Soap Box

You know how people use their family blog as kind of a journal and rant about everything from the right type of peanut butter to buy to the way to solve world hunger? Now is one of those moments. For those of you who are teachers, you might find interest in this. For those of you who are parents, I hope you find interest in this because whether you are an educator or not, you hold a vote as to the things that could or could not happen to education in this country, and it WILL effect your kids, now or in the future. If you are neither, then gosh darnnnnit, get involved in education in any way you can! It's one of the greatest tools this life has for good in the world. Seriously.

So I just came back from an EXCELLENT presentation by a guy from UNC who came to our school to talk about RtI (response to intervention). If you are in Colorado right now and you teach in any form or fashion, you know about this. If you don't, you better hope your school gets on board ASAP! Basically response to intervention is a state-wide initiative to get kids who do not succeed to the best of their ability in the regular core classrooms, whether it be because they are not challenged enough or because they need help, be it severe or not, all the help they can possibley get from the teachers. All the teachers. Every one of them in the school for every one of the students. Our school has been working hard on this all semester long. A lot of the things we have implemented officially were things we were already basically doing informally from teacher to teacher. A lot of things still need further expansion. From student to student, so far, we have seen some successes and some failures or flat-liners (kids who neither improve or go down in their progress, which is bad. Anything that is not improving is bad, there is no neutral student).
First off, I think our school works our tails off to get some kids a inordinate amount of help. Second of all, after hearing this presentation, I was SOLD for the most part on the idea of what RtI is trying to accomplish. The "old" model of intervention was very black and white, especially for students who were not succeeding in general education. Suzie is failing in math, okay, call the special ed department, save a couple of tests and work from her, get her tested, okay, she qualifies, then have what our presenter called an "IEP party" where you all get together, put on some music, sign a bunch a papers and mambo your way out the door. Brows are wiped, that IEP goes in the drawer, drawer is shut, now back to "general education". Except only about 50% of Suzies who are tested actually qualify for IEP's. And where do the rest go? Back in their seats in the classroom. Realistally, there are a lot of educators out there who do more than an IEP mambo party, and really did put their best foot forward in helping all of their students achieve. But realistically, there are also a lot of educators out there who looked and Suzie and said "welcome back, we're on page 15 in the text, go ahead and open your book". Granted, I think the educational system has to usually go through mistakes to realize they are wrong. If educational systems aren't being educated here and there on a lot of things, then there is something wrong with the educational system (sorry folks, life-long learning should happen with every profession, even if you're just working at McDonalds the rest of your life, not just teaching).
Now here's where I did a lot of self-reflecting on my profession. I am a music teacher, why the heck do I care about all this? In all reality, aside from maybe having some problems pronouncing words in a choral piece or reading the instructions to those rare assignments that I hand out to my K-2nd grade music kiddo's, if a child has problems reading, it's not going to affect their performance much in my classroom. Kids can learn a steady beat in Kindergarten, they don't have to be reading novels or solving the quadradic equation to do it. So all my kids get A's and if they don't, it's mostly a behavioral problem, not an academic one. Great, so at least they have the music part checked off on their report card, don't have to worry about that! And you know what? I'm really passionate about music. So I'm getting fulfilled every day because kids are succeeding in my classroom and I get to teach what I love. Fantastic.
