Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday

I do not recall what happened on Tuesday except that Kelly watched Ellie during my piano lessons. Thank you, Kelly. Also Jon worked until 10:30 so I took some McDonald's over for dinner after picking up Ellie from Kelly's house. So now I will move on to Wednesday.

Wednesday morning Ellie and I went to Precepts early since she was due for a nap. Kelly texted and recommended that I bring my stroller just in case the childcare workers would want to take the kids to the park since it was beautiful outside. I was glad she told me since they did use the stroller and enjoyed the sunshine for a bit.
Following Precepts Kelly, Clark, Ellie and I went to Grandpa and Grandma's house for lunch. Generally this is a Monday affair but the Aunts left on Tuesday morning so they had plans on Monday. Grandma spoiled us with a delicious lunch and Ellie fell asleep on her bed. Kelly and Clark left and Grandma told me I could run errands while Ellie slept if I wanted to. She then offered to keep her during my piano lessons. Rushing home I spent an hour cleaning up my house after the weekend away. Then I went back to Elverson and fed Ellie and dropped off a bottle. My two piano lessons came and went and I picked up Ellie.
As much as I love my little girl, it was wonderful to have some time to clean the house without any hindrances. It has been such a blessing to live close to Grandpa and Grandma! In the evening Jon came home and chopped some wood and we ate dinner and hung out. At 8:00 he went over to his parents' house to watch a soccer game with Omar and I worked on my quilt for Ellie.

The always growing wood pile...

Once again I'm sure we did something wonderful on Thursday morning but I cannot recall. In the afternoon the DiAddezio kids came over and hung out with us. While they were here we ate lunch (they packed their own), made cards for their parents, played pictionary, colored, did puzzles, ate ice cream, and played with the Xbox Kinect. While they played Kinect I even gave Ellie a bath. These kids are so easy to watch.

making cards for their parents

bath time

At four thirty I loaded up the car (Nelah left their car seats) and took them home. I came back to the house and packed sandwiches and took Ellie over to Doug and Donna's house. Our small group was meeting about twenty minutes away from home and Jon needed to get some extra work in so I picked him up right from the office and we ate our dinner in the car. Apparently it wasn't as far as I thought because we parked a few houses down and sat eating our dinner and talking until it was time to arrive. Ellie did well at Donna's house and went to bed at 7:00 for her. Jon picked her up following study and I drove his car home.

Friday morning Dorothy and I met up to go to the Flower and Craft Warehouse since their going out of business sale started at 9:00. We arrived a bit after eleven o'clock and the lines were all the way to the back of the store. It was crazy! After witnessing the extent of the wait we decided to just leave. Before we were out the door we ran into Grandpa and Grandma! So they held Ellie for a little bit and I introduced them to Dorothy.
Dorothy, Ellie and I went to Shady Maple instead. We picked up a few items and moseyed around the fruit and vegetable section. I grabbed some asparagus and grapefruits as well as bread. I dropped Dorothy off at home and then called Kelly. I had a 1:00 appointment at Iron Mountains to put together a basinet rocker and Ellie was at the end of her rope. She was tired! Kelly was very generous and allowed me to put Ellie to sleep in baby girl's future crib. I left and did the testing, ate lunch with Jon, then came back all in forty-five minutes.
I had to wake Ellie up because we had a doctor appointment at 2:00. She wakes up happy so she didn't mind being packed up and lugged to our next spot right away. At the doctor's office Ellie measured a bit small but the doctor said she looks nice and healthy. She received three shots (five vaccines) and cried very hard after she received them. She calmed down as soon as I picked her up, though.

Here are Ellie's stats:
Weight: 16lb 2oz (11th percentile)
Height: 25.75" (28.8th percentile)
Head: 18"

back fat

Following the appointment I thought we should lay low so I had offered to babysit Clark for a spontaneous date night for Kelly and Josh. I always love having Clark around! He dutifully makes sure I am where he can see me at all times. He hung out and played with my few cars and watched Ellie eat. He really is no trouble at all to have over! Jon came home at 7:45 right before Kelly and Josh came to pick up Clark.

