by the time we left at the end of July, your head hit one side and your feet the other.  Daddy says it must be because of all the good cheese you ate in Wisconsin.  I think you have also grown in the past few weeks while being back home here in Utah.  You just keep going!

You are a very fun little boy.  You love people and always say hi to everybody, including perfect strangers.  You also love all animals and making kissing noises to them because we have always tried to teach you that you must be soft.  You are a bit bashful these days with other people, but you warm up quickly and by the time we part ways with anybody.  You will give them hugs or send kissing noises their way!  I love your kind little heart. You help me remember to love everybody and not judge any person by how they may look.  You love to go and play in the nursery in church and don’t ever have problems with the other kids or the leaders.  

Talking to strangers! 

You are still obsessed with slides.  You always call out to them whenever you see them, whether it is at a park or in the back of somebody’s yard.  I always have to promise you that we will stop when I’m done with my walk or run or you go on and on for blocks about the slide.  It is very hard to get you away from the park once it’s time to leave but you usually do okay when we tell you to say goodbye to the slides until tomorrow.

You say goodbye to everything.  “Bye, bye, wa, wa” to the water after the bath.  You even said “Bye, bye, car” as we left the car after church today.  It is so cute.

You are still a video junkie.  You already can run an iPhone or iPad better than most adults I know.  You not only can get to the videos you want but you know also how to get to the next one by bringing up the right video that contains the list for your next in line.  You rarely watch videos from start to finish, but you do have a few favorites that you always visit.  One is Hulyan and his Thomas adventures, and another is about a family with a little boy named Michael. You also love educational videos with “The Wheels on the Bus” and "The Alphabet Song" being your favorites. You also have loved watching a DVD of real trains that your cousin, Rebecca gave you for Christmas. You watch between playing with your wooden train and tracks.

Train Museum in Green Bay

You are starting to count.  You counted to three this week.  You also can do the first part of the alphabet(and LMNOP because Daddy always does it in a loud gruff voice and you follow his example!).  Your vocabulary is growing daily and you love the word UP, lately.  I think that started because of our recent plane travel.  Everyday, you talk about your Aunt Andi(Anni) and how she flew in an airplane(Shoosh) with Grama.  You love them so much.  

Mom and Andi are dedicated to being here for lots of memories. This is at Gardner Village in Salt Lake. Halloween visits are best!

You still love sports, and cheer people on while they play tennis as we pass on our walks.  You also cheer at the UVU sports complexes everytime we pass them to get onto the highway going North toward Salt Lake.  I find it funny how you will often sometimes cheer “GO, GO, GO!” just when you see some tall lights.  This sports loving Mommy is sure you will love going to events with her in the not so far future.  

Baseball game in Phoenix

You still love to dance and get your groove on when you hear music.  I am slowly trying to convince you that Kelly Clarkson is awesome and that you should love her like I do.  You have had a hard time with that.  Maybe it was because it was too loud at her concert when you were still in Mommy’s belly at the Stadium of Fire.

Just before Ellis was born. 

You still love to go and get excited whenever we offer an adventure to you.  Whether it is a walk or run in the stroller, or a ride to the store, you want to go and go NOW.  I am slowly learning that I need to wait to offer it to you until we are completely ready to go or you get really disappointed.  

One of many hiking adventures!

You love to be chased and tickled and recently have started saying tickle and also moving your fingers around to tickle us or pictures in the books we read at night.  You think Reno, our dog, is going to tickle you all the time when you get him riled up.  You also make various toys tickle you.  I always am making you Play-Doh! airplanes(because you are fascinated with airplanes recently) and you always tell me the plane is going to tickle you.  You say: “Tickle”  then “shoosh”(which means plane).

Tickling Daddy!

I can’t envision my life without you.  The past two years have solidified the fact in my heart that you are meant to be mine and that you were always mine.  I am so glad that I get to figure this whole mommy thing out with you as my child and cannot wait to see all the adventures this next year will bring.  

You made me a mommy and part of an eternal family, which is the most important thing and greatest blessing!

Know that I love you to the moon and back and will NO MATTER WHAT!  

I often gaze at your face as you sleep and tell myself that I need to rock just a little bit longer after you fall asleep because you are growing much too fast.  These moments won’t last forever and I need to bask in them so I will not forget how special this time with you is.  

Happy birthday, Ellis! I love you so much,

Mommy

Home is Where You Hang your hat: Top Places that are home.

There is a lot of difference between a house and a home.  Houses are full of rooms, held up by nails, wood and mortar.  Homes are filled with love, concern and care.  Houses without occupants eventually start to wither and fall apart.  Homes are filled with people and have purpose, which make them eternal.  Home is also a state of mind, a place you can go to be reminded of who you are and be shielded from the cares and worries of the outside world.  Home is where you can hang your hat and I'm very glad that I have so many hats.  Here are a few places where I like to hang my hat.  These are places I am at home:


1.  My Own House
This is where I am raising my son.  It is where he is creating fond memories.  It is where he will feel loved and supported.  It is the home of his childhood.  This is also home because it is where my husband and I are a team and where we share all our hopes and dreams for the future, together.  Here we build family.  Here is where we build home.