Okay wait a minute. You know, that's really great that because I did my job well as a music teacher in elementary school and middle school that Johnny now only comes to school everyday in high school because he loves his choir class, even though he's failing and ditching everything else and doesn't have the tools necessary to succeed in college, let alone keep a steady job. But if I only became a music teacher to help that kid get a free A in high school in a class that probably won't have much effect on their future life because they didn't learn the work ethic they needed from their other classes to even be a successful musician in the future, then there is something wrong there. And wait another minute. I was actually pretty good at math and reading in high school. I even took some college courses on them. And you know what else? When I teach kids what it means to be in 4/4 time and they understand it, couldn't I use those same teaching skills to help them with some of their difficulty in multiplication tables in math? Couldn't I give them a book about the history of that piece that they just won't shutup about in choir so they could get more reading time in at home? Couldn't I even use higher level vocabulary in describing the essence of a beautiful Mozart motet and then have them use it on a regular basis to describe other elements of art or history or even math or science? Isn't that what education is all about? Giving them the whole flipping pie instead of just pieces of it in every class or subject area? I am a musician, yes, but if I only went through school as a performer and just decided to get a teaching degree because I wasn't probably good enough to join the NYC opera house and it would be a steady income, then I will be a miserable educator the rest of my life. I teach. Music is my vehicle, but we all have to travel the teaching road to the top of the mountain and if I'm not good at it, maybe I need a different mountain to climb.
As a side note, I'm going to do some shameless promoting of core knowledge schools, which is where I work. If you can get your kid into a core knowledge school in your area, than do it, the earlier the better. We serve whole pies every day, every unit, every quarter, every year, through their whole education K-8. I've learned more about education at my year and a quarter here than I learned in my entire 5 years at UNC. I can tell you any student that is struggling at the middle school level is a student that was transferred here from another school and any student that has stuck with it here since Kindergarten is at the top of their class. Hands down. It's incredible.
I guess what I'm really trying to say here as well, is that if you want to make a difference in education, give the schools the resources they need in every classroom and for every teacher (and in many circumstances it's just placing a higher priority on putting the right resources in the right places: there is nothing wrong with sending a third grader to the lowly music teacher to get fifteen minutes of intensive vocabulary help every day just because that's not his or her content area) and educate teachers on how to do their job better. I think there are too many teachers out there who are close minded about their performance and they mistake working their butts off (because let's face it, every teacher does, you can't be a teacher and not work your butt off, it doesn't happen) for being an effective teacher. I think it's fantastic that teachers have such great work ethics, but as our presenter even explained about himself as a beginning teacher, if you don't know how to teach something, especially if it's your content area, the last person you are going to tell is someone else. That work ethic should have a bigger portion of bettering yourself as a teacher and a lesser portion of egotism. Knowing your material and knowing how to effectively teach your material are two completely seperate things, and the greater emphasis needs to be placed on effective teaching and not amount of knowledge. Personally, I could have done with a lot more with in classroom experience in college than I could with voice lessons, choir rehearsals, and recital classes. I love to sing, don't get me wrong, and I loved my rehearsals, but it has done little to help me as an educator. And if you are one of those teachers that has done everything you possibley can and your student still isn't acheiving, than you have a mislead conception of your abilities. All I know is there is a lot of information out there. There are a million and one different ways to get it through Johnny's head that if you don't try, you fail, and just because you spend a lot of time on him doesn't mean that you are doing things the right way.
However, I humbly acknowledge that I am a second year half time music teacher, not a 30 year vetran with all the answers. I would love to hear other opinions out there about this. I also humbly acknowledge that it is impossible to create more time in our days, and that is probably the biggest challenge. There is only so much we can do with the time we are given, I just don't want to be the teacher that gives up because I was so confident that all the work I was doing was the right thing to do when I was missing the mark. I would hope that when I become that 30 year vetran that my biggest area of expertese is trial and error. :-)
Stepping off soap box now....