Clark enjoyed watching cars drive by

Ellieisms:
Ellie eats anything I feed to her. So far she has eaten bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, pears, peas, green beans, carrots, graham crackers, red peppers, yellow peppers, apple slices, and rice cereal. She really just gnaws on the peppers but she seems to like their flavor.
On Monday we went to the park and found out that Ellie loves the swings.

Loving the swing!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Kelly!

Monday morning Ellie and I went over to Mimi's house to spend time with the Brusts before they headed home. Pops made pancakes and we all started Kelly's birthday celebration. Kelly and Clark came in and we all shouted "Surprise" and "Happy Birthday." I think Kelly was surprised.
Ellie took a nap and I hung out with the kids during the morning. When lunch time neared I decided we should order from the Deli in celebration of Kelly's birthday and to send the Brusts off with a full stomach Elverson-style. Kelsey walked up with me to pick up the order and when we arrived home Ellie had woken up.
We spent some time outside while Carly packed up the car. Ellie has mastered sitting so she sat on a blanket in the grass and watched her cousins ride their bikes and such. Calla and Kelsey had a bee scare before lunch but Calla prayed that they wouldn't bother us afterwards and they didn't. Prayer answered.

Determined

Gal Pals

Enjoying the warm day

Jay decided to join in on the fun.

We were sad to see the Brusts leave but so thankful that they drove the entire way to Elverson! I had to head home to teach piano lessons at 2:00 and Ellie fortunately slept through some of them. I had another piano lesson before dinner and Jon came home.
In less than two weeks I am signed up to run a 5K so Jon and I went over to French Creek Park after eating some snacks to hold us over until dinner. Jon pushed Ellie in the swing while I ran around for a bit until I was tired (I didn't quite make it to 2 miles). We went home and ate dinner and then probably went to bed. I have no recollection. But I'm sure we celebrated Kelly's birthday in our own way.

Happy 29th Birthday, Kelly!

Sisters on the beach, May 2012

Sisters 

First picture with Ellie

Enjoying the nice weather in Dec, 2012

Cousins 

Ellie's First Women's Retreat

Friday morning I stayed home in the morning so that Ellie could get a nice solid nap in before we left for the retreat. While she slept I did the laundry and packed. Around one o'clock we went towards Elverson stopping by Jon's office to say goodbye (he comes out to the parking lot), picking up some Infant Tylenol, and making a deposit at the bank. We arrived right at 1:45 at Mimi's house and packed up the car, heading out around 2:15.
Since Mimi is in charge of the retreat she likes to head down early to make sure everything is running smoothly. Dorothy was in charge of the Friday evening social and had a lot of flowers and food to organize. Mom and I helped unload her car, went and did some things, then finished helping her set out the food before heading over to Woody's for dinner. Woody's is a delicious seafood restaurant we try to visit at least once during the women's retreat. The service was not impressive but the hush puppies and crab cakes were worth the wait.

Friday evening we enjoyed social time, listened to a message from Mrs. Kenney, and met with our prayer and chat groups before heading to bed. Mom and Carly generously allowed Ellie and I to have the King sized bed in the separate room of our suite while they suffered on pull-out couches. Thanks!

Saturday we had a session in the morning from our speaker, Larissa Murphy. If you care to learn about her story you can read her blog here. We met with our groups, had lunch, then Coleen Garner watched Ellie while Mom, Carly, and I went shopping in North East. Ellie was sleeping when we left but woke up an hour later and Coleen took her on a walk in the stroller and hung out with her. It was very generous and I enjoyed spending time with Mom and Carly without being preoccupied with Ellie.

Following dinner we had another session and a prayer and chat group meeting. We ended up talking for a while afterwards then Kelly joined us in our room and we hung out.

Sunday morning Mrs. Kenney had another brief talk and Kelly led communion. The retreat was a wonderful trip and Ellie did a good job while we were gone. Her schedule was all messed up but she held together well. We stopped by Woody's on our way home for another round of seafood (Carly and Kelly didn't get to eat there on their way to the retreat) and then Ellie and I went home.

