Tradition #3: Nativity Sets

Here is my third and final Christmas tradition worth mentioning. And this one is my favorite!

Nativity Sets
Scott has gotten to do a lot of traveling in his life to some pretty cool places. And he brought into our marriage some little treasures from all over the world. Now, I don't necessarily share the same love for many of these items as he does. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a sculpture hand-carved from wood found from a rare tree in the back woods of Nigeria as much as anyone. But this does not mean I want it displayed on my mantle. (Does Nigeria even have back woods? I'm not sure.)

So as we moved into our first house together with all of our hand-me-down furniture and college decor, Scott showed me all of these items bathed in world culture that were now called "ours." One of the items was a wooden nativity set. When it was time for our first Christmas together, out came this nativity. I'll be honest: I didn't really like it. I gently suggested that maybe we could pick out a new nativity together that we would both really love.

"What's wrong with this one?" Scott asked.

"Well, it doesn't have any color. And I don't see why we need to put it out just because you got in Mexico when you were a kid," I snottily replied.

"Mexico?!?!" he scoffed. "I got this in Bethlehem!"

Oh. Somehow the nativity just got much cooler. I don't know how I missed this crucial piece of information in the original presentation. So here sits our nativity today, it's seventh Christmas as "ours."

If you're thinking, "shouldn't there be a camel?" you're right. Just yesterday a certain child of mind knocked the camel off and he suffered a tragic leg break. He's still in recovery.

Although it still isn't exactly my decor style, it is very intricate and beautiful. And how amazing to have a nativity carved in the city where Jesus was born! I truly love it! Now if I could somehow figure out how to love his didgeridoo from Australia...

So this is where our tradition comes in. I love that our nativity has a story and a history behind it. Even the funny story of how it did not come from Mexico. It means so much more to me than if we had just picked a new one out at a store as I suggested. As our babies' first Christmas approached in 2008, I decided that I wanted them to have a nativity when they were grown that they loved and that meant something to them.

I shopped for a long time to find the perfect one for each of them. That year, I went ahead and purchased two whole sets. Each Christmas Eve, the second present they open (after their Christmas jammies) is a new little piece to add to their collection. It was an expensive initial cost, but I decided to go ahead and buy the whole sets up front in case they stopped being carried at some point. And my over-organized self even wrote out a little chart to tell me what piece they get new each year and to keep track of which pieces they've already gotten. If I die, Scott is under strict instruction to make sure he follows the schedule and keeps giving their pieces each year on Christmas Eve. Someone please make sure he does this.

I'm slightly obsessed with Harper's nativity. Its the Foundations line designed by Karen Hahn. It's so pretty and delicate and fragile and sparkly, just like Harper. I love how each piece has a little word scripted on it--Joseph says "faith," one angel says "glory," Mary says "the promise." Each piece breathes a hint of what the real character personifies. And it has a bunch of angels, which I like.

Harper's nativity at our house today

Her full nativity, plus an awful blue velvet backdrop. (Picture taken from
yonderstar.com where you can purchase the Foundations collection.)

I love the strength and solidity of Hudson's nativity. His is from Jim Shore. Its made of painted wood and is so masculine. Each piece has a little scene from the first Christmas night carved and painted on it, illustrating the bigger story behind each character. This gives it so much depth. And with that depth coupled with tons of bright color, its perfect for Hudson.

I just hope his wife likes it.

Hudson's nativity with his pieces thus far.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture online of his full set. Apparently, Jim Shore puts out new lines each year because they all looked different than our 2008 line. Sorry, you'll just have to trust me that it's awesome because I don't feel like unpacking the other 11 pieces just to take a picture of it. But you're correct if you're picturing me patting myself on the back for ordering the whole thing three years ago.

Tradition #2: The Jammies!

Continuing along with my Traditions series!


Christmas Jammies
We let each of our kids open two presents on Christmas Eve, one of which is new Christmas jammies. This isn't that original, but it is a tradition that occurs at Christmas, therefore it must be mentioned!

I love having them all cute and Christmasy as they wake up on Christmas morning. (And other mornings throughout the year as the pajamas typically don't get packed away.) I don't match my kids clothes that often, but I do love the Christmas jammies match! Last year I decided against it, but it will be back for '11.