My dearest daughter

Chloe Mar Ellingson: almost 3, blonde, blue-eyed, big sister
Favorite Song: Either "Five Little Ducks" by Raffi or a song that a girl from my high school wrote that I happened to come across on youtube one day called "The Muffin Man" found here. She can also enjoys "I'm a Child of God", "I love to see the temple", "Wheels on the Bus", and of course, "Popcorn Popping".
Favorite Games: Loves to play Candy Land, but still hasn't really figured out that you can't just move your piece wherever you want to on the board. She plays with her baby dolls: she loves to feed them at her chair at the table, if ever she brings one with us in the car, it has to be buckled in, she pushes them in the stroller, burps them, gets grossed out when they poop on her lap ("EWWWWW! Baby, that's dis-GUSSIN'!!!"), and generally loves them with a three year old sized mother heart. She also has developed a newfound love for the "Whatchoosay?" game, which is basically played like this:
Me: "Chloe, can you go pick up your toys please?"
Chloe: "Whatchoosay?"
Me: "I said 'Chloe can you go pick up your toys please'"
Chloe: "Whatchoosay?"
Me: "Chloe! Go pick up your toys now!"
Chloe: "WHATCHOOOOOOSAAAAAAYYYYY?!?!?!"
Me: *surpressing a laugh*
Chloe's relationship with her brother: It's complicated. Part best friend, part-mortal enemy, part "I'm the boss of you even though I know I'm not supposed to be". They always give each other a good kiss and a hug goodnight, but the rest of the day is mostly anything but that. She's developed a new habbit of sternly shaking a finger at him when she's deemed his actions inappropriate. Now, when the finger is wagged at her for similar actions by her parents, it's usually accompanied by an even sterner "Chloe Mar!". Now Linus is recieving the same treatment by her sister, who calls him "Yi-yus Mar!". Mostly I laugh and correct her and then there's a quick "Oh....Yiyus Cooper!".
Favorite clothes: Yes, this is a category because getting dressed every morning is an ordeal. Mostly that's my fault because I can't turn down a cute pair of tights when I see them at the store or a large thrift selection at my infrequent trips, so she's got quite a few items to choose from every morning. She loves these tights, though. She's worn them three times this week already, going from a raga-muffin look with a colorful clashing skirt to Jane Fonda with excersize shorts and bright blue and white tennies. I better curb her (and myself) before those blessed teenage years or we'll be up the creek without a paddle.

