Oh dear! Your toes fell down!

Says Chloe to Odell as she sits in the high chair, fascinated with all her little "mothering" she does for her and listening to her jab away about absolutely nothing.
It's a rainy, cozy morning here at chez Ellingson. I'm feeling quite at peace with the world and cherishing every drop of precipitation that hits the roof of our house. Last Friday I felt completely opposite of this with 5 musical performances and a choir concert looming over my head...but now that I am past that (with flying colors, the kids did great!) I sort of melted into a puddle of contentment and I'm going to ride that till school is out next week.
To help the anticipation of school getting out, Craig and I scheduled a romantic weekday getaway to celebrate Craig getting done at Aimes/me being done with work/ celebrating our five year anniversary a year late because I was on bed rest last year. We splurged and are headed up to the decadent Della Terra in Estes Park for three whole days the week after school gets out. Kid free. The last time we tried to get away together was when I was pregnant with Chloe, first trimester- we got an "affordable" hotel room in Estes (meaning hole in the wall joint) and the next morning we had to wait forever at the breakfast place we went to eat and I got sick from waiting so long without eating. Like couldn't keep anything down sick. We had a whole day planned out, but we had to come home early (I somehow made it through all the twisty turns back through the mountains back to the front range, and then lost it when we were pulling into Windsor- I distinctly remember pulling over into the Safeway parking lot and Craig stopped just in time for me to grab a bag and open the door...right in front of a suburban full of soccer kids, I'm sure that was a real treat). We are so grateful that we have family close by to help watch the kids, every couple needs to get away alone together! Heck, I'll watch anyone's kids for them anytime y'all want to make a trip with your hubbies, it's so worth it. Really. In the meantime, though, the thought of what is to come after school gets out is making the time slow down too much...but anticipation is half the fun sometimes I think. :-)
Quick update on the kids. Chloe has had bifocal lenses for a couple of weeks that are supposed to help her eyes. If this doesn't work, then they are going to go to surgery to fix her crosseyes- although that is what they told me the last few appointments we went to and Dr. Arnold kept seeing just enough improvement to try something else before going to surgery. But with another $300 pair of lenses we had to get to fix her perscription again, I think I would rather them just do the surgery and get it over with! But she seems to be getting better, so that's all that matters. Linus is maturing a little more every day. When I have him by himself without sisters to torture and be tortured by, he is a pleasant, helpful, sweet little boy. It's nice to see that he at least has a nice side to him! :-) Odell is growing like a weed...well, more like a pumpkin, or watermelon, she is just a little butterball. She's been really congested the last couple of weeks- really snotty, coughing, and you can hear her rattling when she breathes. She hasn't been sick, she's still this pleasant little cherub that sits there and stares and coos at everyone, she just has snot running down her face all day too. :-) I'm thinking it's allergies, but she has her nine month checkup next week so unless she gets worse I'll just wait until then. She's figured out how to open and close her fingers in a "waving" motion and clap her hands, as well as sit up on her own finally. No crawling yet. No qualms with that in this house! :-)
No pictures this time, sorry. Got Photoshop CS5 from my wonderful family for mother's day (Craig wanted to get it while he was still a student at Aimes and could get it WAY cheaper then at price) and I haven't installed it yet, so pictures are waiting on my camera to be downloaded. Stay tuned for Linus's birthday this weekend and other fun and likely outdoor shenanigans (except for today...rain, you know...).