Shoe Fetish, first writing, and tithing

Ginny has a real fascination with shoes recently. She wants to wear hers all the time, and come up holding them in her hand saying, "shoes!" I think she knows that when we put her shoes on her it usually means we are going somewhere. The other day she decided that we ALL needed to wear our shoes. So, she kept bringing me different pairs of shoes to put on, and when Trevor tried to take his shoes off she shrieked! Then later when I lay down on the couch for a bit I kicked my shoes off and she spent about 20 minutes trying to slide my birkenstocks onto my feet, which kept slipping off. Finally she got distracted by a bandaid on my toe, and gave up on putting on the shoes. Too funny!
Also, Sam has taken a sudden interest in writing and a little bit of letter recognition. He hasn't shown much interest at all up until this point, and so I haven't done much with him, but this week he sat down and made a puppet with 2 little eyes, nose, mouth, and hair. Pretty good! So we sat down together to make a birthday card for his cousin, and he drew some little balloons, and then I asked him to try to write his name, and he actually did pretty well! The S was backward, but he managed to get a pretty legible A and M. And then later we were reading a book with Max and he recognized the letters we had practiced together. He starts preschool in a couple of weeks.
Yesterday Max took his tithing money to church--to pay on the money he had earned from the garage sale. All week long he kept saying that he didn't want to pay his tithing because he wouldn't have very much money left, but we talked about it a lot--what Heavenly Father does with the tithing money, how we pay our tithing to help people and be obedient, show our faith, etc. Well, anyway, right before church without my asking him he went and got $1.30 out of his wallet, and brought it to me to pay his tithing. Then, Trevor helped him fill out a donation form at church, and he took his money up to the bishop before the meeting started. The great part came later after church, though. He came up to me as I was making dinner and said "Mom, I really felt the Holy Ghost when I paid my tithing." A happy moment for my mother's heart!

First day of school!

First day of school! We are ready for a more structured routine, I think. I got up and went walking with Colette this morning at 6:00 and when I got home at 7:00 Max, Emily and Trevor were all up and getting ready. It was nice because everyone was ready early, and we were able to have family prayer together before everybody left for school and work. I walked to school with the kids to help them find their teachers and classrooms, but it turned out that they had the kids find their teachers and line up on the playground behind the school. I did go in later to just see where their classrooms were, and sam and Ginny played on the new playground equipment. Both kids did have some friends in their classes, so that's a good thing for helping them make the transition.
This is Emily's last year in elementary school! Unbelievable!
And Max is already in 2nd grade. They grow up too fast!

8/20

Two more days and school starts. I'm a little sad, actually. I'm really going to miss having Emily and Max at home. Ginny and Sam love having the older kids home to play with. Emily is a big help to me. Things will be a little quieter, which will be nice in a way, but I'm going to miss the kids. Emily and I had so much fun on Saturday when we went to Chicago with her friend Amy and Amy's mom. We packed a lunch and went to the American Girl store, where we were absolutely in little girl heaven. The girls had a hard time deciding how to spend their money! It was a little overwhelming, but loads of fun! We went to the American girl broadway-style show, which was darling--good singing and a nice story about a group of friends who act out stories from the American girl books. I know Emily and Amy really loved it. Emily bought the Josefina doll, which she has been saving for for a long time. And she bought Josefina's weaving outfit. Now her doll Felicity and Josefina can dress like each other. And, this morning Emily came upstairs dressed Josefina/style herself, and wanted me to braid her hair like her doll. She looked pretty in the skirt that we made together last week, a white blouse and rebozo from one of her scarves.
Last night when I was singing to Max as we put him to bed, he said to me, "Mommy, I want to tuck you in bed tonight and read you a story, so come and wake me up when you are ready to go to bed. " Cute!

Birthday boy

WEll, today was a really busy day. WE got up early to get ready for a garage sale. The kids worked hard, both in cleaning, setting up, and managing the sale. I was proud of Emily and Max for working so hard. Max was quite the lemonade salesman. Emily did great making change and helping people find things. They didn't make a ton of money--about $12 each, but that's quite a bit of money for a kid. So I think it was a success.
then, we had a birthday party for Sam. It kind of stressed me out to get ready for it--cleaning up, preparing games, making cake etc. but it was worth it because SAm had a lot of fun. As he helped me make the cake, put up balloons etc. I could see that he was really pleased that all of this attention was for him. I had made capes and super hero masks for all the little boys, and we played super-hero games. Saving the world and all that. I think they all had fun. But now I'm completely exhausted.
Whew!

family photos

Okay, so I'm going a little nuts on these family photos--but I just thought this was a good place to have some pictures of all the people we love so much.

The "Fonnesbeck/Gardner family" (Nana's clan) summer 2004 at a picnic in Provo canyon. Aunt Judy, Rob, Sheri, Nancy, Karen, and kids, Heidi, Marilyn, Sam, Trevor--kids
Cousins in the Ellis backyared--Max, Anna, Leah, and Sam--Aunt Sandi with cute Great granddad Ellis
Grandma Carol with baby Ginny summer 2004. Ginny was about 9 months old. About 5 months before Carol passed away.

