I just can't believe

how blessed we are. I went visiting teaching today to my cute friend who has 3 boys and one girl. I left with 2 huge bags full of baby boy clothes. When I sat down to look through them tonight, I was floored with the shear number of outfits, what great shape they're all in after being used by 3 boys, and how generous and kind my friends are. Seriously, we won't need a single thing until this baby is well past the 6 months size. We've been blessed in the same way by my friends with girls for the past 5 years. I'm so grateful.

ps I know I need to resize those collages from the last post but I'm way too tired tonight :)

an Ellis Christmas at Springhaven part 1

For the first time in 12 years, all of my family was together for Christmas at a beautiful, huge lodge up Hobble Creek Canyon--Springhaven. 18 grandchildren (baby Tennyson was so excited for this opportunity that he came into the world just 2 days before we left), the 9 children and 6 spouses plus my wonderful parents made 35 altogether. Just enough snow to play in and make it absolutely gorgeous, just enough stomach flu to make it exciting, just enough room to give everyone their own space and a place to be quarantined, just enough food to feed a small country, and just enough games, crafts and fun to give us memories that will last a lifetime.

With so many fun moments to capture, I had to use several collages to get the first half of the pictures in here :). Miss Mia made everyone smile... The Disney princess castle was barely finished in time :). Classic Kit and Kevin craziness. We really do have too much fun being parents.
The Christmas pyjama tradition continues, as does our attempt to get real smiles from all 3 girls at once.
Acting out the nativity--another family tradition. And this year we had a true multitude of heavenly angels. Here are just a few....
Elle's favorite part of the snow was falling down in the deep spots where she couldn't get up. All she could do was stay put and giggle until someone helped her out :)

Elle, Ryn and Eden just loved every second of sledding and playing, especially all the time with Daddy.

A few glimpses of Christmas morning. We had no idea where Ryn's insistance on Santa bringing a drum came from, but he didn't disappoint. Elle didn't know why an orange had to be included with all the candy and toys, and Eden just started right in with the candy.
Mom had tons of great activities for everyone to get excited about

Eden and Teairsa are only 2 weeks apart and it is so fun to see their little blond heads together.
Nolan tried to take Darrell on in a point blank snowball fight while they helped the sledders.
Get a load of these great looking guys!
Christmas Eve traditions with the Park boys and their princess Maurie

what makes a girl happy?

for Elle, it's wearing a skirt every single day. Kev wanted her to wear these little knickers today and she would not have anything to do with it. She begged and pleaded until she won her way to a cute jean dress.

for Ryn, it's doing anything BUT going and looking at houses all day, which is how we've spent the past several Wednesdays. Poor girl. All she wanted to do was work on her fairy tale that she's writing.

for Eden, today it was playing hide and seek in the dark before bedtime with Ryn, Elle and I. Holding the flashlight to find the hiders, counting to 20 (you know--one, two, tree, fow, five, sirteen, sirteen, twenty!) with her eyes half-closed.

for me, it's seeing Kevin excited about his dreams and hearing him talk about them down to the tiniest details. Keep dreaming, love. Sing with me......

There's that star, the one they said we'd never reach
And just close your eyes
There's the missing moon, there's the Milky Way
Heaven's straight ahead, we'll be there today
Rainbows right and left, sunshine everywhere
If it couldn't be baby, how did we get here

Some say we'll never get if off the ground
Some say we'll never make it out of town
That someday we'll end up a world apart
And some say we're a couple of crazy kids
And some say that's exactly what they did
And I say you got to go with your heart
And baby, look where we are

There's that home, the one they said we'd never share
And just close your eyes
There's the picket fence, there's our mailbox
Puppy on the porch and roses up the walk
Shinny minivan, kids in every seat :)
Someday we'll look back and see it wasn't just a dream

And baby, look where we are....

I wanna be like Nat :)

My wonderful sister-in-law (otherwise known as another copy of myself, but a million times better), Natalie, has made the resolution to make an entry every day and I've decided to play copy-cat. There are so many wonderful things that happen each day. Luckily, I have been writing some of the cute things down each month and we have the monthly funnies as a result. But that's not even the smallest part of all that goes on, all that these angels teach me, all that I'm learning from my many mistakes and my small successes, all that I feel about this wonderful life I've been given. So it might be small, but I resolve to do my part to let no day go by unrecorded. Life is too wonderful, too short, too full of blessings I simply don't deserve.

