What's Mine is Yours

Ellen turned five last week and when she did, that meant that I had to follow through on a promise that I made two years ago. The time had come to pass along my dollhouse.

I think Mom and Dad gave me the dollhouse when I was 8 years old. It was at Christmas and it was in a TV box that wasn't wrapped on one side. That Christmas several of my relatives gave me furniture for it and my Aunt Barbara gave me a handmade cloth family--a father, mother, big sister, and a baby. The mother had "real" curls and the baby had a "real" diaper. All of them had real clothes and felt shoes, which have been lost long ago.

Ellen was terribly excited to receive the dollhouse. She is at the perfect age for pretend play. It's not a cheaply made dollhouse. Most of the furniture was handmade by the same man that made the house. One bedroom set is oak, and everything is stained and varnished. I made the tiny ceramic dishes and the bathroom fixtures. It even has tiny silverware in the dining room and minature blocks in the baby's toy box. I pray that she takes good care of it, so that she can pass it along to her daughter one day.

Loss of a Dear Friend

On January 8, we lost our dear little kitty, Lady. She had lived to the ripe old age of 19. She would have been 20 in April. She had been living with renal failure for the past two years. While it is very difficult to lose a friend, I could tell that the end was near. In the past few weeks, she had really slowed down. In her last week, we moved her litter box downstairs because she was too weak to go upstairs where it usually was. She had also started breathing hard in her last week and was not eating and barely drinking.

She was a lap kitty and it seemed like every time I sat down she was in my lap. She loved to sit in my lap while I was on the computer or doing my morning devotional. She stuck by me through everything. I remember when I was pregnant and came home from school exhausted, she would be waiting for me on the couch, because she knew that was where I would be for the next hour! When I had a stomach virus, she would camp out with me in the bathroom. She was a great hunter in her younger years. She was known to hunt squirrels, birds, mice, and even moles! We had some problems with squirrels getting into the attic at our first house until one afternoon when we let Lady go in and have a look. No more squirrels! Her favorite was rabbits and last caught one at age 17. After we moved into our new house, our neighbors across the street had dogs that were inside an electric fence. Lady liked to go out on our front porch where the dogs could see her, but not reach her, just to torment them! I had Lady before I even met Mark, before we married, and before my own children. I remember telling Mark when we were dating, "Love me, love my cat," and he did.

When Ellen came along, Lady had a very hard time adjusting to a "sibling." She paced the floor for weeks and would try to get into my lap while I nursed. Eventually, she forgave Ellen for being born and was even known to sleep on Ellen's bed at night during her last year. By the time John came along, she was an old pro. She allowed John to wag her all around the house and never complained, unless he pulled her tail!

I will miss Lady. I think I can learn many lessons from her life. She lived with two different families (I got her when she was 4 years old), in five different homes, got lost twice, and was even hit by a car, but she managed to adjust and perservere. I think that was one reason why she lived so long. I loved her very much.

Tuesday Night Supper

Ellen has dance class on Tuesday nights, which means that we don't normally get home until 6:30 or later. Several weeks ago, Mark agreed to take over supper on Tuesday nights. He gets home about 5:30, so that gives him about an hour. His repertoire includes tacos, pasta alfredo, and frozen lasagna. I've told him that I appreciate any supper that he decides to put on the table, even if it is pizza or fast food. So far, he has always put something together at home. Sometimes he even has our plates prepared and drinks poured when we walk in the door! It sure makes life easier!

First School Day After Break

Back to school. It is always difficult getting up and going on the first school day after a break, especially this one. It is still very dark at 5:30. I think if the sun was up, it would be easier. The kids did pretty well at getting up and going. They were reasonably cooperative, and we managed to leave the house on time. We have 13 days until MLK day, our next day off, and about nine weeks until Spring Break.

Sunday School

We are a part of the Mt. Juliet Church of Christ congregation, where we have attended for many years. One of the things that I love best about our congregation is the Sunday School program. Ellen and John love Bible Class. Their teachers are wonderfully patient and always enthusiastic about teaching! Sometimes the teachers take scheduled breaks throughout the year, but there is always another talented Christian lady to step up to the plate for the next quarter. I also love the curriculum because at Ellen and John's age, they cover all of the major Bible stories over a two-year cycle. Their classes usually have the same Bible story, which makes it easy to discuss it on the way home from church. Hooray for Sunday School!

Guitar Hero

Mark loves, loves, loves Guitar Hero! We got the Wii for Christmas and then Mom and Dad gave him Guitar Hero to play with it. He has always had an interest in playing the guitar and now with this game, at leat he can get somewhat of a sense of playing "for real."

Daily Pictures

This morning I was browsing the Two Peas message board and learned about a scrapbooking project that some are undertaking this year. It is called the 365 project and the best I can understand is that it involves taking a picture and journaling about it each day for a whole year. I think it is supposed to document everyday life. Seems like a neat idea, but I doubt that I would be able to keep up. Then, I read where some did this on their blogs. I thought, wow, now that is an interesting twist and it would help me to keep this blog updated. I'm going to give it a try. I might not do it every day, but it would be a nice goal to shoot for. Today's pictures are of Ellen and John playing with Moon Sand (curse-ed stuff!!). They both had Walmart gift cards from the great-grandparents to spend, so we made a trip this morning. John picked out two bulldozers, but Ellen just HAD to have this Moon Sand that all of her school friends have been talking about. It's like Play-Doh, but MUCH messier. I finally had to have them work with it inside of two Tupperware containers because it was crumbling and falling off onto the floor. It doesn't stay in clumps very well. I'd better earn big Mommy points for this one!