Chloe: "Mommy, I went poo-poo!"
Me: "Oh great, Chloe! Good job!"
Chloe: "Mommy, it stuckamaaeeebum!"
Me: "....what was that?"
Chloe: "It stuckamaaeeebummm!"
Me: "I'm sorry, Chloe, I don't know what you're saying..."
Chloe "IT....STUCK....A......MY.....BUM!"
Me: "....it stuck to your bum?"
Chloe: "YES!"
Me: *grateful that Craig handled this problem*

This was Chloe's reaction when I told her to open her eyes so I could see her big baby blues.
I'm grateful for this little ray of sunshine in my life. I'm happy that we are such good friends now, I love our conversations and all her little quirks and all the new things she experiences everyday. My only hope is that I will live up to my role to teach her all those good things of life and pray for her everyday. I love you my sweet Chloe Mar. :-)

Life in Technicolor

Hi folks-
It's been over a MONTH since I blogged last. What on earth has happened to me?! I'm going soft. Actually, it's more that I just have no stinkin' time! And that's a good thing for the most part. It's 10:30 tonight and Craig's already conked out, so I'm taking the opportunity while my eyelids are yet to be drooping to re-enter my technological world.
SO: school started (woot!), both for Craig and for myself, except I'm getting paid to go and he's paying to go. I'm hoping that if I don't think about the calendar too in-depth than I'll blink and next summer will be back again. :-) I'm sure when we get to that point, it'll feel like I just blinked, but right now it seems like my eyelids have frozen for who knows how long. I have to say, however, that getting things rolling this year went SO MUCH smoother than last year. I guess I didn't really realize how overwhelmed I was last year- I was in denial I'm sure- as a first year teacher, even part time. When I started this year I felt like someone took a cement block off of my back and said "there you go, now get up and look around a little and for heaven's sakes, enjoy your job, by golly!" and I replied "WITH PLEASURE!". Anyway, so things are stilly busy, but at least I don't feel like I'm doing all the many things I do halfway instead of well. Craig is taking two fascinating classes this fall: math (okay okay, I admit it, math isn't fascinating in the slightest) and comparative religions. I read Craig's book with him from that class and actually feel like I'm starting to understand all of the things my mom was so excited to share with me as a reluctant teenager. I'll read things and go "OH! So that's what she was talking about..." So between work, school, photography, kids, callings, and housework, we keep plenty occupied. I'm still in the "this is invigorating" stage. Let's hope it lasts at least through Halloween.
Chloe is almost three. She is entering that stage where all the word's she's been collecting over her short years of life are being strung into all sorts of crazy statements that either make me scoff in disbelief or laugh hysterically. Every morning I go to put on my makeup, she comes over attentively at my knee: while waiting patiently as I begin to put on eyeshadow or blush or mascara, she asks "Mommy, what's that?"
"It's mascara"
"Oh...you like it?"
"Um...yes, I like it"
"I like it too.....what's that?"
"...blush..."
"Oh...you like it?"
"Sure...I like it"
"I like it too"
...and so on until I've gotten everything on. She also is being quite the drama queen now that she has a little brother who's old enough to know how to push her buttons. We're working on it. Still hoping it'll be a short lived phase...She's also incredibley caring. She LOVES hugs and kisses all the time. She'll give me a huge tight hug any time of day that I want (which is great because a lot of times I need it). She loves to play with her baby dolls and wrap them up and sleep with them and cary them everywhere and feed them and love them. She's finally able to take a bath again without screaming like a maniac the entire time (thank goodness). And her hair is long enough again that I can put french braids in it again (hooray!). She's finding her voice and is finally starting to sing songs with us instead of repeating everything we sing after we sing it and she loves to pray herself too. Most of the time she doesn't make it past "thank you for this day" before there's a long pause and we have to help her out, but I love that she tries so hard. Lastly, I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but she's about 95% potty trained (YES!). That means the only diaper I put on her every day is the one she wears to bed. And that also means that that is $20 extra bucks a month we can put back in our pocket. I'm SO glad that we got it done before I started work, I was worried it wouldn't happen at all if we waited too long. But as my coworker often reminds me, no kid goes off to college not potty trained. And she's right, every kid figures it out eventually on their own time. We're just happy it happened!
Linus is a little stinker most of the time. He drools like a maniac, still. He does any and everything possible to get me to laugh, especially when he knows he's in trouble. His favorite thing to do is idly discover one of Chloe's baby dolls lying in a precisely placed spot (i.e. where Chloe has tucked it in for a nap on the couch or where she's left it to finish it's breakfast in the high chair, etc.), grab it gleefully and find Chloe. It's a fifty/fifty tossup at the point when he finds Chloe. Either he'll walk over innocently and say "Hee-go" (here ya go), handing the doll to Chloe, or he walks over innocently until she sees him, and then runs back the other direction giggling madley and holding the doll high above his head. Either way, Chloe melts down completely and has to sit in time out until she can calm down. He also likes to blow bubbles with his drool, help pick up toys, empty them out as soon as they're all cleaned up, run (sort of), and yank Mommy or Daddy's glasses off of their face as soon as he's picked up...EVERY TIME. My favorite moments to watch him, however, are when he finds his soft blanket anywhere in the house. The second he sees it, he rushes over to it out of impulse, grabs it with one hand and immediately his front two fingers on the other hand go straight in his mouth and he falls on his face into the blanket on the floor and cuddles with it. He'll sit that way for a few minutes, and he does it every time, it's engraned in his DNA. I just hope he works his way out of it by the time he's sixteen. That might be an embarassing event on his first date or something like that. He's also picked up a lot of phrases. Not words. Phrases. Such as:
(previously mentioned) "Hee-go" (Here ya go)
"Ah-doh" (All done)
"Ah-goh" (All gone)
"Numenumenumenum! (while simultaneously waving his arms up and down)" (I really REALLY want what you're eating right now)
"Hey-doo" (Hey dude)
"Zow-pe-sash-a-buve-a-goh (garble garble, etc)...." (I have no idea, but whatever it is, he's really passionate about it when he tells me about it)
Anyway, since I wrote so much I guess I have to post a couple of pictures. I wish I had more, but I've hardly picked up our camera around the house the last couple of months, which is pathetic considering how much I use it elsewhere! This was dinner tonight:





They thought they were so hilarious. Every night we also try to go on a short walk around the neighborhood before we start our bedtime routine. I wish I got Linus's face in this shot as well because they were both laughing uncontrolabley at each other because they were blowing rasberries at one another. Oh to be a child again and so easily entertained...


They reach for this bush everytime we pass it. I don't think they've ever actually touched it.


This was the SUN a couple of weeks ago after all the smoke from the fires in CA blew our way. Signs of the times....?


