Just a quick note to tell my husband how much I love him. Eight years ago today I made the best choice of my life and married him. I love his kindness and sweetness toward me. I love that he makes me laugh everyday. He is my support and the best possible dad I could have ever imagined for the other three and a half loves of my life.
Thanks for making this the best eight years, Jus! I love you!
As per several requests for clarification (apparently my post a month ago tipped people off!) I am relenting and saying out loud that baby #4 is on her way. It is another girl which was to Matthew's terrible chagrin. He wasn't quite sure at first how it was going to be with three younger sisters. Our friends from Omaha, the Bairds, also have a son, then three girls. Their son warned Matthew of this very real possibility when Matt was 1 year old and we all laughed because there just aren't a lot of girls in the Eliason family. Who knew Tanner was right and here I am, 5 years later, remembering that little prophetic comment!
It will be interesting to say the least to see how our family dynamic will change. Things will be crazy at best. I don't know how things will go with a new baby and my calling (okay I do realize that my Grandma had 11 kids or so when she was RS pres and she survived so it can be done but I don't hold much hope for sanity with this combo!) but the Lord strengthens, this I know. Family of 6 here we come!
Life is so good right now. I always have mixed emotions in declaring that to myself because I worry what is right on the heels of all this peace and contentment! But I can't be ungrateful to the Lord for what I have so I just have to say it anyway. LIFE IS GOOD! I am completely enjoying this stage of my kid's lives. I can say that despite the fact that we are potty training Ellie. I say about a million times a day that I HATE POTTY TRAINING! But in all actuality Ellie is doing really well.
She will have accidents here and there but she goes in and gets new clothes and puts her dirty ones in the hamper by herself so my work load is reduced. I mean really! No major life struggles there. Plus it is so cute when she has a triumph. Usually she is so-so about the latest deposit until I start jumping around like a maniac cheering. Then she gets the cutest grin on her face. For the first few days, whenever she had a success we had to call and tell daddy. So now if I put the phone up to her ear when Justin calls, she immediately, with an air of boredom, says "Ellie go potty." I guess that is now the new standard of what to say to your dad on the phone. Do I have to say that when I talk to my dad on the phone? Because I'm pretty sure his excitement of my ability to use the potty has long since past.
So far this year has been one of great happiness, excitement, growth, difficulty, bumps, bruises, heartache and joy. (I won't mention the busy-ness. EVERYONE is busy right now!) And it's only April! One constant thread through it all has been my amazing husband and my love for him, and also my three amigos. My kids make each day worth getting up. I have had several poignant experiences this past couple of months that have made me cherish them more than I ever have.
So...since we have been absent on the blog scene for a long while and it would take WAY too much time to update everything, I will copy a smart idea Justin's cousin has and quickly highlight.
Justin turning 31: Ellie saying her first full sentence: Matthew developing a desire for Saturdays way too early: Mia starting "real" soccer: a new highly demanding church calling (I will never complain about any church leader ever again..not that I ever did before): a loss of a grandpa: the birth of a nephew (finally!): a trip to Disneyland: Ellie turning 2: a heartbreaking loss: an exciting new arrival in Sept.: me turning 30 (what the?): new friends: a job change: lots of hugs: growing testimonies and love for the gospel.
This is the Oklahoma side right after BYU won. (Notice all the empty seats?)
...And here's the BYU side. All the BYU fans stuck around, we were all so excited.
Mia turned 4 a couple of weeks ago, and being the slacker mom that I am didn't get it up on the blog before she pointed out that her birthday pictures weren't on the "bloggy" (every word ends in "y" these days). What the heck?! I don't blog very often and my 4-year-old still noticed the discrepancy. So here she is...
Very excited that she now has a girl bike. She was very done with the tonka truck hand-me-down bike from Matthew.
When I asked what kind of cake Mia wanted she immediately said "pink cookie monster". 
She got to have her first friend party and decided on Strawberry Shortcake. We had 17 kids(ACK!!!) ranging from 1-5 in our small house at one time so... very chaotic!. Though, Mia assured me that it was the "most awesomest party in history" so it was a success.I have to say that I have LOVED this summer. We have enjoyed every second as we have lived it up before Matthew started school. Incidentally, several things got put on the back burner, including my blog, as I spent all my time enjoying my kids so here is an update.
Matthew is now a kindergartener. He loves school and is so excited each morning to get to go. He says his teacher is nice and he likes his class but I think the majority of his excitement stems from getting to ride the bus.
This is him sitting with his class not even looking back at me as I (silently) bawl in the back of the room. He was unaffected by the separation which is a good thing I guess. Not too fun for me but I survived.
