Counting blessings

Since this is THE (only) spot I'm recording our little family history and I do not at this time have a personal journal (shame on me!), I feel compelled to spill it all out here and just say that I feel so very blessed! Today while driving back to work from the gym through our pretty and sunny town, it just struck me: I love my life, love it all, blue skies, beautiful fluffy white clouds, the eternal (or so it seems) sunshine (I absolutely love this about TX!), being able to get a break from work and workout, being able to buy a nice yummy Subway sandwich for myself, to contemplate what I'll be making for dinner tonight while Ella goes to her gymnastics class with daddy, and feeling the excitement for her starting dance classes on Sat-long paranthesis here--yup, we're quiting gymnastics as we [that's including Ella] think she'd thrive better in a more expressive movement kind of activity, and all sorts of other little or big things running through my head. [A little more on gymnastics, although she enjoys the physical aspect of it, she loves music and rhythm more, and wants to dance more rather than be on balance beam or the bars, so there you have it.]

So I hope I keep counting those blessings, every day. I found it has a great refreshing effect on the whole being.

Great discovery

Last night for family home evening, we used one of the lesson plans at http://www.ldsfamilyfun.org/, The Oil of Prepardness. How I loved that lesson and so did Ella and Hrishi. The highlight of the lesson was watching the video clip featuring the Parable of the Ten Virgins from http://www.livingscriptures.com/ Ella absolutely loved it! And NOW I KNOW that she'll enjoy the Book of Mormon DVD series that I ordered from the same company last week. Although I read reviews raving about the quality of the DVDs I just didn't know how/if SHE was going to like them. We tried Veggie Tales a while back and she found them "scary" and I have to agree they seem to come on a little strong sometimes so I didn't push her. The quality of production and the spirit in which the LivingScriptures DVDs are made are much superior so I think the money was well spent.  She liked the clip so much that we ended up watching several more directly from the website or on YouTube (there they are listed NestLearning productions, if you want to look them up.) Daddy asked that we say the closing prayer so he could go out and mow the lawn.

We colored and filled out our oil lamps using this.

I love Family Home Evening, the spirit of love and truth that immerses the room as we read scripture stories and share our thoughts and learn together. I appreciate it even more when right before sitting down for it, there's a tantrum thrown, yelling or some other sort of non-FHE inducing feeling. And I love the prayers that are said in our family home evenings.

A testimony

I always wondered how soon would a child be able to gain a testimony of God's love for him or her, an awareness that He is there for them, that He cares, and listens to their prayers? (I wondered this as I was not raised in the Church and got my own testimony at age of 16 when I met the LDS missionaries.)

And a few days ago, it dawned on me when I heard Ella plead with her Heavenly Father to help her get well (she was having a sinus cold), and heal her awie on her ankle, and her dry skin on her little feet. And I knew that she knew when she said that very prayer. What I know strengthened her knowledge and testimony was that she actually got better (her cold, her awie, AND her dry skin.) This is what Hrishi and I hope to do more and more, every day: to help her understand that she can rely on Him for everything, that she can TALK to Him about everything, that she can PRAY to Him for anything, anywhere, anytime. To instill a love for God and his children in her.

Love you, Ella. Keep up the faith, you are so wonderful! You are a daughter of God.

First Day (of Kindergarten)

Excited and bubbly as always, our little kindergartner! First impressions:

• "Mom, Ms. Larkey lets us watch Bookflix while eating lunch!!!" (not sure I'm crazy about this one...)
• "Today we did Math rotations and used our eye color as examples!"

 [Our first impression: kindergarten IS GREAT! She fell asleep at 8:35 pm which is a record of "early." I'm sure that getting only 1 hr of quiet time in the afternoon did the trick!]

I think it's going to be a good year; it'll be hard though to fill Ms. Ashley's shoes though...  Miss her already but hope she'll get the best of Ms. Larkey!

Succes, Ella!!!!

I lied... one more -summer artifacts

Ella's journal from summer camp Primrose. I especially like the "Wacky Face" and the "Silly Radio." Her drawings come very close to the abstract drawings I used to do in highschool.

