Spring

 A hike in Glacier

 Ella's "cowgirl" look

 Coloring Easter eggs,

 Easter egg hunt

 with a llama (?)

 ...and this is where Bini stood for the entire hunt. He found an egg or two and decided to eat the candy.  When everything was done another mother spread some of her child's eggs around and he was happy finding those.

 He kept talking to the bunny "do you want to play a game with me?"

 Easter morning

 We're in trouble with this daredevil

 "I made a B" Bini LOVES letters, he makes them out of sticks or his food or anything he can find.  So even biking can be put on hold if there's an opportunity to make a letter!

 Saturday @ Birch Bay

 Whistler with friends

 The girls got to go on their first chairlift ride up the mountain for some sightseeing.

 scary faces

 Mekdes' kindergarten class hatched chicks, and they entrusted us with caring for 3 of them over the weekend.  Bini named one "Pickly" and kept saying "Awe, he's so cute!"

We're very pleased to announce that all 3 chicks survived their stay with us! 

Seven

I am so far behind in my blogging (sorry grandparents!) We have been notably busy (we moved) but what really held me up on posting about Ella turning seven was that I wanted to write about who Ella is at seven and that is a bit difficult for me to encapsulate.  So I'm going to borrow these words from one of Ella's teachers "There is just something about you that I so admire. I think how you choose to interact with the world is truly exceptional. You are patient, kind, accepting, smart, curious, and hard working. You make life beautiful!"
I went to Ella's school conference this fall expecting to hear that she was doing well, she loves school and is eager to pursue knowledge.  I left feeling so overwhelmed, not with who Ella is, but with how awesome God is.  Daily I pray that my kids will be filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. I pray that they will have "wisdom and discernment" and what I heard in the conference was that God has answered my prayers. I was told that Ella approaches life with a wisdom that is beyond her years, and that a few of her classmates when to draw a picture of who they admire, drew Ella. I don't say this to brag, we know she is not perfect, but she is at an age where we see some of the fruit of our labor, the answers to our prayers and we really like what we see.  She is a lovely young lady!

A bit more about seven year old Ella; She is a bookworm, loves to read! Magic Tree House mysteries are still her favorites but she also loves books about horses, unicorns, princesses, and fairies. She's a detail girl, she notices everything, we could walk into a restaurant that has a million thing on the wall and she'll mention that they changed something.  She's an internal processor.  If something really excites her she'll say nothing just stand in awe, processing it all.  As her mom (and someone who tends to gush words) I had to learn that Ella's silence in those situations is a sign that she's happy not disappointed.

Ella really wanted an American Girl doll for her birthday so we sent her to the store with nana for some girlie fun picking out a doll, she chose Rebecca 

We then made her wait 3 days, until her birthday, to open her doll.

an afternoon at Chuck-E-Cheese

Then dinner at Ella's favorite Thai restaurant.  The revolving door was a big hit with the kids!

Then Cake at home

We ended the evening by watching London ring in the New Year on youtube (it was still to early to watch NY)

The weekend after her birthday Ella got the opportunity to go to a Make a Wish workshop with artist Fumi Watanabe to make pieces to be auctioned at the Make a Wish Gala.

Ella worked with her personal assistant ( a volunteer) to draw and then create her art project. They told us that Ella knew exactly what she wanted to make and was the first to finish her piece, so she got to make a second.

Ella's first piece

Ella's second piece

The day after her art workshop Ella had her Mermaid birthday party at the YMCA

I spent a lot of time making these little mermaids which Ella had seen online and really wanted, but knowing that Ella notices and appreciates details made it fun.

Instead of gifts and goodie bags we had a book exchange. Each guest brought a book they'd finished and got to bring home a new book.  I liked the idea of a "no gift" party (which is common for birthday parties where we live) but was surprised at how excited all the kids got about picking out new books, it was really fun to watch all the eager little readers.

Since Ella's birthday we had our 2 year follow up with the oncology department at children's and praise God her scans came back clean.  This is never a given, we truly never know what they will say when they walk into the appointment to give us the results.  Random complaints of belly pain (every morning for a week)  or statements like "sometimes it just hurts so much when I breath" make us question what is a normal childhood complaint vs. what is cancer. This is just life after you've won the "bad luck lottery" once. And I am so grateful that we can pray about our fears to one who knows exactly what is going on inside her and have our hope in Him.

B man knows

Biniyam now knows the books of the Bible






Not perfect, but pretty good for a boy who just turned 3 

Advent 2011

 Decorating (and lots of excitement!)

 wiggly toothed Mekdes-clause (she's lost two teeth so far, each one within a week after Ella loosing the same tooth, there is a lot of tooth related excitement and drama in our house this winter!)

making a gingerbread house        

  festive hair

 welcoming daddy home

antagonizing wild beasts (M's first time at a zoo)

 Ella had her Christmas Piano Team concert in Seattle and her ballet performance as a "towns kid" in the Nativity. (Mekdes decided that she did not want to take dance after attending some ballet and hip hop classes)

 Nana and Papa visited for 2 wonderful weeks

 We had to travel up Mt Baker to find some snow, the girls loved sledding, Bini wanted nothing to do with being out in the cold!

 pig pile on Papa

 lots of baking with nana

Ella and Mekdes both sewed felt bird sachets and made duck tape coasters to give as gifts,  Ella also made bottle cap magnets.  

I even got crafty and finally made stockings (something I've been wanting to do since Ella was born!)

The girls each picked out a picture of a stocking on line and I used those as my patterns

Not being a very crafty person I was silly with excitement when they were finished.  Bini will have to wait until next year for his. 

 Ella read a scripture and sang with the other children at our church's Christmas eve service (Mekdes had no interest in participating and Bini barked throughout practice so we kept him off stage).
 After church  Ella and Mekdes stood on the porch singing, then Mekdes saw the blinking red light of an airplane high in the sky and started jumping up and down and pointing "I see santa!" with such magical excitement. (We have been totally honest with her about Santa, but it's fun when they still get caught up in the moment)

 A christmas miracle, our first family photo where we're all looking towards the camera.

On Christmas morning the girls got up together and were able to open their stocking before we woke Bini, then they insisted that Greg and I open all the gifts that they made for us before opening any of their gifts. I love their excitement about giving.  They made us beautiful cards and books.

"This is my favoritest day ever!"- Mekdes

 Nana made this awesome knight costume for Biniyam (once when Ella asked "Bini, do you want to be a knight?" he answered "Sure, I'll be the moon." )

Ella's big Christmas request was for the new Magic Tree House book.  Much to her surprise and delight there were actually two new books out in the series, she finished them both within a week.

The "big gift"we gave the girls were roller skates, Mekdes was so excited "remember mom, remember when we were in the store and I was crying and crying because I wanted you to buy me some of these" Yes dear, it was back in Oct., but I do so clearly remember. On Christmas day, after church and turkey, the girls- roller skates on, disco ball swirling, tunes blaring, and adults to cling to-  hit the garage and broke in their new wheels.
By the end of vacation they had hit the rink twice and were doing a pretty impressive job skating.  At the rink Bini's wheels were tightened so much he was practically walking, after a few minutes he declared "this is easy!"

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying 2012.