Creating

Last week I spent a good part of a day planning out our summer - from booking some childcare for crucial workdays to marking all of the Colorado Free Days for museums, gardens, etc.on my calendar.  It felt good to have a few things nailed down, but I sure do look forward to the flexibility and spontaneity of summer!

While looking for free days, I noticed that this weekend Bemis Art School, part of Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, was hosting a free family art day.  All three kids love arts and crafts and I am not overly motivated to do a myriad of crafts at home, so this was a no-brainer.  Kurt worked at home and the four of us had a blast getting messy and making some fun things.  The theme was Native Americans and there were four or five well-planned art activities in which families could participate.  We will definitely be participating in these family fun days again.

It was a great reminder that we were created to be creators.  Our creator, the creator of the universe, created each one of us uniquely, in His image.  No matter how "unartistic" we deem ourselves, we are creators and our creations are a form of worship!

The End of an Era

Yesterday was Elyse's last day of preschool for the year.  She still has a whole other year of preschool, so it's not really the end of an era, but it's the end of this season.  She's been in school three mornings per week this year.  Next year will be four mornings per week.  She is so ready.  She actually thought that Kindergarten was next year.  Why wouldn't it be?  Isaac went to Kindergarten, then Ace, and naturally, she would be the following year. 

One last story with Mrs. Dwors

Elyse and her friend, Hadessah enjoying ice cream sundaes

Elyse with her fabulous teachers, Mrs. Dwors and Mrs. Trujillo

Sorry, little girl!  You still have another year of these sweet preschool years.

Our Little Sweetheart

The title of this post should actually be "Every one's Sweetheart!" 
It's clear that Ace is naturally our nurturing, sweet kid!  He just cares for others, shares, and loves from his heart, not because he knows he should, but because that's just his nature.  Simply put, he's a sweety.  This is not to say the other two aren't sweet kids, but they tend to be sweet because they're - dare I say - for the most part, "well trained."  There's no filter with Ace.  What you see, hear, and experience is the real deal.  Many times I've been stopped by teachers and parents to hear a story about a situation where Ace was himself, and just extremely nurturing or helpful to a peer, a teacher, or a younger sibling of a friend.  That's just what he does.

However, he's also "our little sweetheart," because he is already turning a lot of heads!  The girls in kindergarten and first grade tend to whisper and talk a lot about this little man of ours.  He's been given flowers on numerous occasions from girls in his class and moms have joked with me that they have already started their daughter's dowry and they want to know how they can arrange a prom date with Austin for their daughter, because they "know he'll have her home by 10 and be the perfect gentleman."  Seriously, I'm not just talking about one conversation or one mom.  He's catching the hearts of little girls and moms!

The other day, I found a note in Isaac's backpack from a friend of his - a first grade girl.  It was apologizing for something.  It was, as some first-grade writing is, a bit difficult to decipher, so I asked Isaac about it.  He explained that everybody was talking about Ace and he didn't like it.  I asked them what they were saying.  He said, everybody was talking about all the girls liking Ace - the first grade girls and the kindergarten girls!  I told Isaac I'm happy for him to stick up for a friend or a sibling if people are speaking inappropriately or meanly about someone else, but that it isn't mean to say someone likes Ace.  He just kept saying, "I just didn't like it."  As we talked, I started to realize that some of his dislike could have spurred from jealousy.  We talked about how Ace is a very likable kid and he will probably always be talked about - in a good way.  Isaac is a very likable kid too.  He's the kid that is nice to everyone and everyone likes and respects him.  Somehow though, at this point in the game, Ace is capturing a myriad of hearts, in a different kind of way.



Who could resist this sweet face, paired with his loving heart?

 The best part about "our little sweetheart?"  He has no clue!!  He's just living life the way His creator created him and is completely oblivious to all of these onlookers!  I just love that!  It's incredible to see God's fingerprints all over our kids, in such unique ways.

Preschool Mother's Day Luncheon

Elyse's preschool teachers hosted a Mother's Day Luncheon for all of us mothers last Thursday.  It was so sweet and Elyse was thrilled to give me a gift she had made and sing the songs.  She likes the gift so much, that I think she's decided to keep it!

As you can hear, she has no problem being heard!

