Scenes from Elaina's 4th birthday

Elaina turned 4 on Tuesday (when did my little teeny baby become such a big girl?). We celebrated with friends and family on Saturday, and Tuesday we spent the day as a family and visited a few favorite places. Here are some pictures from her big days!

The Party - Saturday, October 26th
Elaina loves unicorns and My Little Pony, so that was the sort-of combined theme. This may be the last year we have it in our home, so I was glad to have a theme I knew she'd love to work with. Elaina loves her family and friends, and each time the doorbell rang, she ran excitedly over to see who had come. Love her heart so.

Reading with Pampah before everyone else arrived

The spread (and a clean island!)

Menu board - We had bought Elaina a few My Little Pony books at a resale shop in town, and they were falling apart. Knowing that Elaina would be getting more for her birthday (thanks, Zulily!), I used the characters from a few pages to accent the menu board. I was pretty happy with how it came out, and Elaina had a lot of fun reciting the items (mostly, I think, because she could ask for a Ka-Boom candy (aka Skittles) when she got to that item!). In addition to the items on the board, we had unicorn and crown cutout cookies, chips, and soda and water for our guests.

Sweet baby girl and her unicorn cake (unicorns were cutout sugar cookies)

Nehemiah, looking adorable as always

 Before the games, we watched Elaina's birthday video. One of my favorite presents to make the girls is a video, to song, of pictures and videos of their year. This year, I used Lon Lon Ranch (from the Zelda video game series) because Elaina calls it the Pony Song, and Glorious Day and Our Love is Loud by David Crowder. I have used a David Crowder song in every one of my videos except for Elaina's first birthday, and I was a little afraid the well had run dry. Thankfully, I was wrong!

After the video, it was time for games!

This is the first time we had games at a birthday party. The idea was that the kids would have to earn "Cutie Marks" by completing certain tasks (if your world is as involved in My Little Pony as ours is, you know what I'm referring to). The first game was Rarity's Gem Hunt. I took what was left of Elaina's falling apart books and shredded them to create a "mine" and then hid little rings from Party City for the kids to find. They had a great time digging around for their treasure, and I'm glad I listened to Josh and put several more than one per each child like I had originally planned!

The second "task" was to Pin the Horn on the Unicorn. Josh drew the unicorn (even shaded it and colored the mane and tail!) and I made the horns out of leftover posterboard. We used one of Josh's ties as a blindfold, which wasn't ideal, but the kids didn't seem to mind. 

Once everyone had pinned the horn on the unicorn, they got their cutie marks! Rub-on tattoos did the trick quite nicely :). Then it was time for cake!

And presents, too!

Elaina's birthday: Tuesday, October 29 

Beautiful sunrise for a beautiful new year

 Though the girls didn't let us sleep in as much as maybe we would have liked, we still had a nice morning of relaxing before getting down to the serious business of present opening

A new unicorn book she had been eyeballing during a recent trip to TJ Maxx

MLP tshirt, books, and backpack. I bought these things from Zulily back in June and they've been hiding under our bed since. Elaina especially loved the shirt--she insisted on wearing it to Gramma's the next day!

Llama Llama Red Gee-ama, as she calls it

 For lunch, we went to the Happiest Place in Peoria County, also known as Chik-fil-A. (Seriously, the girls eat this stuff like they've never had a chicken nugget in their lives.) 

Waiting patiently for Daddy to bring the food. Elaina insisted on holding Ellie's hand.

After playing for awhile, we headed out to Wildlife Prairie State Park. The park holds a special spot in my heart because we took Elaina there on her first birthday, too. I think it's safe to say she had an even better time this year. It was a little chilly, but the sun broke out from its grey prison just in time for us to enjoy the park, and it stayed out until we left.

First order of business was to ride the train. Our sweet neighbors, Hans and Jo, who love our daughters and spoil them ridiculously, gave us tickets for the park and for the train. Well worth the time spent! We grabbed blankets from the car, and we were off! 

Daddy and his girls

Elaina had a blast with all the cutout figures. She insisted on sticking her head in as many as she could find!

Howling at the wolves. The wolves were rather nonplussed.

We got to see several animals--coyotes, a black bear, a silver fox, bison, cougars, elk, and of course, the wolves.

After leaving the park, we decided to try a new apple orchard to see how it would compare to Tanner's, since, after our last outing there, we had been left with something of a bitter taste in our mouths. Christ Orchard was only six miles or so from the park, and it was well worth the drive. Smaller in scale, but more reasonable in price, we came away happy with a bag of apples, a jug of cider, and some new jam to try. Elaina also got to visit the chickens, turkeys, and alpaca they had on the grounds. Unfortunately, Ellie fell asleep on the way there, so I wasn't able to take any pictures.

