We told the boys today about our plan to take a family vacation next month to Sea World.  Jonathan was super surprised and excited - talking about everything we'll see and do.  Seth was pleasant but didn't really say much.  With how much he loves marine life (especially orcas, dolphins and sharks, and knows every last fact about all of them,) I was expecting him to be ecstatic!

Jonathan was celebrating and we were all talking about it, and Seth asked, "Who will be our babysitter?"  "What?"  "Who will be our babysitter?"  (Small pause, while I realized what he was thinking, and then, "....Oh, Seth, no, no, you're coming with us!"  And then Seth was ecstatic.  Poor little boy!  He was happy for us to be going, and thought he was just going to have to stay home!!  It made me laugh and broke my heart all at the same time.  So after he figured out he was going to Sea World too, the land of his dreams, his little happy smile was as wide as it could go, with eyebrows up and eyes open wide, bouncing a little on his seat at dinner and clapping his hands.

Love that kid.

The Latest

Ellen is 2 months, 13 pounds, and the cutest little girl on the planet.

She coos and smiles and loves to interact with us. The boys especially love to lay down by her and talk for a while.  (The next three pics are of when she was younger...you know, way back last month.)

Seth is, of course, furthering his personal quest to continually present the wackiest of faces.

He and Jonathan have loved the beautiful summer days together.  Here they're getting packed and organized for an expedition out back.  Back packs, containers for treasures, manuals and maps, the whole bit.

Luke is growing older by the second too.  He's the most amazing 18 month old kicker (of balls) you will ever see in your life.  He can drop kick like a champ, and he has some power in those kicks that you just don't expect.  I think his sound effects when he kicks give it some extra umph too.  :)  He even goes around pretending to kick when he doesn't even have a ball.

And here's the post hair-cut shot.  Gotta love those blue eyes.

Despite all our coaching, he still calls Ellen "dada."  Baffling really.

Note the rolls. Love that!! There's nothing better than a healthy baby.

She's a doll and a half.  :)

Jonathan came up to me the other day and asked, "Mom, what's the slowest animal on the earth?" followed by, " ...should I ask Dad that question?"

I really had to laugh. He knows that I refer him to John for all the tough questions, and he thought if this one was too hard for me, he'd just cut to the chase. Very funny. What can I say, John's a genius, and everyone in the family knows it. :)

Ellen Angeline

FInally, the post you've all been waiting for! Here's our beautiful angel. :) She's the most adorable baby girl in the world.

Ellen, originally uploaded by RaisinBread.

For the first few days, whenever we told Luke that her name was Ellen, he threw back his head and made an elephant sound. He's gotten past that now thankfully, although it was really funny. Now for some reason he calls her dada, in his sweetest and highest voice.

I came down with a high fever a week before her due date, so we needed to induce rather than to keep her in that dangerous environment. So long story short, she did well, and she's here and safe. She was 7 lbs 9 oz, which seems tiny compared to our 3 other babies who averaged at 9 lbs each. The boys are so sweet and tender with her. She's definitely the family celebrity. We're so incredibly grateful to have her in our family! How sweet to have a little girl, for all of us to love. :)

All before breakfast

The day started with the funniest adventure. We all ended up in Luke's room to say good morning to him when I was getting him up this morning. Everyone just trickled in and it was a beautiful spring Saturday morning. And before I could stop what I saw happening, Seth had closed the bedroom door with all of us inside.

The only reason that would be bad (other than the growing smell of Luke's diaper) is that I had recently discovered (and that's another story,) that Luke's doorknob won't open from the inside. The knob just turns around and around, and won't open. So there we all were - all 5 of us - stuck inside Luke's second story room with no way out. It struck me as incredibly funny, and Seth, a little worried at our predicament and nervous that he had inadvertently been the cause, finally asked in desperation why I was laughing. It was just a beautifully funny and silly thing - that all of us had casually managed to get stuck in a little room (with a stinky diaper, and no breakfast) and no one else in the house to let us out.

How completely convenient that John coincidentally had already put his iphone in his pocket, or else we would have had to yell across the street to the Olsons (I could hear someone out playing basketball) to come free us. So after trying for a bit to slide something through the crack to open the door but to no avail, we called and Joanna (whom I had to convince that I was really serious,) came over to let us all out. Another coincidental thing: normally we lock the doors at night, so I thought that both doors would be locked and I wasn't sure how anyone would be able to get in, but fortunately (?) we had completely forgotten to lock up last night, so she didn't have to find some obscure, creative way into our house, which would have greatly added to the adventure.

All in all, it was a great way to start the day - with a good hearty laugh. :)

Third time's the charm.

We have a lot of small amounts of leftovers from the meals of the week, so for dinner I brought the boys to the highly acclaimed Anderson Restaurant. I wrote up a quick little menu for each of them and listed all the things they could choose to eat and drink, with little boxes next to the item for them to check what they wanted.

It was such a big hit. They were exhausted from hours of play, but as soon as they heard me welcome them to the restaurant, show them their seats and hand them each a menu, they were completely engrossed in the play, and they immediately adopted a very gracious and polite manner in everything they did and said. They were delighted, under a very mature and sophisticated guise.

I pretty much knew what each of them would choose, but I think they really liked having the choice. Who wouldn't. We had so much fun with it, and the charade lasted the entire way through dinner, with them asking the waitress questions and complimenting the chef. I think we should do this all the time. It encourages dinner etiquette, it's killer easy, it makes 3rd time leftovers exciting again, and it's really fun. :)

Right of Passage

Jonathan told me when he got home from school today that at lunch recess he got "huddle-trust." He told me that that means he was allowed into the huddle of a club that a few of his friends have, and is now a part of the huddle when they are making plans and deciding on imaginary story lines to play. He shone when he told me about it, happy and proud and bashful almost. I love it - Getting a glimpse into what's important on the playground to a 6 year-old, and that they even have a specific name for being initiated. Brings me back to what it feels like to be young and out at recess, learning how the social world works and seeing how you fit in it all. It may be silly, but I'm glad he's accepted by his friends at school, and that he feels like he's part of the group. How cool to get huddle trust, and to be in a club.