And I know they'll still be excited about it when they're 16 and I make them put their new matching jammies on for a picture. Can't wait.

2008

2009

2010

We had just gotten home from church when they opened these and put them on. We don't typically wear bows, tights, and black patent shoes to bed!

Who knew sleeping attire could be so fun?!

Christmas Tradition #1: Elves from Catie

Hello! Apparently I took most of October and all of November off from the blog, but I'm back. And with the Christmas season upon us, I thought it would be fun to share a few of the Elas' favorite Christmas traditions in a little series this week.

Like most people, we have several traditions that Scott and I grew up doing which we've now incorporated into our own family. And then there's the standard "American" traditions we also enjoy, so I thought I'd just share the ones that we've started new and original to our new little family the past couple of years.

Elves from Catie
By now I'm sure you've all heard of Elf on a Shelf. This came out a few years ago before I had kids. Honestly, I was a little creeped out by it. I don't know that I like the concept of an elf watching to see if I'm being good or bad! Around the time Elf on a Shelf came out, my cousin and I were talking and she told me about another elf that had been around for awhile that she started doing with her kids. As soon as she told me all the fun stories, I knew Scott and I would do this one...when we had kids of course! It's an amazing cause and such a fun approach to Christmas.

So this is a new tradition for us this year, but I love it already and can't say enough good things about Elves from Catie. Catie is a little girl who was diagnosed with cancer on her first birthday. She and her family had a long battle and they eventually lost Catie when she was four years old. During her sickness, she had a little elf that she loved. Long story short, her parents started an organization in her memory to raise money for pediatric cancer research. They sell these adorable little elves who come to your house to help spread Christmas cheer, like Catie's elf did for her.

Our elves, Holly and Vixen (do you like the Christmas correlation?) arrived on Saturday and it has been so fun! The kids "feed" them red and green jelly beans every night, which give them energy to wake up while the kids are sleeping and do fun mischievous things for the kids to find in the morning. The elves' main goal is to help spread the spirit and cheer of Christmas. We plan to have our elves do really silly, messy things. And also give our kids opportunities and ideas of things they can do to give to others. OK, and every once in awhile we remind H&H that the elves know Santa and might tell him if they're being out of line! Holly and Vixen will only stay for a couple of weeks and then they will go back to help Santa load the sleigh.

This tradition hasn't fully emerged yet, as we're still deciding how to have the elves help our kids focus on giving. One idea we came up with is to have the elves be holding some cash with a little note to H&H when they wake up that tells them to go shopping and buy a gift for someone they love. Or have the elves write a note saying they want to go with H&H to visit a nursing home that day. Scott and I are having a ton of fun planning silly scenarios for Holly and Vixen to get into too. (Saturday night they had a snowball fight with marshmallows in our pantry. And last night they drew Christmas pictures and wrote messages in lipstick all over H&H's bathroom mirror!)

If you have an elf already visiting your home, I hope you and your kids are loving it! And if you've been thinking about getting an elf but haven't gotten around to it, or you might get one in the future, check out Elves from Catie.

They are only $15 and proceeds go to their fund for cancer research. While you're there, you can even donate $15 to have an elf sent to a sick child who will spend Christmas in a hospital this year. You can pick the children's hospital it goes to from several around the country. This is such a fun tradition and even better, supporting such a great cause. Elves from Catie has four different types of elves: Boy and Girl Toymaker Elves and Boy and Girl Reindeer Elves. They are each so cute and I love the variety to make each kid's elf unique!

And now for your viewing pleasure, a longish video of Holly and Vixen arriving at our house.

Getting Ready for Game Day

Tomorrow is a big day in the Ela house. The day of the Texas Tech/Texas A&M football game. Yes, I guess you could say we're a house divided. And for 364 days a year (give or take a few) this issue never comes up in our lives. But this one day has its place.

When Scott and I were dating we decided we wouldn't say anything negative about the other one's school (to each other). And that we would cheer for the other one's school when their team wasn't playing our own. Now, these rules seem to be tougher to follow for one of us than the other, but I'll leave it up to your imagination to decide which way that pendulum swings.