Anyway, I wish I could say that Craig was patiently, or even impatiently waiting for me to come to bed, but he has long since given up and is sleeping the night away whilst I blog it away. G'night all, thanks for tuning in. :-)

Wedding

Our good friends got married a couple of weeks ago!! Craig got asked to be a groomsman, I think it's the first wedding party we've ever been in. The house was a place in LaPorte called the Tapestry House, it's an old farmhouse that they have redone and now it's used for parties and retreats and weddings. Very charming, although both Craig and I commented on despite all it's redone-ness, it still had an old cat lady house feel to it in some spots. Still, we also concurred that when we get married (ha ha), it will be in this place cause they do EVERYTHING for you, wedding, reception, everything. The bride and groom were gorgeous. Here are just a couple of shots. None of me. Actually, Craig did take one of me walking to the bathroom at the reception. Then he took a picture of the bestman, and was very proud of himself because "he's in focus and the background is all blurry!", even though his eyes are half open and he looks like he's had a little too much sparkling cider.
On a funny side note, I was excited to kind of watch the photographer they had in action while he did his thing. I didn't want to shadow him around and take the same shots he set up behind his shoulder, especially since they already paid him to get the shot he got, so I tried to take pictures of everything else. Except everytime I found "something else" to take a picture of, mysteriously he would show up and suddenly I would be in the way of his shot again, and half the time he would take the same shot I got in the first place. Then I felt like he was trying to send me a clear message: "You're in the way!", but I went on taking pictures anyway, and I don't know what on earth could have bothered him because I'm sure his pictures were a bazillion times better than mine anyway. I also learned that as beautiful as weddings are and as fun as they can be, I'm not planning on being a wedding photographer in any form or fashion. Maybe for friends. Close ones. That's it, though, holy cow, what a lot of work and what a lot of pressure! And even if I ever was one, my motto would be "I'll take pictures, and so will everyone else!" Or something like that.

Best Man and Groomsman. Had to get the "jacket over the shoulder" shot, according to Craig, that is an essential wedding shot.
Craig's picture.
Goldfish at the reception! These are all out of order, by the way...
The ladies had to duck for cover after this lobbing of the bouquet!

Mmm, wedding cake. It was pumpkin!! Seriously THE BEST wedding cake I have ever had. I crave it all the time now and will probably never have it again...

Newlyweds!
She admitted to me before the wedding that she was embarassed to get her nails done. I think they look HOT! :-)

Her hair was gorgeous. And look at his face in this shot, I love it!


Her colors were brown and white. Genius, it's bold. Classic. Should have done that for MY wedding! Well, should have done anything but blue and silver...seriously, what was I thinking?!
Hi, Craig.


Flower girls. Hams. Love it.
Flower girl getting ready (these are out of order, obviously)

Anyway, it was a beautiful wedding, and I am so glad that we got to be a part of it. I will say that I was battling within myself the whole time whether we should have brought the kids or not. It was nice not to have to chase them around (especially since I would have been the one chasing since Craig was in the party), but everyone else had their kids and both Craig and I felt like the parents that didn't want their kids around. Oh well, we would have brought them and I would have taken about two shots of the entire thing and mine would have been the kids screaming during the ceremony. Okay, Craig is tapping his foot waiting for me to get to bed. G'night!

Return of the Mac

So I don't have any pictures this time around (sorry), but I needed to update a few things (mostly so I can look back on this once I start record keeping and remember dates! Blogging really can come in handy sometimes...).
First of all, haven't been on for a while for a couple of reasons. I am not one to readily admit when I am doing things wrong, so it has taken me a bit to get to this point, but I have come to notice that I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on the computer that I really need to be spending in the real world. Part of that has to do with my photography, but part of that I think has to do with a full on addiction to blogging and internet surfing. There, I said it. I have (hopefully turning into "had") an addiction. I've been suddenly reading a lot of talks and addresses given by general authorities that have to do with balance in life, and I was certainly aware that I was off balance, but not really sure, or not really ready to admit why. In any case, I am gaining a sure testimony that doing the little things in life, no matter how menial they seem, makes a big difference. Blogging, internet surfing, photography, all those things are not bad in and of themselves, but if you give them more weight in your "balance" then they require, then they can consume you. So, now that I wasted too much of my summer on it, I am ready to hand it over to the Lord and move on.
So, moving on...
A couple of new things recently:

• Chloe is almost (cross my fingers) potty trained. Every day is different, but for the most part she tells me when she has to go (at least pee) and then she goes! She has woken up just a couple of mornings dry, which is a BIG accomplishment since she has NEVER done that until now- we just have to be careful about how much drink we give her after dinner. I've even been able to take her out in public in underwear and not had to worry about taking extra clothes. It's been great. Let's hope it sticks when I go back to work...
• Linus is walking! He took his first substantial steps on the 14th and has been working on it ever since. He doesn't walk very far, and crawling is mostly still his main mode of getting from A to B, but he will walk from furniture to furniture and can walk across most rooms if he gets a good balance going. Two nights ago he also figured out how to stand up on his own. It's funny because he will only do it when you ask him to stand up, but if he needs to stand up on his own, he'll still crawl to the nearest piece of furniture to get up. But he's quite proud of himself over it and claps his hands every time he accomplishes it on his own. :-)
• I got a haircut. I went to Costcutters for a cheap haircut and for the most part that is what I got. Although I will say you always get duped into thinking you're going to look as hot as the models they put in their catalogue when you show the lady cutting your hair what you want. Bonnie, I have to admit to you, I got the RELIEF SOCIETY BOB!!!! AAAACK! I didn't even realize that was what I was getting until I went back to get them to fix it and I kept saying "No, higher layers in the back please. Higher, a little higher, you can cut them even shorter than that...but keep these in front where they are, please...." I came home all pleased with myself when Craig said "Chelsea, that's the relief society bob, m'dear" and I frantically grasped at those short little layers in back and long ones in front and horror crossed my face as I realized he was RIGHT. Oh well. It's not that bad, it's just different. Plus I weigh more right now that I EVER have so I think I thought that if I just got a cute hair cut then the pounds would just shed themselves. Reality is such a kick in the pants...
• I weigh more than I ever have. I'd rather not discuss it.
  
• Linus has learned how to say "Dada", "Mama", "All done", "Dada", "Numenumenumenum" (which is the universal word for "hey, give me some of whatever you're eating there!"),"Thank you", "Dada", you get the picture. We're working on "Please", "Airplane", and "Bird" in sign language as they are three things that he would make much less noise over if he could either say them or sign them. :-)
• Chloe has learned how to say "Stupid". I'd rather not discuss it.
• I finally finished Mom's birthday scrapbook, or rather the update from her Mother's Day scrapbook a couple of years ago. It was a fantastic project and I enjoyed every page I made. At Craig's suggestion, I even scanned some pictures of Mom and Dad when they were young and in love (which they absolutely still are) and made a couple of pages for them as well. We presented it tonight and it went off with a hit- I think it'll be a few more years yet before we get around to doing that again as it is more time consuming than I think it is. Thanks everyone for sending me pictures or letting me take pictures or printing pictures or just being good sports all around. Mom LOVED it.
  
• Craig starts school at the end of the month and I start work in a week. With heavy, dragging feet every step of the way...well, more on my part. Someday I'll be a real stay at home mom instead of just a part time one. Or rather, a full time one and a part time teacher on top of that. Slash photographer.
  
• Speaking of, the photography thing is picking up slightly more momentum. About just as much as I have time for, and it's a blast. I have a new lens, graciously bestowed to me from my supportive extended family, and have made real progress with it. And I'm even getting that in balance in my life as well. It feels good. :-)
• Oh yeah, we're in the Windsor ward now and Craig and I have recently aquired new callings. Craig is the Cub Master in our ward, and we had the first pack meeting last night, HUGE success. The boys LOVED him, this calling couldn't have been bestowed upon a more deserving person. The theme was sports, and so Craig made everything into a sport, even saying a prayer (in a respectful way, of course). Even the parents got engaged in it. I think he was a little discouraged about it at first, but I think now he's realizing that this calling will be perfect for him, and perfect for our schedule this year too. I got called to be the secretary in Young Womens. TOTALLY stoked, although it's going to be a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. Well, not challenging, just time consuming. The girls in our ward are fantastic and I am so excited to work with them. I already know some of them from teaching, so that helps, and I'm just thrilled to be working with them every week. It will be definitely more time consuming than I thought at first, but I know that if I make the commitment I will reap the rewards. I know I have a lot to learn from them, and certainly about myself as well (basically I have to be the organization of this organization, which has not always been my forte, but that's probably why I got the calling...).
• We are very sad to be saying goodbye to so many friends this summer who are all moving away. Friends that we've had since way back when. Friends that I've had since I moved to Greeley, who we've stuck with through thick and thin. We'll miss you all.
  
• Glad to be welcoming friends and family who are moving back to Colorado! Hooray!