So today I feel really huge. Which is not a big surprise since baby Darren will be coming sometime in the next month. Hopefully he will be at least a little early so he won't be quite as big as Ryn. But really, I just want him to come whenever is best for him. Big babies might be harder to deliver, but they have all been so happy and content in their adorable, chunky rolls that my life-after-delivery was always relatively easy.

We're a little worried about Ryn's hearing right now. She has been overly prone to ear infections since she turned 2, but they never put tubes in, thinking that she would grow out of it. She had an ear infection a couple of weeks ago and now she really is not hearing well at all. So we've got an appointment for Friday at the pediatrician and hopefully we'll get in to an ENT soon. Other than not hearing us when we ask her to do something, Ryn is her usual sweet and obedient self. It never ceases to amaze me how she understands the WHY of things immediately and then does her best to follow what she should do. Tonight during family prayer Eden wasn't staying still and, instead of just showing a good example, Ryn tried to explain (in the middle of the prayer) to Eden what she needed to be doing. I told her that she could just keep doing what was right and Eden would watch and, eventually, follow. She thought about that for a minute and then jumped in her bed and pulled up the covers. "Eden, look at me! I'm getting in bed!" Sure enough, Eden climbed into her bed, right next to Ryn's and snuggled up. What a blessing to have her leading our little pack in everything good. I see Elle using the same tone of voice, the same games, the same little tricks to make Eden smile and laugh that Ryn does every day.

Elle is really coming into her own. She has always been extra verbal, super smart and totally unique. I've been loving the sweetness that has been coming out lately. Not that she wasn't sweet before, but now it's in everything she does. On Saturday Kevin was letting me sleep a little later than usual and Elle heard me coughing from the bedroom. She ran into the kitchen, grabbed a cup, filled it with water, and told Kevin, "Mom needs a drink!" Her efforts to love and buddy up with Eden are finally being favorably responded to, which makes my heart sing every time. Before, Eden would usually push her away every time she offered a kiss or a hug or a snuggle. Now, whenever a movie is on, they can be found holding hands, Eden laying with her head on Elle's lap, or Eden sitting on Elle's lap (a little difficult since they're pretty close in size). She is so proud of all that she is learning and of every time she does something to help me, but she still reminds us that she's our little princess (Ryn is the big princess and Eden is the baby princess :) ). That's fine with me. Anything that keeps them from growing up too quickly is great.

Eden is a little spark of pure happiness. Today she was in my bathroom with me as I was getting ready and she was playing the harmonica :). She would play a few notes, stop and smile and ask with her head tilted, "You yike dat song?", then repeat at least 30 times.

She has to be included in everything Ryn and Elle are doing--setting the table, art projects, dancing, dressing up, etc.--and they are so adorable about helping her find a way to participate. (Although Ryn does wait til Eden's nap time to get out her favorite art projects, always asking sweetly, "Mom, is it time for Eden to take a nap?") Seeing her hop/gallop/Snoopy dance around the house with her golden curls bouncing on her shoulders is one of my daily joys. She loves to tell us all what to do, give us unlimited kisses and hugs, sing along at full voice (especially to "I See the Light" from Disney's Tangled and any Primary song), sit on her little green chair and eat "go-bees" (blueberries), and ask us with her firmest voice, "Where's my fa-fa?!" (where's my pacifier)

And Kevin is working hard, taking care of us all, and making us all happy every single day. I love, love, love hearing the girls laugh uncontrollably at all his funny voices, faces, improvised games, surprises, treats and stories. He has done the dishes at least once every day for the past I don't know how long. When I don't have dinner ready by the time he gets home, he just opens the fridge, finds something and starts cooking. When I pick a birthday cake for Ryn that is ridiculously out of my league, he stays up til 2am with me to finish it. Oh, how I love that man.

So, that's it for today. Hopefully I'll be ready to report on Christmas, Ryn's bday, etc, etc, etc. very soon.