Papa and Grandma Ann with Trevor and kids at the beach in Oregon. Mo's chowder. Yum! Tide pools and sand castles, and sticking our toes in the ocean. Lots of fun!

family photos

Cousings Roman and Malcom with the kids, Grandma DeJean and Uncle Blake and Aunt Sydney. summer vacation 2004. Ellis family at Miller park zoo. summer 2004. Aunt Nancy, Papa, Leah, Adam, Sam Anna Max, Grandma Ann, Emily

more family photos

My cute boys! Max and Sam in the batman costumes at ages 4 and 1. Max at age 5 (almost 6) with our new piano.



Trevor at the park with new baby Sam--fall 2001






Baby Sam--summer 2002. playing at Fairview pool.

Cleaning bug!

I've caught a cleaning bug! My kids are not thrilled, but I'm really wanting to get a few things done before school starts. After all the 4-H chaos, I am trying to catch up. So far I've cleaned out 3 closets, the boys' room, started on my room, the video cabinet downstairs, and re-arranged all of our bookcases. Whew! It feels good to clean out the cobwebs a bit!

Finished my summer classes this week--kind of a relief. I'm looking forward to a break. Just one more concert tonight and my summer responsibilities are complete.
Max is having fun collecting aluminum cans to earn money. He is so funny about wanting to earn money all the time. He'll probably be a millionaire someday. Also, I told the kids that if they helped me with the cleaning and setting up a garage sale next week, that I would let them keep the money we earn. So, they're highly motivated to help out. A good fundraiser for them. :)

Jack Mapes' funeral

Last night I went to Jack Mapes' funeral. I had class first, from 5 until 6:40, so I had to hurry, but I made it on time. At least I was on time for mormons--which is to say that I arrived about 8 minutes before the meeting was to start. As I entered the building, I was amazed to see that the chapel was completely full--clear back to the back of the cultural hall--and I felt a little silly walking up to the podium to lead the music with all those people already there. But it was such a beautiful tribute to a great man. You could really see how much he had influenced the people in our ward, the people he worked with, his family, etc. And honestly, it was one of the most amazing funerals I have ever been too. I was guessing that at least half the people there were nonmembers, and there were also many less-active members who came out of love for Marilyn and Jack.. Just like Bishop Mapes to quiet serve and share his testimony even in his death. Marilyn asked me last week if I would put together the music for the funeral--which was an honor and privilege for me. One of his favorite songs was "Lord, I would follow thee" so I arranged for a quartet consisting of Andrea Ringer, myself, Matt Harris, and Trevor. Sister Streeter accompanied. We enjoyed practicing together, and I think we sang well, even though it was difficult to sing without choking up because of the beautiful slide show of his life that preceded the music. Marilyn had also spent hours making posters with pictures of Jack, their family, and appropriate scriptures and poems. You could not leave the meeting without feeling the spirit and knowing there was something special about this family. And I feel privileged to know what the "something special" it. The secret is that both Jack and Marilyn loved each other, loved the Lord, and loved their neighbor. They lived the gospel of Christ in every aspect of their lives. What an example for me, and so many others. I thank my Heavenly Father for allowing me to know them.

4-H ribbons

Emily did great at the county fair. She entered 9 projects, and earned 8 blue ribbons and one red. She also participated in the style show with her friends, and had fun. So for all of her hard work, I think she will have over $60! She and I are going to Chicago next Saturday with her friend Amy and mom to go to the American girl store and the show. I'm looking forward to it. A day out for the girls!

Sam and Ginny, and family pics

Last night, I had been helping Emily with some 4-H projects, and Sam came up to me and said, "Mom, you have a buzz lightyear chin!" I couldn't figure out what he meant. But then Emily started laughing, too, and said, "Mom, you really do have a Buzz Lightyear chin." So, upon inspection, I discovered that I did indeed have a little purple swirl of marker right under my chin, just like the toy, Buzz Lightyear. It was funny. Then later, we had been talking about how Emily used to run around the living room singing "Ashes, Ashes, Ashes...." (from ring around the rosie)so Emily had to demonstrate for Ginny. So now, it's Ginny who is running around the living room singing "Ashes" all the time. Ginny reminds me so much of Emily at that age. ginny also got hold of one of Max's Tae Kwon Do belts yesterday, and had Trevor put it on her. She then pranced around the living room, kicking her feet at saying, "Ai ya!"
The 4-H projects are almost done. We just have to iron Emily's skirt today and then make the Danish cookies. Whew! The fair should be fun, and then I'm hoping to just coast through and enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

I'm attaching a few of the family pictures that Emily used in her project.
She made a really great family history tree. Anna Christine Anderson Fonnesbeck (my great-grandmother). Charles Neilson (Little Grandpa--Trevor's great-grandfather with his two children--little Tutu--Maurine Allen) Alice F. Gardner (my grandmother, Nana, with baby Emily) Sharon Ellis with baby Emily (my mother)