It's not that we don't like the other school. Some of my favorite people in the world have come out of A&M. And I think Scott would say the same about Tech. But, it is hard for both of us to hear the love of our life cheering against our team and wishing for its demise.

So the first time the Tech/A&M game rolled around in our marriage we had been married about 6 months. We decided to avoid it completely and start a tradition to go camping on the game weekend every year. (Sounds just like newlyweds, right?) But after the first year, I remembered that I hate camping. So we were destined to face it square on.

But now it seems with A&M moving to the SEC, this could be the last year we face-off. I honestly don't care one bit about who plays in what conference and blah blah blah. I AM a tad excited that the Ela divisive days are almost behind us.

All in all we've done pretty well. I still get sad that Scott doesn't get super excited with me when Tech does something great. And Scott still gets offended when I vocalize my negative emotions about A&M.

So all that being said, we are raising our kids to love both of our schools. If I may pat myself on the back for a minute, I'm even the one who taught them "what Daddy's school says."

And as you can see, we're ready to get this (last) party started tomorrow.

Yes, so far they are thoroughly confused. 

I asked them the other day in the car if they remembered which state they lived in. 

Harper excitedly answered, "TEXAS TECH!!!" To which Hudson added a solid, "Gig 'Em."

At the end of the day I guess we end up with kids who love two great schools and neither Scott nor I can complain about that. 

One Of These Days I'm Going To Miss These Days

As I've been noticing some patterns surfacing in our household revolving around two three year olds, I've been reminding myself how short these times really are. Or maybe in some cases I'm hoping. But I know, all in all, I will look back on these days with a huge chunk of nostalgia.

One day I might even miss:

the back of my seat being constantly kicked every time I'm driving.

reluctantly switching the Today show to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Curious George.

having to change my clothes at approximately 8:12 every night because of a more rambunctious than necessary bathtime.

formulating answers to arbitrary "why" questions like "why is that guy wearing a hat?" or "why is it 3:30?"

taking small people back to bed in the middle of the night. every. single. night.*

getting woken up because someone is all of the sudden extremely displeased with their earlier choice of jammies, leading to a ridiculous middle of the night wardrobe change.

refereeing. enough said.

running over something or someone every time I turn around.

worrying about how much chap stick someone can eat before they need medical attention.

hearing myself say, "Be a good listener!" in my best subtle reminder way thousands of times in one day.

getting inefficient help every time I clean.


Honestly, I secretly kind of love all of these things. (OK, that's a stretch on the waking up in the night). But I know these things are a small price to pay for all of the snuggles, "I love yous," and indescribable joy of watching kids grow up. Not to mention the feeling of seeing your kids "get it." And I know I'll miss those days more than anything.

So for all the parents out there, or anyone who is noticing the small annoying things in their routines, take comfort in knowing that there is a bigger picture that makes those things worth it. And everything is just a season. For better or worse.

*Oh, and if anyone has any ideas on how to get your child to stop habitually waking up in the night, I'm all ears.

Kid Quiz Answers

Sorry to keep you waiting so long for the answers to the quiz. I know you've been on the edge of your seats all week.

Without further ado...

This one (Worksheet A) was Harper's. I'm sure as she worked on it she was thinking: I am going to focus so hard and make sure everything turns out perfectly. I want to do exactly what is asked and follow-through flawlessly. I will even mark inside the lines on the sun, the umbrella, and the guy's arms. And just to go above and beyond, I'll top it off with a full-fledged "H" right here on the side. Just to show 'em what I've got.

And so Worksheet B was Hudson's. I'm assuming he was falling into his typical charming line of thinking: Who cares about straight lines? It's too much work to go exactly on the dots. Really, it's fine if I just get it somewhere near the line. It's not a big deal. I would look much cooler doing this if I were dressed as a firefighter. Or a cowboy. Or a football player. Or a construction worker...

Oh, how they need each other! 

And Hudson, if you're reading this as an offended 16 year-old, hear me say this: I know you're brilliant. Sure you don't like to sit still for too long and focus on one particular thing, but that makes you a real three-year-old boy. I love it. And in a family of all detail-oriented people, we need you to be the one who reminds us to loosen up and think outside the box every now and then. 

