Where is Spring?

Friday the kids' school had the main fund raiser for the year--a jog-a-thon. Of course it was overcast and cold. When I was getting ready to leave (to go to the school) I noticed that it had started snowing. Once the entire school was outside and ready to start running it was snowing again. They were supposed to run (or walk) for an hour but the weather alternated between snow and sleet for a good thirty minutes and they ended up stopping it after about 40 minutes. Ethan was mad. We were running together and he decided to sneak in another lap while they were holding up the "final lap" sign. The funny part is we hauled all these kids back inside and then they were sent out for recess 10 minutes later, and it was still snowing!

Ethan and Kate both had soccer games on Saturday. I had somewhere to be so Jason was on soccer duty. This is what he said, "Kate's game was just plain freezing. Even I was wrapped in a blanket. Then Ethan's was just plain ridiculous. In the space of an hour we saw rain, snow, hail and sleet. The wind was miserable. I was never so glad to be done with a game." I am glad I couldn't go!


I had a lesson in agency this week. Here are the basics- teenage pregnancy, unwanted baby, no Dad= sad situation. We all make choices every single day and those choices affect others and in this case the choices affected a tiny, sweet baby. I've been all worked up about it but I am not going to go into that. But I have to mention Ethan's part in this. He was with me when we met this little baby and on the way home he was intrigued, asking all kind of questions. Here is a sampling. . .

"What is the baby eating?" He can't figure out how a baby could eat without her mother to nurse her. He doesn't know that you can buy formula, mix it with water and voila--instant baby food.

"Is Tania just pumping?" He also doesn't know that women don't just automatically make milk because they are caring for a baby.

"I don't get how she even had a baby if she isn't married." I love that one. The innocence of youth is so refreshing, and I just squashed it. I said, "She can have a baby because she had sex Ethan." Well, that spurred another conversation! As part of that he asked, "So a five year old could have a baby?" No, I gave a brief and simple explanation of puberty. Then he said, "Oh, I didn't know that happens to girls too." That's right, boys aren't the only lucky ones to get hairy legs.

I changed the subject by explaining that it's so important to follow Heavenly Father's commandments and to think before we act because the choices we make can seriously affect others, as in this case.

It was a good reminder that Heavenly Father gives us enough rope to hang ourselves with our choices and he will stand by and let it happen. We have the right to choose. It must be a pretty important principle for him to stand by and do nothing as people murder, rape, maim, rob, etc.

Quote of the week. . .

We had Bret and Tania over for FHE with Aunt Barbara (Dorothy's sister) and Marianna (Bret's youngest sister). Nathanael was teaching the lesson. A scripture was read and he asked a follow up question. Marianna quickly repeated the answer, as read from the scripture. He looked at her and with his most annoyed voice said, "You're supposed to raise your stinkin' hand!" Alrighty then, don't mess with the Bug when he's teaching.

Easter and other events this week

Happy Easter! We took pictures on the temple grounds on Saturday night. It's a good thing since there was no time today, plus it was windy, rainy and cold.






When I went to buy ties for my boys I couldn't resist buying these socks since I could get some for all three boys. It seemed silly since no one would see them. So of course to remedy that we took a picture that I can post for all to see!



On St. Patricks Day we had a green breakfast and the kids followed little leprechaun footprints to find some candy and they thought that was great. That evening we wrote notes to Grandma Ellsworth on our green balloons and let them fly away into the night sky. The next morning I found all three kids looking out the back doors. I asked what they were doing and they said they were looking for Grandma's balloons in the sky. Nathanael asked how the balloons get to heaven.


I have been ready to try a new hairstyle for a while so I made my appointment on Wednesday; Jason would be gone and I would have a few days to figure out how to do it before he got home. I wanted it short for summer and I decided to be brave and really cut it short. I have liked it and hated it several times since Wednesday. It's short and layered and it's kind of hard to do because pretty much the only thing I can do really good with hair is a pony tail and that's not an option here so I am in a bad way. Oh well, it will grow right? Yikes!

Nathanael loves these underwear so much that he decided to wear them both at the same time. It was a surprise to us and when I asked him about it he acted like he does it all them time. No wonder my laundry baskets are always full.

To nap or not to nap

I hope Elijah learns how to nap sometime soon. It doesn't help that I am running all over town when he needs to sleep so he pretty much doesn't even understand the word NAP. Having a baby when your other kids are older and involved in activities makes for a bad napper. At least, that's my excuse. He lasts anywhere from 15-35 minutes in his crib and then he is done. But an hour later he wants to do it again. It's really the pits. I am trying to get him napping in his crib so we can move him to Kate's room for good. Kate wasn't thrilled about sharing her room with a brother, but now that he's here and he's cuddly and cute she loves it. Yesterday about 15 minutes after I laid him down I heard him screaming like someone has just dropped him on his head. So I peeked in and he was trying desperately to get any part of his thumb or fingers in his mouth, but at the same time he was poking his eye and scratching his face into a bit of a bloody mess. Ouch! It seems like I am always cutting his little finger nails, but clearly I don't do a very good job! Poor kid.