Giving Mimi a look

Ellie loving the retreat

Food table

Mimi is the main event at these things

Most of the women. There were 96 overnighters and 8 daytrippers

Ellie happy after a snack listening to the speaker

Jon had played soccer in the afternoon but Ellie and I hadn't been able to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. Once we arrived home the three of us grabbed a blanket and the stroller and went to the park. The sun must have known our plans because it hid behind some clouds and after twenty minutes we were cold. It was too early for church so we stopped by Doug and Donna's to say hi to everyone.
I had nursery Sunday evening which was fun because Jay joined us. At one point they were eating snacks near the pack'n'plays so I put Ellie in one to see. Jay walked over and pointed at her so I put him in next to Ellie and he laid down quietly. He only complained when Ellie tried to take his toy. It was sweet how he wanted to be close.
After evening church Donna asked Jon and I if we wanted to come by for dinner. I really didn't have any food at home so it worked out well. We hung out and debriefed from the retreat but didn't stay long after we ate. Ellie was tired and so were Jon and I.

Jay nervous that Ellie may steal his toy

Pals. He needs a younger sister.

Jay wanted a turn solo

Ellieisms:
At the retreat I noticed Ellie was starting to cover a little (emphasis on little) bit of ground when laying on her belly.

A Sleepless Day & a Sick Baby

Tuesday morning we headed over to Mimi's first thing after breakfast to see the Brusts who had arrived Monday night. Calla greeted us at the door and said she was allowed to hold Ellie first since she got out of the bath first. Sounds like a plan.

First in line for holding Ellie.

At 11:00 we went to Grandpa and Grandma's house for lunch. Aunt Elsie and Aunt Ida Jean are still in town so they were there, too. Grandma had pasta salad, apple sauce (Calla's favorite kind - without chunks), grilled cheese, shoe fly pie, cookies, and chips. We hung around until 2:00 when we went back to Mimi's house for naps. I had been trying to put Ellie down for a nap during our time at Grandma's but she refused. I don't think she wanted to miss the fun.

The boys hanging out.

Carly's lap just isn't big enough for everyone.

Ellie slept on the floor of Caleb's room because Jay was in Corinne's room and Clark was in my old room. While she napped I took Calla and Kelsey with me on some errands to the bank and church. They like going into the bank so they can pick out their lollipops. I let them also pick two for Clark and Jay.

While we were at the church Mrs. Clogston was working in the front office. Calla didn't remember her but they found common grounds when they recalled a craft Mrs. Clogston had done with her class and she had given it to Mimi to do with Calla and Kelsey. Crafts are the way to Calla's heart.

We went back to Mimi's house and Ellie had woken up. She seemed to not be feeling very well. Ellie's nose was running and her eyes were a bit red. She had slept only an hour since she woke up around 8:00. Her hour nap ended up being her last for the day because she didn't want to go to sleep again. That baby.

I went home in time to work on dinner a bit before Jon came home. I had put chicken in the crockpot and needed to chop some peppers and cook some rice to finish it up. Jon chopped a bit more wood when he came home. I put Ellie down for to sleep and hunkered down on the couch cutting out verse cards for the retreat. Jon went to watch a soccer game at his parents' house with Peter so I just cut the verse cards for three hours.

Overnight Ellie had a really sad time. She woke up frequently and at one point I cuddled with her trying to get her to sleep for forty five minutes. She was just so sad! Stuffy nose, coughing, and so on. When we woke up she seemed a bit under the weather but doing better. So I went to Mimi's house and we hung out as we waited for Precepts to start. 

By the time we were supposed to go to church Ellie's eyes were all red and her nose was running. I decided to head home and give her a good nap and skip Precepts since nobody wants to watch a sick baby. She slept for two hours while I worked on retreat work. 