Kid Quiz

My last couple of posts have been pretty heavy and somewhat depressing and since that's not at all the theme of our life, I thought I'd pep this thing up a little bit.

H&H are two weeks into school and the preschool workload is in full force around here.

I love opening their "take home folders" to see what little nuggets of hard work present themselves. Since they are in the same class and doing the same projects, its especially fun to see where their individual strengths and interests lie (lye...lay...I'm not sure.)

On Thursday they each brought home a paper that I thought especially demonstrated their personalities. I decided it would be fun to present them here and see if you can guess which kid did which paper as a way to let my readers get to know them a little bit better.

The exercise in the worksheet was to trace the straight dotted lines as pre-writing practice.

So I present to you Worksheet A....

and Worksheet B.

Leave your guesses in the comments and I'll reveal the answers in my next post!

What A Difference A Year Doesn't Make. And Does Make.

I think this was the day Scott was ready to have another baby...

OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. But he started saying, "Let's have another one!" really early on.

However, I spent many of my days dealing with things like this...

and later this...

and thus, didn't feel ready to add another one into the mix for awhile. But as H&H approached two years old, things started getting pretty easy and I began to dream about what another one might be like.

If we had another boy would he look like Hudson? Or a girl be like Harper? Or completely different? Gosh, it would be such a breeze (heavy dreaming here) to take care of only ONE baby.

Scott and I have always said we wanted a big family. I know its a lot of work, especially when they're young. But we've just always thought that the returns far outweigh the costs. (My CPA husband is so proud of me right now for my financial analogy.)

Both of my parents are from bigger families. My dad is one of six kids and my mom one of four. This means that my sister and I grew up with A LOT of cousins and family around. And we love it. I love that feeling when you walk into a house that's filled with people you've known your whole life. So many stories. So many memories. The familiar laughs. The known hurts. 

When we did our IVF in 2007 and got pregnant with H&H, we actually had a total of seven embryos. (Out of the monstrous 52 eggs, we only exposed 20 to sperm. Thirteen of those eggs fertilized, and then seven continued growing to reach the blastocyst stage five days later.) Our first round, we just had the two of them implanted, so the other five remained cryopreserved. The plan being, when we were ready for another baby, we would go back and do the second part of IVF only: the embryo transfer.  (You might be weirded out by all this, but as I said here, it's become our normal. So just go with it.)

So once H&H turned two in May 2010, we were excited to be embarking on the whole journey again. Of course, you can't just walk in and have an embryo implanted into your uterus. Because even that would be too easy, right? There was an initial month of birth control to regulate everything. Then I had to repeat some tests and bloodwork to make sure nothing had changed in my uterus and I was still healthy. We did all that last summer and got the green light to proceed. 

In August 2010, I started the hormone cycle. For those really interested: the doctors want to make sure you don't ovulate and that your uterine lining is doing exactly what it should be doing when it should be doing it, so they take control of your hormone production through pills and shots. I took the meds for my cycle in August and we waltzed back in on September 9th, 2010 and had our third beautiful embryo implanted. (Just one this time!)  

On September 16th, 2010 I jumped the gun and took a home pregnancy test before my scheduled bloodtest. I could already tell what came to be true on the little stick. I was pregnant! (You have to wait several  LOOONG days for your body to adjust before a pregnancy test will be accurate.)

It had worked! We were obviously so excited. But it was short-lived. I found out I was pregnant at 3 weeks 5 days along, and almost two weeks later at just 5 weeks 3 days, I had a miscarriage with that baby. 

It was really hard. I could write a novel on the disappointment, questions, confusion, and hurt. Lucky for you, I won't do that here. I'll just say that anytime a tragedy happens you always want to know why and be able to have something to point to and say, "That's what happened." Most of the time, in the toughest of life's circumstances, there's nothing to point to.

We knew that God was completely in control, and after several months of healing decided that we still had four embryos God had created awaiting us. So we picked ourselves up and started over. On January 28th, 2011 again we waltzed, somewhat less-gracefully this time, back in to have another embryo implanted. 

