Double Digits!

November 17, 2000
Ellie Katherine Glynn
A trip down memory lane:

We returned home from Wisconsin Dells on Monday evening. Early Tuesday morning, Andy had to fly to Pennsylvania and he would be MISSING Ellie's actual birthday. There were many tears shed over this....and that Monday evening, life was not so "happy" at our house, despite just returning from an amazing mini-vacation.

We decided to let Ellie open her gift from Grammie and Grampy and also her gift from Ava so Andy could actually SEE her open some gifts. Her facial reaction is priceless:

Some of you may be thinking "For real? She got a mini DVD player?!" Let me explain: we actually gave that idea to the grandparents when they asked--we've been to long swimming meets where there's not much to do and rather than have her watch someone else's choice movie, now we can control what she watches. We've been to too many hotels in the last years where there are NO kids channels and we NEED 30 minutes of Colin being occupied. Ellie and Jayna have put up with ENDLESS hours of "baby" dvds in our van while we travel. Now they can hook up their earphones and watch their big kid shows. Win-win, the DVD player will be loved by all!

And Ellie's gift from Ava--Threads of Hope BOOKMARKS! They are our new favorite gift to give--such meaning and so precious and so neat!

On the actual birthday, it was a race down the stairs in the morning to see IF the Cake Fairy showed up. Yep, tropical theme it was again, the cake had a MONKEY on it!

As we set out to pacify Ellie in her sadness that Andy would be absent, I told Ellie she could invite a friend home from school for dinner. She picked long time friend Leah, who actually also came home from school with Ellie in kindergarten on Ellie's birthday! Here's a collage of the girls, including a photo from 4 years ago:

And finally, the gifts. We were in Ikea last September and had to be really sneaky--how do you sneak a bed canopy through the check out with nosey (N)Ellie by your side?! Andy shooed all the kids out to the van and I checked out the birthday gift and other items--it was a close call though! Again, the facial reaction is just priceless.

Ellie also received an "Ellie" door hanger and a lava lamp from Jayna. Both of which, she adores. (Please, dear child....do not change your favorite color for years now....)

I was also working on a fun homemade gift for Ellie. Since we moved a year ago, her room has looked pretty bare. She has all of these special things she wants to put on her walls, yet we really don't want to tape them up...she NEEDED a bulletin board, and needed a fancy one at that! The weekend that Aunt Megan visited, we got started on the board, but I finished it all by myself and it truly completes her room. And, just in time, she came home with 2 more ribbons from a swim meet last night!

I had a little box of push pins wrapped up as the "clue" for the board and for the 3rd time, her facial expression was hilarious. She had no idea...and then she went up to her bedroom and discovered the board. The last picture in this collage shows a glimpse of her room now, with the board on the far right of the photo. Finally, it looks like a lived in room!

Happy Birthday dear Ellie, we love you so much. Happy Birthday dear Ellie, happy Birthday to you.

Ellie, 10 years.

The WiLdErNeSs!!!!!

10 years ago, on November 17th, ELLIE was born....and we had no idea who REBEKAH was....10 years ago, she was turning 2 on November 17th!

Years later, Ellie met her new Aunt Rebekah...and everyone LOVES Rebekah! We've discovered that it's actually fun to share a birthday!

This year, instead of a party, we combined family vacation with Ellie's birthday...she could invite 1 friend and we were hitting Wisconsin Dells BIG--we were going to a HUGE water park--The Wilderness...home of many locations and many parks. We then thought we should invite Rebekah and Andy's mom....birthday girl Rebekah had never been to a water park, it was her birthday too. And...ulterior motive....Andy's mom could help with Colin! Little did we know we'd have a feverish 5 year old that would also need some Grandma love!

Above, you'll see the birthday girls--our 3 days at the Wilderness were such fun!

But first, we had to GET there! Thanks to the cloudy, rainy weather....and some Benadryl!....our sick Ava and baby Colin napped nearly the whole way there, ensuring a late night full of swimming and waterslides!

When we arrived, we first stopped at the Goody Goody Gumdrop candy store for some "supplies"....everyone got to pick out a special candy treat. Oh, the choices! And darn it, we have no pictures to document the sugar high that the store supplies!

We then checked into our "room", which was bigger than our old house by square footage! Ellie had chosen her swim team buddy, Mackenzie to come along for the trip and Mackenzie gave her a new waterproof watch and a best friend's necklace. Ellie didn't know what the necklace was when Mackenzie said "Do you want to keep 'best' or 'friends'?"....and Ellie's response was "Can't I keep both of them?!" It was cute. As you will see, they always wore their matching suits....it happened totally random that they have the same suits and they love to match at swim team practice!