2.  Anywhere my parents are:
I always thought that the house I grew up in was the only place I would feel at home, but as the years have past, I have realized that it isn't the house, it is the people who live there that make a place home.   Sure, the crabapple tree where my friends and I would climb and "pilot an army helicopter," the basketball court where I spent hours, even in the freezing cold, perfecting my free throws, and the kitchen table where we were required to spend twenty minutes each night "eating" will always have a special place in my heart, but those parts of the house aren't what was important.  The love I felt within and without those walls were what mattered.  I am in my parents house as I type this and this is home because it is where they are.

3.  Linda's House
My aunt is a special lady.  She is one of the kindest and caring people that I know.  She has stood up to people who disagree with my religion and she has made her house a safe place for me.  She invites and cares for you when you are there, you never go hungry or thirsty and are always treated to great company and good conversation.  Kindness and love fill the rooms and halls and it is like a vacation at a resort because of the calm you feel there. 

4.  Friend Marla's House
The people don't have to be family to make a house a home.  In Marla's house, I have spent time getting to know her.  It is a place where we shared, laughed, cried and vented.  It was a safe place to share and be supported.  Our friends are the family we choose and I am so glad I have chosen Marla to be an honorary sister.

5.  The Family Cabin
Nestled in the trees of the mountains above Fairview, Utah, the family cabin is a place of true refuge.  There you can listen to birds sing, see critters scatter, breath fresh air, and always be surrounded by family.  Lasting memories are made each time we gather there for Thanksgiving and stuff our faces on delicious food.  There is lots of love in the production of that food as well as in the words and laughter.  Here we share and feel love.

What are your places that are home?  Comments people, they make the world go round! :)

Things I felt today.

1. Nostalgic

We rode on one of these:

My family ventured to The Waterpark Capitol of the World and did this one activity. Memories of childhood trips to The Wisconsin Dells flooded back. This ride has always been one of my favorites. We once filled up a whole one with our family alone. So many great memories made on a duck. 

2. Happy to be on vacation with my little family: 

We are helping make memories for this little guy. As he sleeps at the foot of my bed, I love that I get to take him on his first adventures and that it wears him out to have such experiences. 

3. Inspired by words:

I would love to post this on my classroom wall. Too bad our politically correct or too sensitive society wouldn't support it. Seriously, sucky people...well suck. 

We need to give our youth more opportunities to be productive and active. Our world is saturated with too much negativity in social media, and media in general. 

And seriously, buckle up. Or not. It's a great population control or as I like to say "survival of the fittest tool!"

Sums it up, no?

4. Surrounded by love. I was not only surrounded by some of my favorite people on the planet today, but also by people who love me for me. 

5. So glad I get to spend forever with these two:

Reuben's face is priceless. I married a man who makes me laugh. Every. Single. Day. That is a true gem. And we made a cute pack of endless energy and joy!!! We are blessed. 

We plan on enjoying every last minute of our time in Wisconsin. It will fly by but we have memories to make! 

Friday Fun

Pictures are worth a thousand words. I'm a good shot...

Tips Thursday: Writing Tips.

I am having bitter-sweet emotions as my writing class comes to a close today.  Bitter because it is over and I will miss the connections I've made with the people who are now my friends, and the excuse to be writing each and every day.  Sweet because I have become a better writer and a teacher and I also now have some time to go play with my family in Wisconsin.  Before all these wonderful memories become more fuzzy in my head, I wanted to write down a few tips for writing.

1.  Write.
Make time for it.  Play with words.  Get creative.  It doesn't matter what you write but it does matter that you are writing. Just start with what comes to mind and go with it.  Maybe while writing about something you didn't think was significant will bring many ideas to you.  I know that while I was writing about a specific writing prompt in my class, I would often get ideas for other things to write about.  When you exercise and use your writing brain, it starts to work that creativity muscle.

2.  Figure out how you write best.
I am the sort of person who writes with pen and paper for my first draft.  I just get ideas better to paper than just to my fingertips on the keys of the keyboard.  But that could be different for you.  You may be a solely typer kind of writer.  If you are a paper kind of writer like me, you need to find your preferred writing utensil.  For me it is a gel pen.  I thought it was the G2 by Pilot, but now it is these fabulous Korean fine-tip pens.  They rock.  Sometimes it is pencil though and that pencil better be very sharp.  The paper also matters.  I gather ideas in a tiny notebook that I can carry in my pocket, but I like bigger notebooks to write my drafts.  Fancy journals don't work as well as just plain old composition notebooks.  But again, you need to fine what you like.

3.  Don't be afraid to fail.
Sometimes I really didn't like the subject I was writing about, but I just went with the idea. Sometimes it was horrible and boring writing but sometimes it blossomed into something more.  I do know that it is important to write about something you are interested in.  So if it isn't working, move on.

4.  Be willing to be vulnerable.
It is really hard to share your writing at first, but having the ideas of others really can help your writing and the whole process of writing. I loved my writing group in my class and I really hope the three of us continue to read each other's writing and help each other to write better.  The more you share, the easier it is and the better your writing will get.

I think those are the most important things I have learned about my own writing process.  What kind of things would you write about?  What are your writing preferences?