When we arrived we got the sad news from our embryologist that the first embryo they selected (our 4th embryo) didn't survive the thawing process. (I'll probably write a complete post soon on frozen embryos alone for all the fertility junkies out there. Because there's a lot more to say.) That was sad to hear, but the next embryo (#5) did survive and was successfully implanted. 

We impatiently waited the required waiting time and then on February 5th I got the news I had suspected: I wasn't pregnant this time. Another loss.

We were able to go ahead with that next cycle and try again. More estrogen pills. More progesterone dissolved in olive oil injected in my butt. And on February 28th, 2011 we drug ourselves this time back to the good ol' St. David's Fertility Surgery Center, greeted our nurses like old friends, and geared up for my fourth embryo transfer surgery. 

Again, sad news: the first embryo they had tried (#6) didn't survive the thaw either. We were down to our last one. Our very last embryo (#7) had done great and was ready to be implanted. Everything went fine and I found out I was pregnant on March 9th, 2011.

If you read this post than you know how it turned out. 

So it's weird to think back on where we were this time last year. Parents of two great kids with five embryos waiting in the wings. Now a year later, we look the same on the outside. A year hasn't made any difference in our family structure. Still parents of those two great kids. But we've been through the ringer this past year and look and feel completely different on the inside as a result. Not necessarily worse off, just in such a different place. 

It's only been a year but I feel like we're light years away from where we were. Different mentally as we think about our family's future. Different spiritually as the healing process has dominated our relationship with the Lord.  Different emotionally as we now mourn the loss of our babies and the lost hope of our embryos. But also different because everything we thought we had figured out got shaken up. And now we stand facing the future with no clue what God has in store for us. And that's kind of scary. But one of my favorite people once told me, "Even when it seems scary, there's no safer place to be than in the middle of God's will." 

So that's where we are this year. Praying that the God who has carried us through the toughest year of our lives will continue to show us His will and purpose for our family. 

The Worst First Day of School (For Me)

Hello!!! Apparently I've been on a blog break for over the past month. Perhaps it's because I've been away from my children for approximately 0.2 seconds the entire summer, which hasn't left much time for anything else. But we have LOVED our lazy days!

I thought it appropriate to break my blog break with the story of the kids' first day back to school.

Every mom of children going back to school knows how it is. You plan for weeks before school actually starts, making sure everyone has their backpack, napmat, lunchbox (with drink containers that fit into said lunchbox, which is harder than it sounds). Then you go to Orientation to find out everything you haven't yet bought that your child will NEED. More shopping and planning. You pick the first day of school outfits. And you attend Meet the Teacher.

All the while you are motivating your preschooler about how awesome school is going to be. And prepping them for what to expect. You teach them their teacher's name. You remind them about proper behavior.

It's alot of fun, and alot of work.

And then comes the night before. H&H's first day of school was on Tuesday. So Monday night was filled with the final touches. Making lunches, signing paperwork, packing backpacks, and trying to get them to bed early. Somewhere in the midst of all this, I noticed I wasn't feeling that well. I looked over at Scott and he didn't look so great either.

Scott spent most of that night throwing up. And I wasn't sleeping. Then about 5:00 in the morning it hit me too. I was still throwing up when Hudson got up and it was go time.

It was an awful picture. Both Scott and I lying in bed not wanting to move with trashcans next to both sides of the bed. And our energetic kids excited about their first day of school.

We called in back-up and Poppy came over to assist with the drop-off. And since Scott had gone the longest without puking, he was elected as the parent accompaniment. Scott and I literally sat in the floor as we pulled together everything that we had to get our children dressed, fed and groomed with minimal throw-up breaks for me. (Do you feel bad for us yet?)

So I didn't get to take my kids to their first day of school at their new school. I was so sad. I wanted to sit on the front steps and cry as they drove away. But I had to run inside to puke. Pitiful.

I was able to muster up enough well-being to snap a few pictures of their first day before they left.

It turns out the kids had a GREAT day! Much better than mine and Scott's. They love their new school and were excited to go back today. (Except for the moment this morning when Hudson told me he didn't like learning therefore he didn't need to go to school. When I reminded him of the playing involved, he decided the learning was worth it.)