As we were traveling, Andy commented "I'm excited for everyone....but I'm most excited to see Rebekah's face and Colin's face with the water parks!" So true! Colin LOVED it. End of story. He enjoyed the little slides, he loved splashing--and did not like getting OUT of the water when it was time to go! Colin was also "caught" singing.....this is typical of Colin these days!

We also had a little birthday party, complete with glow wands, silly glasses, cake and some gifts. Andy's Mom brought the glasses...and Jayna and Ava assigned everyone their specific style...

One thing about this trip--we didn't follow any rules...the kids stayed up late, got up early, ate sugary things at 9pm while watching movies together. And Ava? Well, she consumed a lot of advil, which allowed her to enjoy the water and when it wore off, she would sleep until the next water-fun activity.

All of the girls got along great--it was especially fun having so many people in our group! Here is a short video of the 4 girls coming out of a ride together.

Colin hated the lazy river....until Grandma somehow convinced him it was FUN! Another fun part of the Wilderness was the wave pool. It was quite amazing and the girls just LOVED it. It was common to find them at the very front of the pool where the gigantic waves were generated. We were also impressed with the life guards at the Wilderness--there were plenty on staff, they were friendly (one even apologized to Andy for sending them down a slide a little fast!) and the let Ava wear her floatie suit throughout the entire park.

Three of these photos are from the wave pool and here is a video of it (Ellie/Mackenzie in aqua suits, Jayna in pastel pink/purple/orange suit, Rebekah in black)...but it's hard to capture the amazing-ness of it on film. It was just unreal!

We all came home exhausted and the kids loved having all the quality family time together. It was a good birthday trip!

Happy VETERAN'S day!!!!

Happy Veteran's Day to all!!!

I love flags, I love red/white/blue....and I love Americana decorations. Back in the day, I even had some snazzy flag shirts/sweaters. Too bad those photos got misplaced in the move... ;)

Today, NHCS had a Veteran's Day Program for the 1st time and it was BEAUTIFUL....TOUCHING....TEAR JERKING....WONDERFUL.

All 3 girls were set to participate....and they've been caught singing the songs for weeks, they were ExCiTeD!
Yet something is wrong with this photo:

What a bummer! Yesterday, Ava came home from school with a 102.5 fever. The above picture is Ava this morning, not even 5 minutes after Andy carried her downstairs for breakfast. She just slept and slept...and got hotter and hotter.

After sleeping so much, though, she did attend the performance with us! Ellie and Jayna just eat this type of thing up. Here they are singing and smiling...

For a taste of the songs sung:
Armed Forces Salute: Army part 1
Army part 2
Marines
Air Force
(During this tribute, the men/women who served in these forces stood up. It was very emotional as there were all ages present. Right in front of us was a VERY elderly man who served in WWII. He was wheel chair bound, but he did manage to stand for his song. During many of the songs, he was shaking as he sobbed, it touched him so much. As it ended, he commented to his daughter that he REALLY appreciated the program today.)
America The Beautiful
Glory Glory

NHCS had sent home a form weeks ago requesting the names/force of relatives who have served our country. They were shocked by the number of family members who have served. The girls reported to me that they got over 1000 names submitted. Pastor Jeff informed everyone that there will be a permanent memorial outside the gym with everyone's names on it. This photo below is what we saw as we entered the worship center--Andy snapped a photo of Grampy's name, Great Grandpa Gorden and Great Grandpa Evenson's names! Thank you for serving!!!

Birthday Month, part 1

Happy Birthday Month to Ellie!!!

This year, something unheard of at our house is happening....Andy is going to be GONE for Ellie's birthday. It was sad for everyone when we came to that conclusion. However, I think Ellie will end up with the bonus this year...the celebrating for her birthday started TODAY!

Andy surprised her with a morning at Badger Sports Park. If you know Ellie, you know this is her type of "thing"! She LOVED it. Laser tag, basketball, go-carts, mini-bowling, air hockey and much more! She was most impressed with winning over 200 tickets...which got her a lot of junk, I mean stuff....

Here are some neat pictures Andy captured:
Ellie with the basketball game (which gave the most tickets, I'm told!), the "fog" of the laser tag, Ellie in the laser tag garb, mini bowling, some of the tickets, and Andy and her as the lone go-carters!

They finished their fun morning at lunchtime and finished it off with a trip to Jimmy John's for lunch!

Once home, it was onto the first of many obligatory birthday treats this month: tomorrow they will celebrate Ellie in Sunday School at church! Aren't these "ice cream cones" cute? They are brownies baked in a cone and iced with chocolate chips, melted to look like hot fudge! Fun fun!

Stay tuned....Birthday Month, part 2 starts in 1 week. And it will be filled to the brim with fun!