Happy Anniversary to Us!

Isaac and I were married 7 years ago today. It's been a very happy 7 years, and I can't imagine a better husband than him. Thanks, honey.

I love you.

(Okay, you can stop groaning at the mush. I only do it publicly about every 7 years or so.)

Weekend with Ana

Isaac's 17-year-old sister Ana just left our house after spending the night and day with us. We had a delightful time with her. Ana, Ellie, and I spent yesterday afternoon and all morning today scrapbooking (I organized my ribbon, and prepared what to "donate" at the retreat in February). We watched movies last night, and this afternoon Ana baby-sat while Isaac and I worked out together!

I think I'd like Ana about once a month!

Dinner with Warrens

On Thursday night, we went over to my godparents' in Maple Grove for dinner. It's always wonderful to see them, because we don't see them nearly enough. They made a perfect meal for Ellie, right down to the pickles and olives, and I can't believe how much food she packed away. Isaac enjoys getting to talk sports with Tim, and saves his best basketball stories for him. I loved getting to show them my scrapbooks from the last year! (What good are godparents if you can't make them admire your art?)

Christmas with the VanLoons

We spent the day after Christmas with Isaac's parents in Faribault. Joel and Kristin came up from Chicago, and Evelyn and baby Annie came from Waseca. The best part was going sledding (the whole family!) in the backyard. Admittedly, it was mostly Nathaniel, Ana, Isaac, and Ellie, but the rest of us had a great time watching and taking pictures.

We had the traditional VanLoon Christmas dinner of lasagna, garlic bread, raspberry Schweppes, and sparkling juice. Mmmm. And Beth has switched to paper plates and plastic silverware, which is great because then we get to spend more time with her NOT in the kitchen! I love it.

Annie is ridiculously charming and will still go to anyone. Twice she fell asleep in her high chair while eating. Where do people get kids like that? I want one. She's at that fun stage where she can take a few steps, so we (okay, me!) kept trying to get her to walk from one person to another.

After dessert, we put Ellie to bed there and just hung out as a family. It was very nice.

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful, relaxed Christmas day. Ellie slept until 8:30! She opened her stocking and played while Isaac made us bacon and eggs. Then we walked to the park to try out Ellie's new sled. She loved being pulled on the flat ground, and with encouragement enjoyed sledding downhill. The best part for her was when we played at the snow-covered playground. We played restaurant outside for what seemed like hours! We spent the afternoon playing with Ellie's new toys and playing CandyLand.

In late afternoon, we drove (carefully) to Isaac's aunt and uncle's home in Crystal. There we celebrated Christmas with George and Mary, Nana and Papa, and Isaac's great-aunt Doreen and her friend Joanne. We ate a traditional Swedish dinner with potatas korv, spare ribs, herring, lefse, and ustkake with lingonberries. Ellie loved everything.

Ellie gave a concert and sang all her Christmas songs clearly and confidently. The most special part for me was singing Christmas carols together after dinner. Then we prayed together. It was particularly special to hear Papa pray, his 90-year-old confusion being erased as he talked confidently with his Lord. It was a fantastic way to celebrate Christmas.

I forgot to mention that Ellie received what she most wanted for Christmas: a whole box of Tic Tacs and a pack of gum. They are all gone.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is the part of the season that I always most look forward to: we celebrate with my parents on Christmas Eve night. This year they met us at our church for the service, which was fantastic. The musicians were particularly impressive!

Then we all went to my parents' house in Shoreview and ate potato skins and grilled brats and hot dogs in the fireplace. We opened presents, and it was fun to watch Ellie participate since this is the first major present opening that she has been a part of (last year she wasn't very interested in presents, for some reason). She remembered to say thank you, was patient, and never asked for anything, and I was very proud of her. I picked good presents for my dad this year, which made me feel good because traditionally I feel like I give him the short shift!

Dad sang to Ellie and played the guitar, and we put her to bed at their house. We grown-ups finished out the evening playing bridge (of course). The night was everything I had been looking forward to.

In Excelsis Deo

Ellie insists on calling one of her Sunday School helpers "Chelsea," even after I've told her it is "Kelsey" (with a hard "K"). Finally, she explained, "It's two Chelseas. My Sunday School teacher and the one we keep singing about: "In ex-chelseas deo."

I guess it's better than the way she sang it two weeks ago: "In excelsis stable."