I was really sad I wasn't able to take them to school on their first day. But Scott reminded me that there are lots of school days ahead, and lots of first days of school ahead. I guess I'll settle for those.

As a little throwback, here's a picture of their first day of school last year.

So, first day of school 2012: I'm going to own you.

An Un-ordinary Week: Part I

First of all, I'm disappointed to find out "unordinary" isn't actually a word. I think it would be useful in so many instances.

A couple of weeks ago we had a very unordinary week for our house. I had decided in the spring that it would be fun to let Harper and Hudson each do a little activity camp this summer on their own, without their twin. And then I would be able to spend some quality one-on-one time with the other one. So I enrolled Harper in a dance camp because as you may recall from my last post, she has some moves. And Hudson is signed up for a little gym camp at their beloved My Gym.

So anyway, a couple of weeks ago Harper had her dance camp every morning and Hudson and I were excited for our week together. The week went a little something like this...

Monday

 Monday was "beach day" at camp. She was a little anxious at first, but quickly fell in love with dance camp.

And this was my date:

Hudson and I got off to a rough start. In my fun planning, I seemed to have forgotten about my normal life responsibilities. So I tricked him into thinking grocery shopping was super-fun. Hey, he drove the race car cart! And then I told him we would go get sno cones at Sno Beach. But, another disappointment: apparently sno beach isn't open in the mornings. So we had to settle for Sonic slushes. After Monday, I knew I would have to step it up a notch with him.

Tuesday
I told Hudson we could do whatever he wanted and he chose to drive his jeep in the backyard. So that's what we did! He requested for me to ride with him, and after explaining I was too big to ride in his jeep, he suggested I run behind him. So (not) fun. It was 1000 degrees outside and my little boy was driving like a bat outta hell yelling back at me, "Exercise, Mommy!" But he had a great time and then we went to DQ for dipped cones.

Tuesday was "princess day" at Harper's camp. I failed to get a picture, but she rocked her hand-me-down Tinkerbell costume.

Wednesday

Hudson and I went swimming; just the two of us! This was probably my favorite day with him. We swam for over an hour and I think he belly-laughed the whole time. 

And Harper had "rock star" day.

Thursday

Harper had "sports day." We're thankful for brothers who let us borrow their rugby shirt and gym shorts (and Vegas guitar shirt.)

Hudson and I had a Starbucks date, picked out new toys and movies at Target for our upcoming trip, and then went to play at My Gym.

Friday

I had a couple of things to do at the mall, so I dragged Hudson along. But he thoroughly enjoyed his time running around. And his promised cookie.

My sister pointed out that all of Hudson's pictures revolved around food. I know the way to a guy's heart.

And Harper had "Performance Day!" For the last half hour of the camp, the parents were invited to come in and watch the girls perform all the dances they learned.

I think you'll agree we got our money's worth. 

When I asked her why she didn't do her dances she replied, "I don't dance for mommies and daddies." Yeah, no kidding.

And Hudson added, "Or brothers."

Her teachers said she really did great and always did the dances while they were learning them. I actually got a few videos of her dancing too (when she didn't know I was watching) but 1) they aren't that great and 2) you have better things to do than watch them. I'm just glad she had a great time and keeps talking about going back.

Everyone had a great week! It was really refreshing for Hudson and I to get to hang out alone. I found out that its much easier to go anywhere with only one child. And I learned that Hudson talks much more than I ever realized. 

But I also learned that one of my favorite things about parenting is watching H&H have their own relationship. Hudson really missed her. And although I loved chatting with my little man in the car (when he wasn't sleeping) I also missed hearing him giggle with his sister. And I loved hearing them catch up on their mornings over lunch. It's one of God's biggest blessings for parents to watch their kids love and enjoy each other. 

I'm excited for Hudson to have fun at his gym camp in a few weeks while I get to spend some quality time with my girl.

XX vs. XY

This is an example of what it looks like to have a boy and a girl who are the same age at the same time...