In the afternoon we all went to Reading and tried on wedding dresses for Corinne. The shop wasn't very helpful but it worked out because we whipped through close to a dozen dresses taking pictures and videos as we went. Calla and Kelsey even tried on flower girl dresses. Afterwards I went home and put Ellie to bed before teaching my piano lessons. 

Wednesday evening I had Bible Study at Brittany's so I left Ellie with Jon who was hosting prayer group at our house. Jon said Ellie was not very happy and cried a lot. He ended up spending the entire night with her in her room. Oh well. I came home and finally put the poor babe to sleep. 

On Thursday I had to do some last minute retreat work but that was my entire agenda. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with the Brusts at Mimi's. Ellie was feeling a little bit better but was definitely not one hundred percent. It's nice to not have any piano lessons at the end of the week so our schedule is much more relaxed. 

So Thursday seems so long ago that I forget what we did during the day. We did go to the Flower and Craft Warehouse. Ellie and I went with Dorothy and met up with the rest of the gang. I found more items than I bargained for but I am excited about my new basket, bunny, and laundry hanger. 

In the evening we celebrated Kelly's birthday. She turned 29 on Monday and Carly wanted to make a special dinner and invite everyone. She made cranberry chicken, Mimi's rice recipe, and a green salad. For dessert we had a chocolate trifle which was delicious. Grandpa, Grandma, Mom-mom, Aunt Ida, and Aunt Elsie all joined in on the birthday festivities. We hung out until Ellie became sad and we took her home to bed. 

Jay really had Ellie laughing with the toy dangling in her face

Hanging out after Aunt Kelly's birthday celebration

I wanted to try to finish up the week but maybe next time. I'm so behind!

Monday

Monday morning Jon went running and Ellie and I slept in (as usual) until he came back. We ate leftovers from Easter morning for breakfast and Jon headed out for work around 8:00. We went to the gym for my 9:15 class and Ellie enjoyed watching all the kids who were present due to school still being out. Then we went home.
While Ellie napped I worked on things for the women's retreat and cleaned up the kitchen from the mess I made baking for Easter. I had three piano lessons and Ellie behaved well during them, for the most part. My third lesson runs from 5:00-5:30 and she gave Brenda Haak a bit of trouble when she woke up from the piano. Jon came home as we were finishing up the lesson.
This past weekend Jon brought a load of wood that they gathered from Mark DiAddezio's and it needs to be split. I bundled up Ellie and we watched Jon chop wood and enjoyed some of the sunshine. Then we ate some leftovers from Easter dinner for our supper.
Over the past few months Jon has been researching wood stove inserts for our fireplace. Having set his mind on a Quadra-Fire we found a store in Boyertown that sells them. Following dinner we went up and took a look in person. Although we did not make a final purchase, Jon brought home some quotes and pamphlets.
Ellie decided that she was tired or hungry because on our way home she started to get cranky. Then that escalated into crying which evolved into outright wailing.  We pulled over twenty minutes before home and I checked her diaper (she hates dirty diapers) but that was not the culprit. Jon proceeded to drive quickly home where I put her to sleep as soon as she settled.

Originally I intended to write about two or three days but I am tired and want to get some sleep. My apologies.

Splitting may take Jon a while

Sitting on her throne.

Easter Weekend

A few weeks back you may recall that Kelly and I spent a day sewing with Dorothy, our new pastor's wife. On that date we told her that we would love to see where she used to live and go shopping in the town because apparently it is a cute area with nice shops. Dorothy put together a trip for us and a few others to go into the city for the day on Saturday.
Five of us went: Dorothy, Kelly, Brittany M, Sarah Rus, Me, and Ellie. So five adults and one baby. Dorothy, Sarah, Ellie and I left at 10:00 and stopped by Trader Joe's and Stein Mart. Trader Joe's is a hippie-style grocery store with a lot of specialty items and decent prices for organic food. Dorothy directed me to some choice cheese, crackers, and olives which I purchased for Jon's Easter basket. I realize candy is the traditional choice for Easter but last year I ended up eating all the candy myself and I wanted to avoid the sugar overload.
At Stein Mart I picked up a new tie for Jon for Easter along with some nylons. Somehow I had torn my two pairs I had bought for this winter. Perhaps it was because I had bought them from Walmart. Avoid those.
We met up with Kelly and Brittany near the center of Chestnut Hill. It was a beautiful day: sunny and in the mid fifties. We walked to a nearby sandwich shop and ate outside on their patio. I had an apple, craisin, walnut salad with chicken salad on the side. I could have ordered another entire meal it was so delicious. We then proceeded to walk over to the main street and mosey in and out of all the shops. We stopped for some ice cream, too. By the time we had to leave I feel as though we didn't even hit half of he cute stores and I'm definitely interested in going back sometime soon.