Dreaming Big

Isaac's swim team practiced at the Olympic Training Center last week! It just so happens that the Michael Phelps is currently in Colorado Springs training at the OTC, as well, but unfortunately there were no sightings of the swimming icon.

However, Isaac did share the pool deck with another Olympic Gold Medalist.  Rudy Garcia Tolson.  Rudy is a Para-Olympian gold medalist, who Ace actually met a couple of weeks ago on his field trip to the OTC.  He was quite the inspiration to these little Kindergartners.  He is an Ironman and has four pairs of "legs!"

Walking toward the OTC pool

Excited to swim

 He had an amazing time and I'm sure there will be more days at the OTC.  Swimming is his current passion!

We weren't allowed on the pool deck during practice, so E, Ace, and I did our own "training" while he was swimming!

 Future Gold Medalist Weight Lifters

If ballet isn't in her future, this certainly may be...

Ace and Carson on their first school bus ride headed to the OTC for their field trip

The Kindergartners with Rudy, wearing his "walking legs"

Our First Ballet Recital

 Our little Ballerina

Saturday marked the first (most likely, of many) ballet recitals.  Elyse has been dancing at a fabulous studio that teaches the girls ballet and other dance as a form of worship.  Most of the songs they dance to are worship songs, they have a monthly Bible memory verse, and they focus on modesty.  It's been a great place for Elyse to get started.

Her young group danced to Baby Face on Saturday and I video taped (most of) their rehearsal.  It was pretty darn cute.  She had an absolute blast dancing on the big stage under the lights.  For the actual recital, I volunteered to collect tickets, so I got to pick our seats early.  We were dead center in the front row!  She could see us, so I think we were a bit of a distraction, but she was so excited to see us and Megs and Bunkie!  It certainly brought back many memories of my dancing days!

 Elyse with Ms. Jennifer

 Curtain Call

So excited!!

Self portraits

Elyse is a budding photographer!  If she gets ahold of a camera, we can be sure there are at least 50 new photos on the memory card, in a matter of seconds.  At least 80% of those new photos are self-portraits.  We have so many photos just like this one!  What a beauty!

Irony

Less than a week after posting about Isaac losing his first two teeth quite some time ago and how his mouth seems to be holding onto all the others, with no wiggles in sight,  he lost 2 more this weekend!  As of Friday night they were all solid.  Saturday at lunch he bit into an apple, Ace noticed some blood, and the discovery of a slightly loose tooth was made.  With a lot of self-induced torture (according to mom) and some pushing and pulling help from mom, he lost an upper middle tooth in less than 8 hours.

The next morning he realized, thanks to all the pressure he put on the tooth he lost, that the one next to it had loosened a bit.  When that kid puts his mind to something, there is no stopping him.  He was adamant that it was coming out, even though it was barely loose!!  As Kurt said, he is definitely David Tilney's grandson.  He worked on that thing so much that I had to make sure he knew that you don't pull out adult teeth!  By the end of the night, the second one was out.  All in less than 24 hours!

The perfect first-grade grin.

Proud Mama

This afternoon was one of those days.  I was in awe of each of my kids.  It's not as though any of them mastered anything new, but they each simply impressed me.  I know I'm not supposed to boast, but this is a blog for our family's benefit, so I think it's okay to brag on my kids a bit...

Ace, our kindergartner bookworm, managed to read a Magic Tree house chapter book, cover to cover, during his brother's hour-long swim team practice!  Whoa!  I am continuously blown away by him!

This next one won't sound nearly as exciting, but trust me, it is.  Elyse wanted to go sit in a sort of special place at the pool during Isaac's swim practice.  I told her she could, but she needed to come back to me in five minutes and check in.  Sure enough, in 4 minutes, she was back and quickly asked if she could do it again.  I was pleased she obeyed so of course wanted to positively reward her.  So, she was told to come back in 10 minutes.  9 minutes later, she was huffing and puffing with excitement letting me know she was checking in and ready for "more privileges and responsibilities."  This went on and on throughout the entire practice and she thought it was fabulous!  (Truth be told, so did I!  She was finally recognizing the connection between listening/obeying and additional privileges, opportunities, and responsibilities.)

