Goodbye for now Grandpa

Tuesday night while I was at work I received a phone call from my mother-in-law that told me Pat's Grandpa Ellison passed away. Grandpa Ellison was 80 years old and has been battling Parkinson's disease and strokes for many years. We miss him dearly but are so blessed to know he is now without pain and suffering.

What can I say about him, he was one of the funniest men I have ever known. Even in his last few weeks at the nursing home he had many jokes and stories to tell the kids. Maybe they weren't always the most appropriate for kids but they were funny.

As I sat at the funeral yesterday I realized I knew Harry Ellison as my grandpa just as long in my life as I knew my own grandpa. Grandpa Ellison loved to spend time with his family and grand kids and great grand kids. We loved to have him come visit at the cottage and take him out on the boat to go fishing. He loved nature and parties and he enjoy doing everything with a cold beer in his hand. Grandma Ellison could always count on Pat to sneak grandpa a few beers even when he wasn't supposed to be drinking but grandpa loved it, so Pat couldn't say no.

It is hard to watch your husband lose a man that he admired so greatly, but I know that Grandpa is with each of us now and we will see him again someday.

Pat Turned 30!!!!!

Pat turned 30 last weekend on April 18. I threw him a surprise party and I actually pulled it off. I am horrible with surprises so Pat was shocked that I did it. The weather was gorgeous and we had a great turn out of friends and family.

I am huge and pregnant (35 weeks) so by then end of the night I think I may have felt worse than those that were drinking. We had a bon fire, tons of food, and lots of drinks.

I lost my camera so I am waiting to steal pictures from my sister when she gets a chance to send them to me. So for now I was able to steal this from a friend of mine.

I can't believe we were only 16 when we started dating, 30 seemed like forever when we were that age. Pat and I have been through so much together and I could not ask for a better father for my kids and husband for myself.

I am glad you enjoyed your party you deserved it, you work so hard for the kids and I are always there for us when we need you to be. We love you very much.

Funny Story

So, I just had to share this funny story. Today My sister-in-law Liz and I went to run some errands together. She wanted to go to the hair supply store so I told her I would take her but I had a doc. appointment at 11:30, so she would have to some with me. When we got there I told her she could come in with me, it was just a tummy measuring heartbeat listening appointment so I didn't care. She just had to promise not to tell anyone how bad my belly looks :).

I wasn't going to see my regular doctor today and I have never met this doctor. Right when she walked in I could tell she had a funny look on her face and she kept asking us questions, like we were both the "mommies". We just busted out laughing and clarified that we were sister-in-laws.

I felt so bad for the doctor, she felt bad. Today it is more common so she probably didn't want to be rude if we were a couple. But it was so funny. All day we have been laughing about it.

Official Decision

So Pat and I have finally officially decided on the baby's name. The only way I could get Pat to discuss a baby name is that I had to promise not to tell anyone the name we choose until he is born. Pat wants some suprise to this little man's birth and I can understand and respect that.

So I will tell you we have decided on a name, I just can't tell you yet. The kids don't know either so you can't try to bribe it out of them. It does make me feel better because now Pat and I have something to call him when we talk to him.

I did put up a fun poll that you can vote and tell us what name you think we chose. Have fun!!

Wrestling Season

The boys had a great wrestling season. They placed 1st - 4th every week. Some weeks were harder than others but all in all they did great. Unfortunately last week at Regionals they did not feel very well so they did not wrestle their best and they did not place. So we are not going to State finals this year. It is the first year since Patrick was 5 that both of them have not qualified. They were pretty bummed along with Pat and I cause we love hanging out with friends and watching all the kids wrestle.

That's ok though we are also very glad to be done and have our weekends back. We have a lot to do to get ready for the baby still and the boys start baseball in about 3 weeks. Then Mara will be starting gymnastics to help her with her competitive cheer next year. All of this along with a newborn at some point. I am suprised I haven't had to check myself into a hospital with padded rooms yet.

The house has been getting a lot of work done to it. We remodled Mara's room (Paint, flooring, bedding, window treatments) and we are remodleing the family room downstairs (paint and carpet). Then we will be repainting the entire upstairs kitchen and living room as well as bathroom. This is what Pat has to get done before the baby comes. I know he loves this nesting phase. Hopefully he can get it done. We have a list of projects for this summer. A new deck, landscaping, and moving the hair salon to the basement along with a bathroom downstairs. We would like to get these done so when this wonderful economy gets better (someday) we will be ready to sell the house. Let's see if it happens. We are growing out of this house way too fast, but it is just not the time for us to sell, buy yes, but not sell.

Well, housework is calling and I need to get to all of that. Hope everyone enjoys the beautiful weather and we can't wait until summer and the cottage at our house.

Baby Belly

Here is my belly at 6 1/2 months!!!

Everything has been going very well. This little guy is growing and very active. We are all looking very forward to meeting him. Right now my house is in chaos because we are trying to rearrange and make room for this little surprise.

Hopefully in the next few weeks I will post all the changes we have done to the house. In the meantime I just need to try to relax and not go too crazy and hope Pat gets everything done in time for the babies arrival.

Where have we been??

I know, I am horrible at updating this. I have been so busy with the kids, Holidays and I just have not felt like myself with this whole pregnancy.



Well first things first. Dec. 30 Pat and I took the kids to our ultrasound and we found out we are having another little boy. Yeah!! Connor's exact reaction was "Yes, we won!" The boys could not have been happier, but Mara is still adjusting to the idea of another little brother. I am sure she will be fine and will become a second mother to this little guy someday. We have no ideas for names, Pat and I are horrible at agreeing on names, so my guess is he will not have a name until he is born. I have received some little "blue clothes" and even bought a few things myself. I have forgotten how small they are. I have had three ultrasounds so far and everything looks very good. This little guy is growing and starting to really kick. It is so fun to feel a baby inside of me again, especially since I didn't think this would ever happen.



I have started to have Braxton Hicks contractions which I had with the other three starting about 5 months, so I guess I am right on schedule. My doctor just wants to keep a close watch on them and make sure they are not causing pre term labor. We are not too concerned but it's one of those better safe then sorry things.



The other kids had a great Christmas and Santa was very good to them. I guess they must have been pretty good this year. It was a very busy holiday season with lots of family in town and parties to attend. We are still trying to recover.



The boys have started wrestling and have their first tournament this weekend. Mara does not have any extra curricular activities going on currently besides socializing with friends.



Pat and i are just trying to stay sane with all of the chaos around us but we have been doing this for awhile I am sure we will be fine.



We have a wonderful 2009 to look forward to and can't wait to keep everyone posted on the wonderful Ellison news to come this year.