Colin's microscope

I just had to post this. I've mentioned before about Colin's love for my kitchen appliances...well the other day I caught Colin with my Kitchen Aid attachments.  He turned one of the slicers around and put it in going the wrong direction, then was looking into it like a microscope! Wow, that one hit a little too close to home. Like father like son.

Tanner turns 6

Geesh, where does the time go?  And how they do grow! My firstborn is 6 now. I think he had a pretty great birthday.

My dear friend Kate made him a tee-pee.  Tanner was so thrilled for it that he slept in it every night for more than a week.

He also got a Slip n' slide, rush hour game, and some books.

Derek made his cake.  Can you see the fire works?  (His birthday is the 4th of July)

We didn't do a friend party this year, but he sure got some serious family celebrating!

The top 10 things I love about Tanner:

1-He LOVES to learn. He's curious and he's quick to understand.  It makes teaching him lots of fun.
2-He is a great singer. He has a gift for music and I love to hear him sing in our home.
3-His best friend is Lexie.
4-He's close to the Spirit.  His little heart knows the things of God and he tries so hard to follow them.
5-His love of reading. 
6-He's not a "Walmart child". I asked a friend of mine once for some advice on what to get Tanner for Christmas. She said, "Tanner is not your typical Walmart child. You can't just go to the store and pick him out a toy."  She was very right!  He's a teacher supply child. Anything educational is what will occupy Tanner's spare time.
7-He's very helpful. It's tough being the first child!  Tanner is my #1 helper and a great one at that!
8-He's active. Well, he's a boy, so I know that comes with the territory, but it opens up a whole world of discovery for both himself and his siblings.
9-He's a great with his little brothers. He knows just how to play with them, make them laugh, and share toys with them. They are so lucky to have him as their big brother!
10-He loves food. He's not picky at the table. He'll eat anything I make. (Phew!) And he enjoys cooking in the kitchen.  He's gotten pretty good at making some dishes himself too. (Particularly oatmeal!)

 Happy Birthday Tanner! We love you!

Parley P. Pratt Run

This was our last summer to participate in the Parley P. Pratt Run and we wouldn't have missed it for the world! You can either do the 4 mile run or walk the 1 mile.  It is always hosted on the 4th of July as that is the day that Parley P. Pratt and a couple of other fellow saints escaped from jail here in Columbia, Missouri.

It starts early with a retelling of the Parley P. Pratt story, a singing of the national anthem, flag posting by the Boy Scout color guard, and a prayer.

Then those who want to run the 4 miles are off! Next Parley himself leaves for a 1 mile run.  His objective is to get a head start for all the children who will be chasing him. Here he is with his sweet wife, Denise, and their 5th boy.

Age or size has no bearing on participation in this race.  All are welcome!  Here's Lexie and her dear friend Ruthie making the 1 mile.

Even the littlest ones make it! Go Lindsay!

I think the 1 mile is the way to go, look at the view we get! The snapping turtles were right there next to us as we walked the water's edge. 

Even though we were only doing the 1 mile, we have to hurry before the real racers get back.  We made it just in time to see dad come through the finish line!

Go dad!  The kids were cheering him on has he came through!

After the race, they have breakfast for all. Derek's here with one of his Young Men.  I LOVE his shirt.  I'm definitely going to make this shirt for my kids.

Way to go sweetheart!  You're my hero! (and my muscular hunk of handsomeness!)

Dairy Farm

It's been a few years since we've been to the dairy farm.  This time Colin isn't a baby and he's fascinated with cows. His love for them comes from the cattle that live in the pasture just off our backyard, so I thought this would be a fun field trip for him. I was surprised by how frightened he was by them once he got up close.

Here's Tanner holding Colin's hand coaxing him into the feeding barn.

All the cows have an electronic disk on them so they can track how much the cows are eating.

 Here's the milking room.

 They had a long row of baby calves that we could feed, and pet. This seemed to be the closest Colin would get to them.

 Tanner and Lexie feeding the baby calf.

At one point I lost Colin for a moment.  I turned around and there he was watching all the trucks and tractors go by. 

 Tanner and Lexie had a bit of fun climbing through the ingredients they use to make up the food for the cows.

Beauty and the Beast

This summer I took Lexie to see Beauty and the Beast at the Muny in St. Louis.  This is a large outdoor amphitheater where Broadway productions are shown. Derek had a Scouting camp-out that same night, so he took Tanner and Colin camping and I took Lexie and Porter to St. Louis.

I have to preface the experience by telling you that it was a crazy day trying to get camping gear ready and get out of town and and and.  So in the hustle of the day, I asked Tanner if he would please do the dishes for me. He's pretty good at doing them and happy to help, so I didn't think much of it. Well, in his efforts he filled a plate completely full with dish soap and then put that plate right into the dishwasher.  You can imagine what happened when we started the dishwasher just minutes before we all walked out the door to our different activities!

My sweet husband spent some 15 minutes cleaning suds up off the kitchen floor. Just a little advice, if this ever happens to you, put a little fabric softener in the dishwasher and run the cycle, it gets rid of the suds!

Once the suds were cleaned up, we were off to St. Louis! Phew!

There were 4 of us moms that hooked up to take our kids to the Muny.  We got there just as the production started and were hoping to sit in the free seating in the far back.  Well, the seats were all taken and we had QUITE the trouble with our little girls who kept sneaking up to see the show.  The ushers were mad at us because we couldn't keep our kids out of the amphitheater and we didn't have tickets. Finally I walked up to an usher who was resting on a nearby bench.  "Sir, we've come a two hour's drive to see this show tonight and we've got some little girls who will be very disappointed if they can't see it. Is there any way you can help us?" This guy took compassion on us and went and found the House Manager. Before I knew it, we were all seated a third of the way up on stage right!