Finally, our little fish!  Isaac is knocking the socks off his new coach!  She pulled me aside to say with a huge smirk on her face, "I just have to tell you...your son is fabulous.  Fabulous!"  She went on and on and it was so obvious that she is excited about Isaac's love of the sport, ability, potential, and enthusiasm to learn.  She asked me if he had told me about his goals for swimming.  She was clearly so impressed, she didn't really give me a chance to respond.  Pulling out her notebook, where she recorded each swimmers goals for the rest of the season, she smiled and said, "He said his first goal is he wants to understand everything I'm talking about."  At first, it sounded a bit silly to me, but oh my goodness, this coach was seriously in disbelief of Isaac's earnest desire to just LEARN.  Her face said it all.  When he gets excited about something, he is without a doubt a favorite of any teacher/coach because his eyes burn with his dreaming.  I've had people pull me aside many times to say how they can see the lights turn on and the passion light up in his eyes.  Clearly, Coach Jen has seen it and is so excited!  She also was thrilled that his second goal was to learn how to use the time clock.  She just loved his understanding and desire to understand the whole sport!  I laughed and said something about how he loves it and would love to be the "next Michael Phelps."  With big eyes, she said, "He may be!"

It sure is fun to see other people dream with and for my kids!  It's fun for us to dream with them!

Then, we came home to read and go to bed and well...what can I say, I'm proud of the two little "Captain Underwears!"   There's real potential there!

Double the sun, double the break

Spring Break came twice for the Eilmes family this year.  Actually, we just doubled our break from one week to two.  I figured we don't have too many more years we can pull the kids out of school without much consequence, plus, the airline tickets were nearly half the mileage cost per ticket a week earlier, so we just started our break a bit early!

Our time in Florida with MiMi and PopPop was fabulous!  (That may have to be a whole separate post.)  Simply put, it was a blast.  We had some great time with my parents and with my grandparents.  The kids love the water, both the pool and the Gulf, and the wildlife and surroundings are so amazing, it's a bit like Epcot in some "engineered" environment meant to feel like the real deal - the real deal being...PARADISE!  One of the days we got to go on a boat ride with Captain Larry and Aunt Faye.  When we pulled the boat up to the backside of a restaurant right on the canal, I realized and even said, "geesh, people dream of vacationing like this and you guys (my parents) live like this!  This year it really was paradise - Daddy joined us for a portion of the trip for the first time in over 3 years!!  It was great.

Once we returned home to Colorado, we still had 5 more days of break here in our own sunny corner of the world!  The weather couldn't have been more perfect!  I think it was high 70's every day, with very little springtime wind.  We went to the zoo, biked, had picnics, hiked, and biked some more.  One day we wanted to do a hike we hadn't yet done.  The boys are great hikers and truly love being on the trails.  Elyse - well, let's just say there is tremendous room for improvement! ;-)  So, since I had all three and Elyse is getting too heavy for this 34 year-old back, I wasn't sure how far we'd make it.   

Within the first 5 minutes Ace tripped on a root and landed directly on his left arm.  Did I mention that the cast was removed less than 24 hours prior?!!  I nearly had a heart attack, and I'm not the kind of mom that frets about falls, cuts, bruises, etc.  However, I am the type of mom that frets about costly medical bills!  He was fine, praise the Lord, but I quickly decided the sling he was told to wear to protect himself was actually another accident in the making rather than a helpful tool that particular day, so we took it off.

We used all our senses and thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors.  The kids were having so much fun and being such wonderful siblings (especially the boys to Elyse, which doesn't always happen), that we just kept going.  We counted the early spring flowers, watched for wildlife, pretended to be different super heroes saving the trails from the villains, ate our picnic lunches, and eventually came to the top of the trail!  I never expected we'd go that far.  I think it was 4-5 miles round trip.  I love to hike and do it daily early in the mornings with girlfriends during the summer/fall months so I am so thankful my kids have become little hikers, too.  I think that day was a real turning point for E.  She had a ball and there was absolutely NO whining!!  She wanted to keep going!  It's a joy to have kids who enjoy being outdoors so much!  They truly are little Colorado Kids!

Dance Party

Most families try to have a nice "slow down" before bedtime. In the Eilmes house that doesn't always happen. Here's an example of our evenings (from January 2011).