Beautiful sunny day!

Ellie was a gem during our outing. She slept about twenty minutes on the way into Philadelphia. Then she sat in the stroller until an hour or so after lunch when I put her in Clark's back-pack carrier. She fell asleep and slept for maybe fifteen minutes in there. Ellie just doesn't like to miss out on the fun. The lack of sleep caught up with her because she cried for five or ten minutes on the way home before falling asleep.

Shopping is fun

While I was away Jon spent a good portion of the day cutting up a tree with his Dad and Mark DiAddezio on Mark's property. Mark and Nelah then invited us over for dinner to thank us for watching their kids at the last minute and for helping with the tree. Mark made a delicious dinner of lasagna, garlic break, and salad. Nelah made a coconut, chocolate, and caramel bar cookie for dessert. They are both wonderful cooks and everything was delicious.
The long day was wearing on Ellie because she started getting cranky after we had been at DiAddezio's for a little over two hours. I felt bad leaving early but it probably worked out since the next day was Easter.
Sunday morning I originally was asked to be at church at 7:00. Fortunately after about five emails from pleading musicians, Ryan pushed it until 7:30. With the early morning looming I decided to make a breakfast casserole on Saturday evening so that we would have our meal figured out. It was a delicious recipe from Dorothy that you can find here if you are interested. The only alterations I made were at Dorothy's recommendation where I used a bit more basil, did half goat cheese and half cream cheese, and mixed half the tomato blend in with the bread and sprinkled the rest on top. It was delicious, in my humble opinion.

Jon's Easter basket

Jon helped by taking care of Ellie's beauty regiment and loading up the car. We drove together and Jon hung out with Ellie until nursery opened at 8:45. I put Ellie down for a nap between services and we picked her up after worship during second service. The choir sang and did a great job - shout out to Mimi!

Daddy & Daughter

We ran home and I made a chocolate cake and some pineapple stuffing. I was signed up to bring dessert for 15 but had decided I wanted to try the pineapple stuffing so I made both. The cake needed an hour to bake so we ended up being a bit late but only missed the prayer at Mom-mom's. We ate dinner and Ellie hung out with cousin Wyeth while Jon and I ate our dinner. She then took a two hour nap on the floor of the upstairs bedroom. Happy Easter to me!
We left Mom-mom's around 5:15 after the Easter egg hunt and as the crowd began to thin out. Stopping by Grandma and Grandpa's we met Great-Aunt Elsie and Great-Aunt Ida Jean. They are Grandpa's aunts who are in town for a week or so from Florida and Georgia. Everyone was saying goodbye to the DeWalts as we entered and were crowded around the door. Apparently Ellie thought they were all waiting for her because she smiled really big and kicked her feet when we walked in. We hung out for an our and heard Aunt Elsie's biography before heading home.

Mimi, Ellie, & Aunt Elsie

We love Grandma!

I put Ellie to bed while Jon tried to find a movie to watch on Amazon Prime. When I finally came downstairs he was halfway through a "Tank Wars" episode. We finished watching it together and decided to go to bed since we were both too tired to watch a movie. It felt so nice to go to bed at 9:30.

I tried to get a nice family picture at church but Ellie was tired at that point and wouldn't look at the camera (apparently my shirt was infatuating). So no nice family Easter picture this year!

Our attempt. Fail. 

Ellie wanted some soda

Hanging out with Dad.