When reading interupts sleep. . .

I have to start by saying I love to read. I have been known to stay up half the night and on occasion almost the whole night to finish a book. But I read responsibly! I generally only stay up super late reading on the weekend when I can sleep in a little and/or I don't need to look human the next day. That being said, this morning around 4:30 I heard one of the kids get up and go to the bathroom. I looked at my clock and thought to myself- sweet I have another hour and a half to sleep! I promptly rolled over and resumed my repose. Again I was awakened by one of the kids, this time walking past my room. I laid still, waiting. Soon I heard the piano and I knew it wasn't playing itself. I looked at the clock and it was a few minutes before six and Ethan was practicing piano. I got up, woke Eli up (Yes, you read that correctly- and I suppose I am crazy. I snatch him from his cozy basket every morning at 6 and feed him in my bed where we both doze off and on until 6:30. Then I get up and wake up the rest of the house and Eli sleeps until I get him up for real at 7:00) and went back to bed to feed him. At 6:30 when I went to wake up Kate, Ethan was done and came to tell me, "I'm already done practicing piano!" He really thought it would be a surprise to me that he was done, as though I actually slept through him playing! Ok, so maybe that's not too far off since Kate was still out cold. He proceeds to tell me how he woke up at 4:30 am to go to the bathroom (yep, knew that) and he just decided that he wanted a nice long book to read over the weekend so he decided to finish his current book so he could get a new one at the library today to have for the weekend. I just stared at him (incredulous) and said, "So you read from 4:30 until 6:00 in the morning?" This was his response, "Yea. You know Mom, I am all about reading and not so much about sleeping." Huh?

Butter, fingers (a thumb actually) and a goal

This week while I was making dinner I asked Ethan to put some butter on a plate. He looked at me like I was speaking Greek and said, "What do you mean?" I said, "You know, put butter on a plate, like that over there." I was referring to a plate that had maybe 2 teaspoons of butter left on it that had been left out after the kids ate some toast. Not too long after that I turned around to see the butter in it's wrapper, standing straight up on the dirty plate. The bit of left over butter was smashed to oblivion under the weight of the fresh stuff. I asked him, "What is that??" His reply, "It's the butter." Yes, it sure is.


Elijah is discovering that there are some warm, long things connected to the ends of his arms and if he moves them just right he can get them near his mouth and possibly in his mouth where he finds that they fit so very nicely. I checked on him during his nap this week and found him sucking contentedly away. I have had one thumb sucker and I was really hoping that I wouldn't have another. They make great babies but the aftermath ($$$ to the orthodontist) is more than I like to think about.

Ethan scored his first goal of the season yesterday. He was pretty excited. I was pretty excited that Jason was in the right place at the right time with the camera ready. Can't you just see the goalie saying, "Nooooooooooooo!" :)

A few pictures. . .

I am hoping Ethan will outgrow this phase pretty soon.


Kate always wants to wear shorts or capris, even if it's below zero outside. So on this day she insisted on wearing capris but since she was cold she decided to wear her soccer socks to keep her legs warm.


Nathanael has a fixation with mohawks. It comes and it goes and he generally asks for it on school days to which I always reply- I don't think so. Once he asked when it wasn't a school day and this is how it turned out.


Elijah is adding fat rolls faster than I want to add oreos to my daily lunch menu. I love his chub! His face has turned into a square and I often can't keep my lips off him!

Eli's Blessing

It has been an exciting two weeks around here. Eli's blessing was last week and it was wonderful. Jason gave a very sweet blessing asking that Eli would know the meaning of his name (named for Elijah the OT prophet and Zollinger for Dorothy and her family heritage). It was entertaining to watch a few ward members stare wide-eyed at Joe as he stood near Jason and completely dwarfed him. We had a lot of people here and it was a lot of fun. And we had a lot of food which made it all the more fun! Sorry if you were here and on a diet. Bryan flew in on Thursday night, Bonnie, Jerrica and Sierra drove in late Friday, Joe and Sam (+ their four darlings) drove in Saturday afternoon, Michelle and Corey (+ their five darlings) drove in early Saturday evening and Monica flew in Saturday evening. Thank you everyone so much for coming! Saturday morning we were discussing meals, particularly Saturday night's menu. I didn't think about Sunday's meal for even five minutes because my baby gift from Bonnie was her visit and she took care of the food Sunday! Thank you Bonnie- without you I would have been a nut case! So as we were discussing a menu for Saturday Bryan says, "Well, would you like to do carne asada?" Honestly I hadn't thought of it. Shocking isn't it that after nearly 14 years of Ellsworth family functions (which ALWAYS include carne) I wouldn't' have thought of that on my own? Of course we wanted carne, the choice seemed so obvious after it was said. So Jason and Bryan went to town making a mini salsa bar (pineapple salsa, mango salsa, high priest salsa (hot), and relief society salsa- Jason prefers to call this vegetable salad), guacamole and of course the delicious meat. It was yummy! Bret and Tania joined us on Saturday night and Sunday and it was just a ton of fun to have so many people here chatting and the kids playing. Thanks Tania for housing some of our guests!