Focks

Ellie told me that she learned about "focks" today. When I asked (calmly) what a "fock" is, she told me, "You know! Like shepherds watch their focks by night. A fock is lots of sheep!" Oh. Good to know.

As we talked in the car on the way home from church, she demonstrated a really impressive understanding both of the Christmas story, which we've been talking about at home and in her Sunday School, but also of the sermon today. At this point, it's mostly head knowledge, but we're praying that it sinks into her heart as well.

Our Volleyball Gang

My friend Chris from volleyball moved to Maryland and just came back for his first visit, so our volleyball gang celebrated him with a Christmas party. It was really fun, even though Arlie had to leave early because Jordan was throwing up.

Between Chris, Steve, Justin, and Emily's phone call, there were a lot of laughs. And between Maija's bacon-wrapped weinies and Wanda's meatballs, there was a lot of good food too!

I often think about how blessed I am to be part of such a fantastic group. What are the chances of a bunch of random people all being so nice, accepting, clean-spoken, and temper-free on the court? (Not to mention, good volleyball players?) As we left the party, Isaac asked me how everyone in the group knows each other. I couldn't answer, but I guess it doesn't matter.

Sorry the picture's so blurry. My camera is acting up.

Zoo Time

Ellie and I had a really nice time at the Minnesota Zoo this afternoon. We went to the wolf room in the Minnesota Trail, and I went crazy taking pictures to make a scrapbooking spread about it when I go on the retreat in February. I'm starting to wish I had a greater picture-taking ability, because I feel like I put in the right effort but don't get the results I want.

A Blurry Picture of Truffles

Maija wanted a picture. I hadn't posted one originally because I didn't want to give it all away to the people who will receive them, or make the people who didn't receive them jealous! But oh, well. Here are my truffles in all their glory: Chocolate Peanut Butter, Oreo Cream, and Peppermint Chocolate Pecan.

Why Making Truffles Is Ill-Advised

Ellie and I made three kinds of truffles yesterday. They were my big plan to use as a gift for people that we really care about but don't have the money to get them the kind of gift they would want or deserve. Homemade truffles are fancy enough to use as a nice gift, right?

Well, the ingredients are somewhat pricy, but not more so than a lot of other Christmas baking. And making the insides was actually pretty fun. But the rolling them into little balls? And dipping them into melted chocolate? And rolling them in powdered sugar and crushed mints? NO THANK YOU. And by the way, they took about 4 hours to make.

They turned out really nice (and tasty). They look awfully pretty in their cute little tins. I'm glad I did it even if the process was very long and messy. Okay. Maybe I'll make them again. We'll see.

Ice (or Boot) Skating

They flooded the fields in the park two blocks away from us, so we walked down there after dinner tonight. Ellie boot-skated, and Isaac and I ice skated. I love ice skating! Here's Ellie's procession of bravery:

1. Hold tightly to our hands
2. Crawl on hands and knees
3. Crawl on knees only
4. Walk around on ice by herself
5. Shuffle, skate, march, and spin on ice

Ellie decided she LOVED skating. Me, too. Isaac doesn't enjoy it very long because it hurts his feet, ankles, and shins, but he put up with it for us. It was easy enough that Ellie and I plan to go much more frequently.

Of course, Ellie was a big fan of the hot chocolate and Christmas cookies afterward.

Tantrum Aftermath

Remember that awful tantrum I wrote about a few days ago? I never told you how it ended. Ellie wore herself out screaming in Isaac's arms and actually fell asleep against his chest. (Please note: this is only the third time IN HER LIFE that she has ever fallen asleep in our arms like that, and that includes baby-hood.) It was pretty cute, so of course I took pictures.

And by the way, she's been behaving well since then. So we're through that miserable testing period until the next one begins, I guess.

Cute Kid Stories

Ellie finished a LONG monologue and started panting loudly, saying, "Just have to cool down my mouth!"

Courtesy of my cousin Maija: Her very cute son Jordan (age 6) was pretending that his peanut butter sandwich was Jesus for some reason. After he'd eaten half of it, he looked at it and said, "Now it's baby Jesus!"

Ellie told me, "I want to be a Warzecha, part of Isabelle's family, because then I would be with Isabelle more and I really like her." I said that Daddy and I really like her as part of the VanLoon family and that we would miss her too much. "It's okay," she proclaimed. "God will give you another baby and you will name her Sarah." (Not a name we have remotely considered, by the way.)