One more summer post...

Although we haven'tgone anywhere too far or for too long this summer, I know we're going to miss the less packed schedule. We'll miss going to feed apples and carrots to our neighbors' horses every evening, playing at the park till late, watching (a little too much) TV, making lemonade, cupcakes, and just indulging in the little things that make life good.

Teachers

Summer camp is coming to a close (end of next week) and a new school year is about to start. My little girl will be a kindergartner (in private kindergarten at Primrose since she misses the cutoff for the public school kindergarten which she will attend starting NEXT fall) and she is so very excited about the whole thing. We've taken out her uniform polos, skorts and shorts and I think she's about ready for a new adventure. I know though that she'll miss her teachers who have been so amazing and great with her this past year and especially this summer, Ms. Ashley and Ms. Neda. She's grown so very fond of Ms. Neda this summer and she keeps reminding me to call her to come babysit! (Now I just need to plan a date for us.) We made cards last night, one for mamaie's birthday and one for Ms. Neda since today is her last day teaching (she's going back to college.) I just love the relationships great teachers are able to make with these sweet children, and I'm forever grateful for their wonderful influence on our little Ella.

Summer was great around here although not much different than the rest of the year as we didn't take a long vacation or time off anyway. We were able to squeeze in little weekend trips here and there visiting dear friends in Houston or just hang out in the hood. We may head off for a trip in Sept, but nothing's planned yet. Looking forward to Fall flavors (pumpkin patches, pie aromas, mums landscaping, and cooler temperatures[emphasis ADDED])

Lovelies

I am just so blessed to have my BIG sweetheart and little sweetheart! They are amazing. This morning when I got back from the gym, it was such a sweet thing to see them both at the breakfast table, enjoying a nice omlet  (egg, spinach & tofu), cubbed fresh mango and toast, happily chirping and eating. I got to enjoy the same yumminess while answering all kind of questions (from Ella) about my gym workout. [Yes, I got serious about getting in shape! And I'm really looking forward to a NEW ME in a few months from now.]

So Ella and Hrishi are the loveliest folks I know. You guys brighten even the darkest day/moment and I really don't know what I'd do without you. Love you both! Love you, love you, love you tons and miles!!!

And now a big piece of news: Ella's got a crush! [What???] Well, that's what I said... but she really likes her schoolmate Slava and now that he's back from his three-month get-away to native Russia, we expect to hear a lot of him! I just loved though her innocence and sweetnesss when the other night while I was putting her to bed (which is also the time when she shares her inmost feelings, happies and sads), she said with utmost enthusiams, "Mommy, you know what? Slava's back!" Wow, I said, that's great, he is a good friend and we all were wondering if his departure to Russia was going to be final. For now, we're glad she has a good friend (and he is the sweetest little boy, I have to admit) but we never fail to emphasize he's not a "boyfriend" :-) (see that little cute chap facing toward her?)

And we went to the circus last weekend, The Ringling's Brother's Zing Zang Zoom show, the Greatest Show on Earth. Well, maybe not the greatest on earth but great for what's we've seen so far. Lots of acrobatics and animal numbers.

We all loved it!  This past weekend we also had a little house warming party with a few local friends, it was fun fun fun! It's been so long that I pulled a party together that I was afraid I lost my touch, but luckily everything went smoothly, the food turned great and everyone had a good time (our kiddie pool was a hit!)

We just love our backyard deck and are looking forward to get together again! I'm already dreaming of kids' baking parties, Halloween bashes, etc.

And finally another thing that I've been meaning to write about so that I just don't forget because it makes my day everytime it happens... no matter what I wear, my sweet little girl always compliments me. The other day I was wearing what I think is a very plain and outdated shirt but when she said that it was a cute shirt and that I looked so nice in it, it changed my whole outlook, I was just happier that day. Thank you, baby!

And wait, one more piece of news: Hrishi finally got a Facebook account!!!! Yeay, welcome to the world, honey! My next project is to get him to blog! But for now, I know he reads this blog and he even left a comment on my last post! That made my day too!!!