Tuesday, January 01, 2008

More About Us

Updated 10/09

Daughter #1 - referred to here as "Big Sister." She's 8 as of 9/09, loves to read, loves to play with her sisters, and (sometimes) loves to help her mama with household tasks. She loves the outdoors, our animals, her dolls, and "helping daddy work" on motorcycles in the garage.

Daughter #2 - alias "Little Artist" (formerly Little Monkey). She's 5 as of 5/09 and loves to draw, color, paint. We're (slowly) restricting those activities to appropriate paper and color books, as opposed to furniture, walls, toys, etc. She also loves playing mommy to her dolls, setting them to bed, walking them in strollers, and feeding them at the table.

Daughter #3 - we call her "Organique" on here. She's 2, as of 9/09, and such a delight and adventure. She loves her baby doll, her sisters, and getting into all sorts of 2-year-old trouble.

Daughter #4 - called "Baby" so far, but "Little Sumo," "Butterball," and "Chunky Monkey" are all heard around here frequently. Born August 2009.

Hubby - I usually just refer to him as "Hubby," but I might change that to "Thunder Chief." :) He loves his job (usually), motorcycles, and country life. He's quiet, and a good man. He's also 31.

Me - EllaJac. That's not really my name. But because I'm a paranoid red-state mother, I don't use my real name. :) I am 31 (and *gasp* older, actually than Hubby) and enjoy caring for my family, learning and practicing every thing my mother and hers disdained: Homemaking, Husband-loving, Jesus-following, homeschooling, cooking, baking, sewing, knitting, 'farming', gardening, and the like.

Other characters who appear occasionally:

My folks - this refers to my dad and my stepmother (who I might reference as "Mom"). They live about 12 hours from here and currently have custodyof my stepbrother's daughter and son, while running a business. Their willingness to take on this task amazes me. My dad was my Christian influence growing up, and remains a mentor to us. My (step)mom introduced me to the fact that cookies can be made at home, when I was 7, and I haven't been the same since.

My younger (by 2 years) brother - "Uncle Munchkin," to my kids. He lives in Fargo (though occasionally serves in Afghanistan, Germany, and other rough spots like Puerto Rico) and he and his wonderful wife had their first baby, a girl, on my birthday in January 2009!

Gi-gi - this is my mother's mother. She is a breed unto herself, as the Gi-gi tag will show. She is 82, runs circles around most people, though half-blind with macular degeneration. She's a liberal, a feminist, and a Catholic, somehow. Election season can get a little colorful with her around, but we love her. She lives 2 hours from us, and we see her semi-frequently. **She acquired an infection in a scratch while helping us after our fourth was born in August 2009, leading to 8 days in the hospital, thousands of dollars of just prescription medication, and is slowly regaining use of her right hand and arm.

Granny - my Dad's mom, who is 91 and lives next door (over the creek and thru the woods) from my folks. She has 24 hour nursing care presently, and enjoys hearing about her 8 great-granddaughters - and finally a great-grandson, thanks to my cousin!

The In-Laws - we live near my husband's family, including his parents, an older sister (married, 3 kids - boy 15, girl 14, girl 5), a younger sister (married, 1 daughter born a day before Baby #4), some aunts, uncles, lotsa cousins, some grandparents. We are blessed to enjoy these relationships and spend holidays and other events with many of them.

And characters who's un-appearance might be noticeable:

My mother passed away a few weeks after Hubby and I married in 2000. She was divorced from my father in 1980, and suffered since that time from chronic-progressive MS. She loved music, the outdoors, and people. I lived with her until I was almost 13, when I moved to live with my dad and stepmom. While I loved my mother to pieces, she was never a very influential person in my life.

I may update this occasionally, as life is always changing. Thank you for visiting and reading here.

6 comments:

Kevin and Beth said...

So nice to know better. I've been reading you for a long time.

It's so funny, you mentioned that your mother and her's disdained homekeeping. So does mine. She grew up on a farm and she hated home grown lettuce, goats milk and she didn't even know how to clean a green pepper when I brought home a whole bag as a teenager. I thought they were gold. She can't believe my love of all things farmy. My chickens, turkeys and gardens. Once I was making a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin and my grandmother thought I was nuts! She watched me in disbelief. My grandma worked really hard on my grandpa's farm trying to raise a family in the depression. She said next time just open a can of pumpkin so now I do and think of her, that pie was a little green colored anyways.
Really enjoy your writings.
Beth

EllaJac said...

Beth, thank you so much for reading, and for leaving such a lovely comment. In college I swiped my roommate's 'decorative' pumpkin while she napped and made pie... :) Gi-gi was (mostly) the only girl among brothers, and grew to hate the back-breaking, never-ending daily work of a farm. I'll write a post someday of how/why they left it.

Thank you again for leaving me a note! Do it again sometime. :)

Kevin and Beth said...

I will be looking foward to the story about your grandmother and the farm. I wish I had gleaned more details about my grandmothers life. One interesting thing my uncles told me about the margarine they bought. When they got it home from the store they had to add the yellow food coloring themselves. They said it was disgusting. I guess the butter industry or some food governing body wouldn't let the margerine companies color their products yellow. Must have thought people would think it was a good, healthy thing to eat and be fooled. Funny huh.
Beth

Susan Holloran said...

Ella Jac,
I love your blog, and am amazed by your discipline! Being the mom of four plus home schooling makes me wonder: When do you sleep?! Both our boys are grown; one recently married, the other in film school.
They bless my life in countless ways.
My paternal grandmother grew up on a farm in Nebraska with eight brothers and sisters. I loved listening to her stories as a child, as she was an amazing story-teller. I miss her terribly, and wish I had recognized more of those teachable moments when I could have gained much from her wisdom. Her faith was so strong, so evident in the every day things of life. I applaud you for investing in the lives of your children....how abundantly blessed they are by your sacrificial love!

EllaJac said...

Susan, thank you for your comment! I just ran across it, and I'm sorry I didn't see it earlier (and publish and respond!). To answer your question, I (apparently) sleep instead of cleaning the house as often as it needs it! :)

It sounds like your boys are blessings. While I enjoy these days, I look forward to seeing my children grown. "no greater joy..." and all that. :)

Life is truly an adventure, and hopefully I'll be able to share and instill in my kids... unlike your grandma, I have a blog that might help those future generations! (maybe I should start printing out some of the important stuff...)

Bless you!

HH365 said...

Nice to meet you. I love that you blogged an introduction to your family! What a GREAT idea. Don't be surprised if you read a similar blog post on Method Mom soon. :-)