Overall, I think Elaina had a very happy few days to celebrate the coming of her 4th year. She is such a blessing to us!

On the night before you were born

Dear Elaina,

It is my guess that most of your life you will grow up hearing about the day you were born. About how I was actually in labor when we showed up for my c-section. (The whole time, I thought you were just headbutting my rib cage. Turns out those were actual contractions :).) About how your daddy tried to make me laugh to dispel my nerves, and how Pastor Tim and Debbie came and prayed over us before I was wheeled into the operating room.

About how Daddy held my hand as Dr. Teverbaugh pulled you out, and about how you, content with where you were, kicked her off (you have always known what you wanted, baby girl, even then.)

About how beautiful you were, and how loudly you screamed (so loudly, in fact, that they couldn't even test your hearing for another day).

About the look on your Daddy's face when he held you for the first time--we have a picture of that, thankfully.

You will also see pictures of what we lovingly refer to as "The Running of the Grandparents," when Gramma Rita and Papa and Gramma and Pampah raced down the hall to meet you for the first time.

You were so alert, and so little, and we were so much in love. (We still are, in fact.)

When you get older, you'll probably be able to tell the details of your birth day flawlessly, as though you remember experiencing them yourself. It is a wonderful story, full of love and excitement, but there are others you should know, too. So today, I want to tell you about another day--the day before you were born.

The day before you were born was a chilly, sunny Wednesday. I worked a little from home in my bright red fuzzy robe, alternating between watching The Today Show and listening to the new Selah cd. Chappu fought for a spot on my lap, but of course there was little room to spare--you were taking up most of it, and my laptop was taking what was left.(I think I have a picture of this on my old phone. If you want to see it someday, I'll try and dig it up.) When Daddy got off work that afternoon, we headed out to P & W to finish signing off on our house design--the finalized blueprints bear your birthdate, actually--and then picked up a very unsatisfying dinner from Arby's, mostly because we had coupons and didn't want to cook knowing we wouldn't be home for a few days.

By 9:00, we were both hungry, so we decided to make one last trip out, just the two of us, for a fast food treat. Daddy drove us to the McDonald's on War Memorial and ordered a sandwich for himself and a hot fudge sundae for me. Somewhere between the ordering and the paying, hot, silent tears starting streaming down my cheeks. I tried to wipe them away so your dad wouldn't think I was a complete lunatic (though pregnancy hormones can make you feel that way sometimes), but he saw and asked what was wrong. He took my hand and tears spilled into my ice cream, and I said, "It's just that everything's going to change tomorrow..."

It isn't that I thought the change would be bad, sweet girl. And it isn't that I wasn't excited that you were coming--you had been hoped for and prayed for long before two lines appeared on a pregnancy test one dark February morning. It was that I knew our lives were going to change in profound ways, and sometimes those changes, no matter how much they are borne out of love, can be overwhelming. (I think this is the same reason I started hyperventilating before walking down the aisle to marry your dad.) Your sweet daddy held my hand and told me everything was going to be okay, and he was right.

The next morning, when you were put in my arms for the first time, I was overwhelmed again. By love and gratitude and amazement.

These past four years have been a blessing that I can't even articulate, no matter how I try. They have been exhausting and busy and full of wonder. You have gone from a blinky little newborn to a toddler whose happiest moments revolved around Mercer Mayer book and your green paci, to a little girl who loves ponies and unicorns and makes up songs to soothe your baby sister and "reads" every book you can lay your hands on. (You were "reading" on the way to Gramma's this morning, in fact. When I turned around to look at you, you said, "Mom! I'm reading!" in such an exasperated tone. Such a big girl already....). You have amazed me and overwhelmed me in the best ways.

Things were never the same after you were born, Elaina.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Just about perfect

Note: I wrote this post Friday night and had every intention of publishing it then, but our functional but outdated laptop, combined with our less-than-stellar data plan (which prevented me from making updates to said laptop), prevented me from posting it then. The content still remains true, so I am sharing it now.

Today, in nearly every way, was a perfect day.

It came on the heels of a less-than-perfect week. Work was stressful, deadlines were impending, last minute changes had to be made, frustration was mounting...Josh said more than once I was acting like I did when we worked at API in Rockford, which was not complimentary but said out of concern, and honestly, he was kind of right. I was stressed, in a funk, and praying that the vacation day I put in for on Wednesday would be approved.