And yeah, now I'm just scraping. I have some funny conversations I've had with Chloe to document now that she's learning new and interesting things to say (besides stupid). Here is a sneak peak at one such conversation:

Chloe: Mooooommmmmmmmyyyyyy? (about the tenth time in a row she says this just to get my attention, but really doesn't have anything to say).
Me: Yes, Chloe?
Chloe: Um.....Mooooooommmmmmyyyyyyyyy?
Me: Chllllllllllllooooooooooooeeeeeeeee?
Chloe: Um.......Moooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?
Me: (sigh) Yes, dear....
Chloe: (gasp!) No, Mommy, not "dear"! Whatchu talkin' 'bout? (have no idea where she got that)
Me: (laughing) Sorry, that's just like saying "sweetie" or "honey". You know, "dear".
Chloe: No, Mommy, CHLLLLOOOOOEEEEE, not "DEEEEAAAARRRRRR". See? Say "CHLLLLOOOOEEEEE".
Me: (still laughing) CHLLLLOOOOEEEEE
Chloe: (gasp!) Good job, Mommy!!
Me: Thank you, DEAR!

...and so on and so forth. She's a funny girl and comes up with the craziest things to say. More to come in the future. And hopefully more from Linus to!
Anyway, it's 10:30 on a Friday night and I am pooped. G'night, all, I promise I'll post pictures next time. :-)

Who cares about the Cutest Blog on the Block?!

Just a word out there: some of you may remember Lukas Olson from institute way back when. Well he and his wife have put together this AMAZING website and I was just so excited about it that I had to share. They put together blog accessories, and FREE backgrounds that are WAY cuter than the ones on Cutest Blog on the Block or Pyzam or anything. Seriously. Go check them out. Right now.

http://hotbliggityblog.com/index.php

Have fun!

Ellingson Camping!

Okay, Katie, this is for you. :-)
I haven't blogged for a while because of various summer activities, this being one of them. We just got back from a half a week of camping and it was a BLAST! I won't post all the pictures I took (because it would take about 3 weeks for all of them to DOWNLOAD on my poor, bloated with lots of crap laptop...), but here are a few. We went to Salt Cabin Park up the Cache La Poudre pass and it was gorgeous up there. And free. Can't beat that. Chloe and Linus did great! This is Chloe's second camping trip, the first being when she was about 6 months old and relatively immobile still, so she was very content back then to sit in her stroller and just watch everyone. This time she became the Ellingson explorer extraordinaire. And got pretty filthy. She loved every minute of it, whether she was going on bear hunts with Seth and Kyle, rolling around in the hammock with Aunt Amber, stuffing her face with lots of fruit (which we all regretted later after we had to change her bottom about 10 times in 5 or 6 hours the next day...) or picking wildflowers for Mommy, she was always busy. Linus was about the same. As Grandpa put it, the wide open dirt planes all around camp were a glorious place for him. At first Craig had to practically put me in a straight jacket to keep from keeping all the sticks and rocks and handfulls of pine needles and dirt out of his mouth, but then I realized that he would survive a few meals of dirt and at least he was happy about it. He got filthy, but it was almost just like releasing the inner dirty boy out of him for the first time. I'm sure it will only get better as the years go on, but it was nice to see him have such a ball with something so simple! Anyway, we had a blast. If you want to see the many MANY wildlife pictures I took, head over to my photo blog at chelseasattic.blogspot.com. I won't post them here so as to focus on the people!


These are all out of order, but I don't feel like rearranging them. This is Linus happily waking up at 6:30 a.m.! I love morning eyes....Craig jumping over the fire. For the record, I protested. At first. Then he did it about 8 times, so it was clear he wasn't going to burn to a crisp.
This crazy WEIRDO who we happen to be related to is Uncle Daniel. Junior, that is.

Morning hot chocolate. Mmmm.....

This is my new favorite picture of Linus. This is his first time experiencing pudding. I gave him the cup and the spoon afterwards and he went nuts with it. Can you tell he likes it?!
This picture makes me want to sneeze just looking at it!



Help me! Heeeeeeeeeeelllllllllp meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
This was a great passtime. I encountered it myself a couple of times!
Exploring with Uncle Ben in tow.


Hooray for camping!