Lexie had never seen Disney's Beauty and the Beast movie, but she was completely enamored by the Broadway Production. This was truly a treat for us both to see!

 Here's our crew. This was a night we will never forget!

Miracle photo shoot

As we were driving home from Jessica's wedding, I suggested to Derek that maybe we ought to try and get a family picture.  After all, we were all dressed up nicely, I had a husband present, we happened to color coordinate, and the day was beautiful.

Derek tried to talk me out of it. He's a good husband, but he just doesn't like photos much. The longer he is married to me, the better he is getting at enduring the experience. Even more so, he loves the end result, but getting him there sometimes takes a bit of finagling.

I had a particular field in mind near Tanner's school (which is out in the boondocks of no where).  We were pressed for time because the sun was close to setting and the kids were tired from a long day of driving and being out in the sun.

So I had a little "sit down" with them.

"Kids, listen up" I started.  "We're going out to a field to take a family picture."
"Nooooooo" they all moaned.
I ignored them.
"We don't have a lot of time, so this is all I'm asking: If you look at the camera and smile, I have an ice cream sandwich at home waiting for you."

That's it.  They were good to go.

We got to the field, we got out of the car. I put my camera on a tri-pod and set it on the floor of the car with the door open. This is what I caught:

It was a miracle.  How I got all four kids to look at the camera, I just don't know. Honestly, I didn't even care that Porter wasn't smiling, he was looking at the camera! I was just tickled pink to have a great picture!  Never mind the messy faces, left over reception food on the boy's vests, or the fact that the boys needed haircuts and Lexie's hair is braided instead of down. It is our family. I'll love this photo for a very long time.

I captured a few more favorites this particular afternoon:

ps: we all enjoyed the ice cream sandwiches too!

Jessica's wedding

We went to our first Catholic wedding this summer. Jessica is a resident that Derek works with. She is from a little town down in the hills of Southeast Missouri called St. Anthony. (I think it is population 127, or close to it, there aren't many people.)

It was an hour and a half drive for us on a Saturday afternoon.  We had never been to a Catholic wedding before, but we got some tips from some friends and showed up just as the wedding ceremony was ending. With four small kids, it was a very smart thing to do!

 Isn't this a darling little Catholic chapel?

 After the ceremony, we all filed out, gave our congrats to the bride and groom, and walked across the street to a pavilion where they had refreshments. There was also a little playground for kids!

 My handsome husband.

 Lexie and another girl catching frogs.

 The reception that night for close family and friends. I thought the tables we lovely.

 Congrats Jessica!  We are so happy for you! Thank you for inviting us to celebrate with you!

A fire station visit

This summer we stopped in to a local fire station to learn more about how our firemen do their jobs. With Colin's love for fire trucks, I knew he would be in his element. He even wore his fire truck shirt!

First we got a tour of the inside where they sleep, eat and prepare for fires.

 
Then the kids all got fireman hats!

 Of course, Colin doesn't go anywhere without his summer hat!

 Then they checked out the fire truck.

Yummm, a little boy's playground!

 Lastly, one of the fireman got dressed in his fire fighting suit.  Here's Lexie just making sure he was still nice under all that gear!

 We all had a great time at the fire station!

the REAL ellingsons

When I first looked into blogging I felt about a quarter inch tall. I looked at all these amazing moms and all they did for their families.  Their homes were perfect, their kids were perfect, their lives seemed perfect.

That's not really the case and "none of us are perfect" as my mom would always say. And yet, here I am blogging. Often times I pick the "perfect picture" over the one that shows the 5 loads of laundry on the couch.

Well, one day I was looking at my kids.  They were sitting on the couch, some still in pajamas, some dressed. Lexie had a hair-do from yesterday. A dirty face, a smelly diaper, messed up pillows on the couch....but I couldn't get over the fact that I have four amazingly beautiful, healthy, strong, happy, goofy, smart, lovable kids. 

In my eyes, they are perfect. Take it or leave it, this is the REAL Ellingsons.

Shucking corn

Sometime into the beginning of summer we begin to see the corn fields appear.  The rows of stalks grow taller and taller with each passing day.  And as they grow, so does Tanner's desire to have some sweet, fresh Missouri corn for dinner. It starts as a mention. "Hey mom, can we have some corn for dinner sometime?" and it grows into a daily, constant beg..."When are you going to go to the store mom?  Will you please get us some corn?  I really would like some."

I've learned a couple of things about buying corn.  Price is of course the first. When the price is the lowest, the corn is ready. The other is, it MUST be picked the SAME day! Otherwise, its just not worth eating. So when I can find corn that meet those two criteria, well, its a feast to be had at the Ellingsons! And I have a few fellas who don't mind the shucking one bit!

Happy 7th!

Derek and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on May 1st. We got rid of our kids for the evening and had a scrumptious seafood dinner in our backyard. We made Cajun shrimp covered in bacon with marinated salmon, a fresh green salad, and a homemade wheat roll. Derek got me some Gerber potted daisies to put on our patio table and enjoy all summer long. May in Missouri is a perfect time for a dinner outside!

Don't we look like we JUST got married?  Happy Anniversary sweetheart!  I love you!