Yesterday, things started looking up. All of the "junk" that had been weighing me down was finally, blessedly cleared from my plate. My boss approved my vacation day (and one for December 23rd, because, really, who wants to work on Monday when Christmas break starts on Tuesday?). I finally scheduled my massage--the one Josh got me for Christmas. One of my very favorite bloggers shared some exciting, long-awaited news. And I found out that the cookie cutters I bought to make unicorn shapes for Elaina's birthday work even better than expected.

And then, today. Today I think I had a perma-grin most of the day. Here's a recap of successes:

1. Woke up at 5:06 a.m. Shut my phone off so the alarm wouldn't go off at 5:40. Fell blissfully back   to sleep until Josh's alarm went off at 6:00.

2. Both girls woke up in fantastic moods. Got to give Elaina a unicorn cookie before we left to drop them off for the day. She loved it so much she almost refused to eat it...almost. (Ellie got a cookie, too. She tasted it, told me, "I don't like this," and then proceeded to hold it the entire drive to Gramma's without taking another taste.)

3. Downloaded 2 of my favorite new worship songs while watching Good Morning America (10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman and O My Soul by Samuel Lane). Started to download a third which we sing often at church (Scandal of Grace by Hillsong United) when my internet connection went all wonky. So it's paid for, but not downloaded. (To remedy this shortly.)

4. Went for a run outside, in the fresh air and sunshine. My road time was not where it had been before I started primarily using the treadmill, but I still got my 2 miles in.

5. Got my license renewed. Didn't get lectured for doing so 2 months late. The wait wasn't too bad, and the new picture amazingly does not highlight the unfortunate pimple I have on my chin.

6. Went to Target.

7. Went to Target without my sweet babies.

8. Went to Target without a timeline.

9. While at Target, found glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces in the Dollar Spot. Jim and Diane had these at his retirement party, and the girls LOVED them. Also found adorable owl handtowels. Two promptly found their way into my cart.

10. Enjoyed my first Pumpkin Spice Latte. Definitely lived up to the hype.

11. Found the perfect handbag to replace my *ahem* vintage (ie, from college) purses. It's leather, it's soft, it's big enough to fit my camera, and it's a beautiful soft mustard yellow that will be great for fall and will go smashingly with my purple winter coat.

12. Found long sleeve shirts for Elaina, on sale for $5, new makeup, bath paint for the girls, and a few other odds and ends I always seem to forget about otherwise.

13. After Target, ran to the mall. Found exactly what I was looking for for Josh's birthday in the first store. Decided to wander around to the others anyway, and did so, mindlessly, for a half hour.

14. Resisted the temptation to have DiDoughs for lunch.

15. Did not buy a single thing at Crazy 8.

16. Went back, bought said gift for Josh as well as a pair of purple sparkly shoes for Elaina (who was quite sad to learn she won't be able to wear her pink polka dot flip flops all winter long). Found out we had points on our card from buying the treadmill, so got both items for $2.60.

17. Had Panera for lunch...the asian sesame chicken salad I've been wanting to try. Had the smaller size (healthy win) and the crusty bread that came with it (not so healthy...but delicious!).

18. Had my Chrsitmas gift massage, which was thoroughly enjoyable, minus the foot massage during which I had to use every bit of will power not to yank my foot out of the masseuess's hand in a fit of giggles.

19. Remembered that I wanted to color my hair, so I ran back to Target and in a moment of calculated carelessness, bought light auburn and thought, what the heck.

20. Came home and immediately started coloring my hair. Got the kitchen/living room more presentable and swept the floor while the color set.

21. Color came out perfect (Thank you, Clariol!). (I have tried a reddish tone both from a box and from a salon and have never been fully satisfied with the results. That totally changed today. There was a minor mishap when I thought for a moment I'd dyed my neck, too, but thankfully it scrubbed off where it shouldn't be and stayed where it should.) Josh noticed the new color first thing. And he likes it :)

22. Girls had a good day, and we had a mostly good evening. Mostly, because we were together, but not completely, because Ellie was super tired and therefore SUPER cranky. On the bright side, she didn't fight bedtime and was peacefully asleep by 7:08.

23. Finally got around to mopping the kitchen floor.

24. Josh indulged me with a mostly un-mocked viewing of Ghost Adventures, which is my Friday night guilty pleasure.

25. Still have two days off...including my sweetheart's birthday. We have no big plans for the weekend, except for me to take Elaina on a secret mission to buy her daddy a birthday gift, breakfast out with Josh's folks on Sunday, and church. Mixed in there will also be pizza from Fedora's for the birthday boy (definitely not my pick, but hey, it's not my birthday) as well as a blueberry pie made by yours truly.

The weather is supposed to be great, and the obligations are few. And the weekend is starting after today.

A perfect start to the weekend.