I don't think I've ever even heard Harper attempt a fire engine noise out of her mouth and although Hudson has been intrigued enough to watch Bella Dancerella a time or two, its funny to me that he's never seemed interested in actually doing it. And I love how they are still right next to each other even though they are doing completely different things. It's hard to break those 2 up!

I like watching their little differences come out and seeing who they are developing into. It's so fun!

The Whole Picture

My friend Amanda and I worked together at WHPC from 2005-2006. I actually met her when she volunteered to go on a mission trip with us for Spring Break 2004 while she was still in college. We spent a magical week together in Corpus Christi with about a million 7th and 8th graders. While working at the church together, I was blessed to work alongside her and watch God work in her life as she and her boyfriend, Brian, got engaged and then married in 2007. She and Brian now live outside of Houston, so we don't see each other very often, but our friendship has reached a deeper level as she is now walking the hard road of infertility. So you should read her blog and join me in praying for a baby Joiner to join (pun intended!) them soon.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago Amanda wrote this blog post that went along with some other things God has been showing me about how He knows all things from beginning to end. Nothing surprises Him. And sometimes we get a glimpse from the past that proves His infinite knowledge and it's so comforting. That's what her post was about and it inspired me to share this story along those same lines:

In April of 2009 Scott and I were getting ready to have a garage sale. I was reluctantly cleaning out all of our junk in all of my free time, which was sparse with our not yet 2-year-old twins. One afternoon as the babies were napping in the next room, I started cleaning out our bookshelves in the office. As I was pulling out books to add to our garage sale pile, I quickly discovered that Scott had left bookmarks in most of his books that I deemed appropriate to remove before selling them. These "bookmarks" were funny because they were so random: a grocery list from college, sermon notes, a 10 year old to-do list.

As I flipped through one dusty book checking for scraps of paper, the book naturally fell open to the bookmark and the words Kaimey Julia Hammerle jumped off the paper into my now intrigued eyes.

There were many phrases written in list form. Some read: left-handed; parents-John and Pam; Hobbs, NM; Jan 21st-bday; likes green-flavored candy...

Since Scott admittedly doesn't have that great of a memory he writes everything down. Apparently, he was really nervous on our first few dates that he would forget something he should already know about me, so he kept this little list to remind himself of things I had told him. Some were basic things and then some were little things I liked, the green-flavored candy for instance. I thought the then 5 year-old list was so cute and endearing and was really enjoying pausing from my cleaning to read little things my almost boyfriend didn't want to forget about me.

So here's where this long story gets good. One of the things he had written down to remember about me in the early dating days of 2004 were the words, "wants b/g twins." I probably would have screamed upon reading this, if it weren't for the sleeping boy/girl twins down the hall.

Crazy, right? For one, I never remember telling him that. Even though I have always thought it would be so fun to have twins, I didn't know I had ever vocalized a specific desire for boy/girl. And I would like to think I was smarter than to tell a guy I had just started dating about my desire to raise multiple children at once. Apparently I'm not. Thankfully, he stuck around.

And it's not like it just said "wants a boy and a girl" or "wants 2 kids" or even "wants twins." It's such a specific desire for me to throw out there. And a random thing for him to write down to remember. It's not like he could go out and grab me some boy/girl twins to surprise me like he could the green-flavored candy. It makes me wonder why he cared to remember this information at that point anyway.

I love this little slip of paper with those 4 little words. It's such a sweet reminder that God knows our desires and cares about them. And that He has a plan. And that He can accomplish anything. Even specific things. Obviously, on our first few dates, we had no idea we were approaching marriage. And definitely didn't know we would walk together through all of our fertility stuff and wonder if we would ever get pregnant at all. But in God's infinite knowledge and seeing how the whole scene would play out, I know He allowed us to have that conversation at the very beginning and then write it down in permanent ink to now serve as a symbol of His glorious work in our life.

It's such a comforting thing to know that we don't have to get to see the whole picture at once. Even when we desperately want to. We have a God who goes before us and holds our desires, our specific desires, in His hands.

Fondue Family Fun

You may recall from this post that Scott got me The Melting Pot cookbook for Valentine's Day. Well, for Mother's Day I became the proud owner of a new fondue pot, which makes the cookbook so much more useful.