Isaac loses his first tooth

I'm very behind in recording certain things...

Last July, the day after Isaac's 7th birthday, our house lost its first baby tooth! It was quite the family experience, as you'll see. Since then, we've only lost one more. Both of his teeth have been loosened out of necessity, as the replacement teeth have been making their way into his mouth before the babies were ready to go. Our kids tend to hold onto their teeth! (The dentist says this is a sign of healthy teeth...I hope so!!)

I just love the noise in this video...it gives a true glimpse of the noise and enthusiasm levels in our home!

Before Kurt pulled Isaac's tooth, we showed the kids this video. I think they LOVED the idea of this strategy for tooth pulling, but Isaac didn't commit...maybe that's because he remembers his dad's track record of rocket launching...

Listen carefully to Isaac's comments...the kid cracks me up!

It took many takes to finally get the rocket to launch...

Goofy Girl

Elyse was having fun with her brother's swim gear last week...

Oh how she makes us laugh!

No more Monkey's jumping on the bed!

On February 19th we faced a new adventure. All three kids were up on Isaac's top bunk goofing around together and having lots of fun. Moments before the "incident," Kurt had gone into the kids and told them to stop jumping from the top bunk to the bottom bunk. I honestly think they did stop that, however, there were still three crazy kids crammed onto one high bed, and well, with the help of a little laughter, shoving, and craziness, one of those kiddos tumbled off.

Ace was definitely hurt. The question was, was it serious, or just a bruise. We didn't know. Thanks be to God, Ace slept through the night that Sunday night with only one initial dose of Ibuprophen, so when he awoke the next morning, we briefly questioned the need to even see a doctor. He was able to move his arm, gingerly, and although it didn't look quite "right," it didn't necessarily look like more than a bruise and he said it felt a lot better. Thankfully after some prayer and discussion, we decided to take him to a professional to make sure. Sure enough, he had broken his forearm and dislocated his elbow, which needed immediate surgery! Whoa, that is not what I was expecting to hear. It was hard to believe our little boy was going to be put under anesthesia! It was scary, but at the same time I was totally at peace and knew the Lord was in control. He sent us to a fabulous pediatric orthopedic surgeon, who was absolutely wonderful! We were surrounded by prayers and support. So many people came to pray with us and visit us before and during the surgery, that we didn't even have time to worry!

Long story short: Ace was trooper in surgery. It couldn't have gone better, he came out of the anesthesia so easily, he had a rockstar neon-green cast which he sported around Colorado and Florida in the pool, at the beach, on the playground and everywhere else for 6 weeks, and is healing perfectly!! (Needless to say, this didn't slow the kid down too much...) The cast is now off and $6K out of pocket later, we are on the mend. He still has to be quite careful of the elbow, but he should be 100% soon.
Just before surgery. He was fairly relaxed, as he got to watch the Disney Channel on a personal tv attached to his bed!

Daddy wasn't quite as calm, as you can see by his "smile."

Having fun, just a few days after the surgery.


D-Day! All three kids LOVED the process of getting the cast removed. (Oh, and P.S. there was a quarter and a few other "trinkets" found in the cast after 6 weeks!)

He is Risen!

This year we woke the kids up at 5 am to attend the first Easter Sunrise service at First Pres since Jim Singleton has been there. Kurt and I had taken Isaac and Ace, when Ace was just a few weeks old to the Sunrise service in Albuquerque with the Hubers, but hadn't been to one in 6 years, thanks to the typically snowy and cold Easter weather we have.

I was so grateful to watch a glorious sunrise as we celebrated our RISEN Lord - the Risen SON - with our kids! They thought it was quite a treat too, as the church had hot cocoa out and we brought bagel eggwiches we made the night before to eat between the sunrise service and the 7 am service with the traditional hymns and beautiful orchestral music, including trombones and other brass instruments. We were home after two worship services by 9:15 a.m. We had an egg hunt in the back yard and just a very restful, low-key day. It was a glorious day, celebrating our freedom, given by our risen Lord and Savior. (Isaac still thinks it should have snowed, to remind us how Jesus's blood washed our sin as white as snow...)

Elyse and Daddy at her preschool Easter Egg Hunt.