ETA: The rest of the weekend remained largely perfect as well. It was so nice that I couldn't even complain about coming back to work!

Busy September

 

Tonight is such a lovely mix of summer and fall. I can hear the locusts buzzing and the crickets singing their swan songs, but I am a little chilly even in jammie pants and a long-sleeved tshirt. My first cup of hot tea of the season is by my side while blanched tomatoes sit in the strainer, waiting to be peeled and frozen. It is so nice to enjoy these quiet moments, because they have been so fleeting this month. Here's why:


On Labor Day Sunday, we traveled down to Colchester for family time and the parade. It was hotter than Hades, but you can bet we came home with enough candy to last us until next Easter. (It probably didn't hurt that Josh taught Elaina to flutter her eyelashes and shout "PLEEEEEEEEEEESE!!!!" to every passing float.)

 

I also go to spend some time with this sweet little mister. Do babies get much cuter? I think not.

On Labor Day Monday, Josh finished constructing the sandbox he was making for the girls. They loved it.

A few days later, we had the Urbancs over for dinner. Because it was so hot, we got out the slip-n-slide, which proved to be a big hit with the 3 and under crowd.

The next day, I had a division picinic for work, and the girls got to come. They had a blast--Ellie particularly enjoyed making sand angels. They came home filthy, hopped in the tub, and were cleaned and snacked by the time Josh came home.

Gramma turned 90 on Friday the 6th, so we headed back down home the next day for her birthday party. It was a lovely celebration for a lovely woman, and we had a really nice time.

The next day, Josh and I went to the Bears season opener. We had great seats, we didn't have to drive, and the Bears won a good game! All in all, definitely a success.

More work was done on the sand box/play house...

This past weekend, Josh and I got to go on our first Friday day in four years. It was magical. We had dinner at the Publik House, which serves the best chicken sandwich and french fries in the area, and then we wandered down to 3030 Coffee for an after dinner treat. The girls had a blast at the sitter's and have asked repeatedly to go back. Hopefully we'll be able to make it happen soon.

This is the face of a man who is enjoying his dinner! Seared scallops over pork belly over polenta. It was yummy!

Saturday, we celebrated Arcadia's fourth birthday. I can't believe she's four already...or that Elaina will be four in five short weeks. (I also can't believe I forgot to upload a picture of her party! Grrr...)

Yesterday, Elaina had a dentist appointment. She was such a trooper.

 After work, Josh finished the sandbox/play house. He did an amazing job. The girls don't know how lucky they are to have a daddy so willing to invest his time and effor to make them something for them to love...but I'll be sure to remind them.

This weekend, we have a birthday party for sweet Emily...

...followed immediately by a retirement bonfire for my mentor, Jim.

Jim's last day.

Next weekend is Josh's birthday.

The weekend after that is the Spoon River Drive.

So we have been busy, and we will be busy. Football games, trips to Tanner's Orchard, celebrations, and quiet nights at home.

I love this time of the year.

But there is a good chance I will collapse the second week in October :)

 

Because I want to remember

My eyes snap open and then immediately shrink back against sudden consciousness and the angry red glare of the clock.

4:03

Thank you, Jesus.

I lie still and look out into the grey shades of very early morning, listening. Silence, except for the whir of the ceiling fan and Josh’s steady breathing next to me.

Thank you, Jesus.

The last night was rough, one of the worst in months. Ellie’s cries woke me before midnight, and it was a three hour struggle to get her back to sleep. Finally I gave up and brought her to lie next to me, something I haven’t done since she weaned herself from the bottle in December. We slept then, but not fitfully, and all afternoon, after the morning’s boost of coffee had long ended, the words on my screen at work blurred and yawns melted into one another.

Please, Jesus. Please help her get the rest she needs tonight.

4:03. She made it so much further than the night before.

And for 10 minutes I drift in and out of consciousness, expecting. And then they come, the wails from the room down the hall. They are sudden and fierce and I am out of bed, half-wishing I had taken my leisure time to use the bathroom before I would be rocking 23lbs of shifting baby (she is still a baby to me).

She was standing in the corner of her crib, closest to the window, clutching her blanket.

“Hold-a me, Mommy. Hold-a me.”

I pick her up and she melts into my shoulder, and as I settle into the rocking chair, I can tell tonight she needs quick comfort. It won’t be a fight like last night.

Soon her breathing is quiet and regular, and she is mostly still. Many minutes pass. When I am more awake than asleep, I play the mental game of deciding when to attempt to lay her back down. Anything other than the perfect moment will either land me right back in the lazy boy or in my bed, listening to her wails and hoping she goes to sleep on her own.