Why I Haven't Posted Recently

I've been preparing for parent-teacher conferences all week and filling out 27 essay-question type student evaluations. It's been crazy, but it will all be over tomorrow. Plus, Isaac is doing another scoring project so he uses the computer all the time.

Testing, One, Two, Three

We have entered another season of testing in the VanLoon household. It's frustrating because we are always so careful with what we are teaching her and we have never given in. There is a lot of whining going on, as well as waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom many times, as well as yelling at her bedroom door to wake up at 5 in the morning (she's not allowed up until 7). It's not very pleasant, even though we know it's just a stage that we have to ride out.

As I type, Isaac is ending a long battle with Ellie over stolen gum and TicTacs (from our house, not a store). He's saying calmly, "What is more important is that you grow up to be a woman who does the right thing." I'm very impressed with the way he's handled this whole episode. First she took a piece of gum and ate it without asking. He handled it well, impressing on her the importance of telling the truth. As soon as the conversation was finished, she went right in and took a Tic Tac! He gently is repeating the whole episode again. At this point, he is much more patient than I am, which is probably good.

Adding to the frustration, this is after a long bedtime struggle, multiple night awakenings, and screaming and yelling since 5 this morning. Guess if this tired girl took a nap. Nope. Oh, the joys of this age.

Now, as Isaac is sitting on the floor holding a screaming, tantruming child, he calmly said to me, "We must seem as illogical and stubborn to God as a three-year-old does to us sometimes."

Preschoolers in a Nutshell

Lately, Ellie has been really into playing "Snake." She climbs into our bed in the mornings and pretends we're a snake family (except she says "nake," which is pretty cute). We eat mice together and slither around under the covers into our "nake-hole."

This morning, we invented a new game: front-end loader and dump truck. Isaac and I like it better because we mostly get to lie still. Isaac is a front-end loader and I'm a dump truck, and Ellie is the driver. She climbs on us and digs imaginary holes and fills us up with gas and so on.

After we had played this new game for a while, Ellie said something which I believe sums up her age group in a nutshell: "Now I'm going to go get something to control you guys with." It was so classic I had to put it on the blog.

Christmas Baking

Ellie and I made pretzels dipped in almond bark and sprinkles. Can you guess who made which batch?

Mary, Mother of Miles

Lately, Ellie has been pretending that she is Mary and her baby doll is Jesus. I thought that was kind of sweet; after all, I remember doing that when I was little. She says she is "Mary, mother of Miles" (Mary, the mother mild).

Last week during scrapbooking, Ellie came in and put baby Jesus to bed. Then she reappeared with another baby: "baby God." Next came - you guessed it - baby Holy Spirit. I'm not sure if it's cute or sacrilegious.

Lemon Chicken with Rice

Oh, that looks like a nice, made-from-scratch dinner. Why is there so much left on the plates? Because it's AWFUL!

I tried a new recipe for lemon chicken and rice. It called for a quarter cup of sweetened lemonade mix. I thought that sounded like a little much, so I only used half of it. Even that was way too much.

I started with the chicken. It was all right, a little lemon-y, but certainly edible. Isaac started with the rice. He made a tactful, polite comment about its taste. I agreed it wasn't the best, but thought he was overreacting a little until I tasted the rice too. Isaac was far more polite than the taste deserved.

I tossed both the rice and the recipe.

Ellie and Her Idol

Ellie really likes Nathaniel. Enough said.

On long, slow days, I fantasize about having Nathaniel play with her!

Pollyanna

The good thing about laryngitis is that when Isaac's home, he has to do all the talking and reading to Ellie. (Now if only he was always home...) Yesterday afternoon, I really couldn't speak at all, and Ellie has a hard time understanding that (Little Miss No-Unspoken-Thought). So what would a good mother do in that case? Go Christmas shopping! All by myself! I figured it was nicer than being home with her and not talking to her. It was wonderful, although some store clerks thought I was either rude or odd. One whispered back, "I don't know why we're whispering." I thought, "Actually, I'm shouting!" Anyway, then I came home, Isaac went to work, and I watched VeggieTales with Ellie and put her to bed early. That worked.

Laryngitis

I have just about completely lost my voice. I can whisper, and that's it. Isaac says I sound like a laryngitic frog-mouse (he's really proud of that). It's not very much fun to be a parent who can't talk. I don't know if Isaac knew how much you actually have to talk to a 3-year-old until he had to do most of it!