I couldn't wait to try it out because I truly LOVE The Melting Pot's entire menu (that I've tried) and was eager to see if my culinary skills could bring a taste of the treasured dinner night out into our everyday reality.

We've used our new pot three times for three different recipes, and I have to say it I did not disappoint.

Here's some pictorial evidence of our Fondue Family Fun! (And I apologize for the low quality of the pics. I just grabbed my phone each time to snap a quick picture before we dove in.)

Appetizer: Traditional Swiss Fondue

Scott and I were both big fans of the swiss fondue, but it was a little strong for the kids. Probably because its just straight swiss cheese and wine. Maybe I'll try a cheddar recipe for them. Or they even have a mac 'n cheese recipe too!

Entree: Mojo Cooking Style with Chicken and Broccoli

Sorry about the undies. I'm noticing a pattern that my kids are rarely fully clothed at home. I'll work on that.

This was probably my favorite one so far. We get the Mojo at the restaurant every time because its SO GOOD I'm afraid I'll be disappointed if we deviate from it. The broccoli cooked in this pot of heaven might be the most flavorful thing I've ever put in my mouth. And I don't even like broccoli that much. I was a bit nervous our at home version would not compare. Like the cookbook holds back the secret ingredients or something. But it truly did taste exactly how I remembered it. Delicious! 

We only cooked chicken breast for our first time. I didn't want to ruin a good steak or seafood. But Scott and I both wished we had done a variety of meats to try them all. Next time. And maybe I'll even feel brave enough to branch out to another cooking style.

Dessert: The Original Chocolate Fondue

The chocolate was really good. I made the original because I already had all the ingredients. Its basically milk chocolate and crunchy peanut butter. The bananas were really good dipped. And Harper was a fan of the marshmallows as you can see. I really want to do The Flaming Turtle. You pour liquor over the top of it and then set it on fire. Maybe I won't let my kids sit on the table for that one. And I may have to get over my irrational fear of fire first.

So we're fully in: we're fonduers. It's really fun and hopefully one of those things our kids will grow up with fun memories doing together. My only complaint is that I may have a hard time enjoying the restaurant so much now. But I doubt it. 

May Madness

Sorry for my blog hiatus the last few weeks. The month of May has proved to be a busy one, as it is for everyone, as we wrap up spring/school activities and gear up for summer.
Here's what we've been up to the past few weeks:

• Our anniversary day visiting our wedding site with the kids!

Standing in the very place we said "I do" 6 years ago! Although that whole gazebo thing is new.

The Ela Fam: 6 years down!

• H&H turn 3!

Traditional birthday dinner and pazookie at B.J.'s

• A train birthday bash!

My 2 conductors!

Train cake! The engine is Hudson's: chocolate. Harper's is the caboose: strawberry. Created by your's truly.

• (The make-up train ride.) A huge storm rolled in the morning of their party, so the train closed down for the day. It ended up being a lame train party, but an awesome Zilker park playground party! Scott and I took them back to ride the train.

Loving it.

Seriously, so fun.

Harper and Daddy ridin' the train

Conductor Hudson and Mommy

The fun train chuggin' around the hike and bike trail

The dangerous tunnel

Back at the station

• Our trip to Vegas with my BFF Karen and her husband, Brandon!

Cute boys we found in Vegas

Brunch at Cafe Vettro the morning we arrived

Dinner at Alize, on the 56th floor of the Palms. Gorgeous views,  amazing food, great friends.

Walking around after dinner

Bellagio fountains

We found Keith Urban, "our artist" on the tram. He wanted a picture with us.

Young lovers

Frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity!

Laying out by the pool

Chinese dinner at Blossom. Scott was mad nobody told him about that huge yellow thing on his face. Haha!

Love her!

We saw Jerry Seinfeld!

At The Mirage volcano thing

Hunk of burnin' love

on the strip

Goodbye, Aria! You were so good to us!

The big winners! Karen won about $300 just before we left for the airport!

• And tomorrow morning I'm heading to Atlanta to welcome my newest niece into the world! Pictures to come!

This month has been a super fun and full one. And now I'm ready for some lazy summer days!