Finally, I decide the moment has come. I shift her in my arms and stand. Almost immediately, I know my timing was wrong.

Her body tenses and her arms reach for my face.

Her voice is desperate. “No….no….no…”

“Shh, baby. Shhhh. Mama’s right here. I’ve got you.”

“Hold-a me, Mommy! Hold-a me!”

I sway and shush and sway and shush, but she remains tense. The fight just isn’t worth it tonight, so I kiss her forehead and settle back into the lazy boy.

She relaxes with gratitude, and her little voice sighs in the dark.

“Tank you, Mommy. Tank you. I wuv you. You’re my best friend.”

My heart cracks.

Thank you, Jesus.

I kiss her again. “Mommy loves you, too. You’re Momma’s best friend. Now go to sleep.”

And she does.

Five Minute Friday_ Broken

Our last Sunday was the week before Mother's Day. We didn't know it then, of course. It was our Sunday in the nursery, so we watched our girls play with the other children and half-listened to the songs and message being piped in.

Things had been building, churning, but I, ever optimistic that the issues were not so large as they seemed, ignored that they were only getting worse. That every week we had to make allowances for some things said. That the longer we went, the more we realized it was nothing more than a 1.5 hour playdate for our girls--no instruction, no songs, no simple Bible verses. That we felt increasingly outcasted, though no one knew, because our subscription to Jesus is not intricately tied to to a political party as well. That we carried hurt from broken promises of get-togethers and community and being there when the need was overwhelming. We smiled and gritted our teeth and went on, and hoped it would get better.

And then on a Wednesday afternoon, a Facebook post.

And that was it. The camel's back was irrevocably broken. And so were we.

I spent most of that afternoon in tears at my desk. And the next day as well. We took an entire month without stepping inside of a church. Sometimes the hurt was overwhelming.

It shouldn't be this way.

And it shouldn't.

But in brokeness comes mending. And we are on our way. We may limp from our bruises, but we are not so broken as I thought. We are moving again. We are searching.

We still have Hope.

Garden before Girls

I am behind on writing about the girls, particularly the events of this past weekend (Ellie’s 2nd birthday party, Elaina’s first trip to the movies, and Ellie’s actual birthday), but that’s going to take more time (and frankly more data (thanks, Verizon, and thanks new neighborhood with no cable internet)) than I have tonight. So instead, here is a quick update on the Serrano Family Garden.


Veggies
We are doing really well in the traditional garden this year, thanks to the fact that it is not 10,000 degrees out every day and it has actually rained more than once since June 1, unlike last year. We’ve had several zucchini, a good mess of green beans, a few hot peppers, and our tomatoes are ripening up nicely. (Tonight I enjoyed my first ever yellow tomato, and I am a fan. Not quite as acidic as red, but just as sweet.) The watermelon and cantaloupe are fattening up, and the eggplant is flowering. Overall, I am quite pleased with how things are doing.

And then there is the cucumber. Because of last year’s drought, I might have been a *teensy* overambitious when it came to planting this spring because, the cucumbers, please make them stop. Or give me a pickle recipe. Or stop by our house and get some. We have an entire drawer in the fridge full of them and several more on the vine. I never believed before I could get sick of cucumbers, but sadly, I now know it can happen.

Berries
Thanks to all of Josh’s hard work, the berry patch is now as beautiful as it is productive.

The strawberry crop is finished until fall, but we had so many this spring that I am optimistic we will be able to make freezer jam with the next. We are still in the early stages for most of the raspberry and boysenberry plants, but we’ve managed to pick a couple of handfuls of red and black raspberries most days, sometimes more. (And sometimes there would be more, period, if not for two very cute but very grabby helpers who think “lightest possible shade of pink without being white” means a berry is ready to be picked and consumed.) And as much as I am enjoying the berries, I am mostly proud of all the work Josh put into that area of our yard. He planned and planned and planned (and I whined a little bit), and then he burnt broke his back putting his plan into action. It looks fantastic, and I love the way his eyes light up when he shows it off. Job well done, babe. :)

Handsome and handy!

In the least exciting but most related news (to the berry garden, that is, not to Josh’s work), the Mason Jar of Death has been officially resurrected for the summer season as more and more Japanese beetles have been appearing on our plants. The problem/plague isn’t nearly as bad as last year, because last year I was convinced Moses got it wrong and it was beetles, not locust, that were plagued upon Egypt. That being said, it’s still highly infuriating to find once-beautiful leaves chewed to lace, so part of my evening ritual has become to grab my jar and knock those suckers into it.

So there you have it. With any luck, we’ll be enjoying our produce for the next few months. Unless the produce happens to be a cucumber. Then, all bets are off.