Tres Tristes Tigres

This is a tiger that is typically totally lame and laying in the tall grass. Today they coaxed him out with a blood Popsicle.

Earlier there was an opossum in his cage so he checked out the smell.

The zoo keeper said she could jump around 15 feet in length.

I think Samantha jumped 18 feet.

The Tiger is lulling her into security.

He can jump 15 feet vertical and 40 feet horizontal.

Just missed that chunk of Hamburger.

Nice Catch!!! (both me and the feline)

Tiger; n. 1. Large, asiatic beast of prey having tawny fur with black stripes (felis tigris) fierce and agressive . . . .

Yesterday morning we had a primary quarterly activiy; breakfast with your teachers. Since Joe and I both teach we made it a family affair and it was really fun. On the way home we were all dreading going home to another boring, grey, wet day in Seattle so we pulled in and then promptly backed out of the driveway and headed to the Point Defiance Zoo. It was terrific, we got to feed the Tiger and were sprayed with Walrus spit when he decided to say hello. After the Zoo we were still a little bummed about returning home so we continued on to the new Cabela's in Lacey. Which, the kids remarked is better than the zoo because you can get close to the animals with out getting mauled! It was a long drive home though. The kids even asked if we would eventually wind up at Grandma and Grandpa's house. This whole day was only possible because; 1. Betsy is the best baby in the world. In the last few days we have heard her cry only twice. (A photo of her straight up Jammin' on a muppet casio is below.) 2. Little Caesar invented drive through pepperoni pizza!




The day was a total success and as soon as we got home, I raced back out to get the babysitter. Joe and I went to the Leadership Training broadcast at the church. A favorite part was a story by Sister Beck. She Had asked her dad why they had to sing Love at Home every week for FHE. He looked at her and sternly said, "When you have mastered lesson One , I will teach you lesson two." At the Ellsworth home we will now be adding Love at Home to our FHE routine.

After the broadcast we grabbed a drive-through dessert and arrived home to find the babysitter having to deal with a throwing up Gunner. He is fine now partly because she is a really, REALLY good babysitter! All in all it has been a good week despite the times we have to stare at a lightbulb to remind us it is not really dusk all day long, it only looks that way outside!

P.S. I almost forgot the kids big news. We now have a trampoline! Thank you Wengers! The kids and admittedly, Joe and I are, in Heaven and jumping pretty much every dry moment. Can't wait for the Emergency room and dental bills, Wahoo!


Yes, I did take this from inside the house. Yes, the trampoline is that close to both our fence and window. Yes, it is a death trap. Yes, we have filled up every inch of our postage stamp sized back yard.

What the Heck is a Choyle?

We've been asked a few times what a, "Choyle" is. "As you can probably guess this word comes to our family from the ultimate one-liner king, Gunner. He first said it when he was barely three and woke up one morning with a hankerin' for Choyles. With his limited 3 year old vocab he tried with mounting frustration to describe to us what a Choyle was. In the end we deduced it was round, orange, edible and squishy(something like our blog background.) This led us to beleive it might be a peach but on further questioning we found it also had a little crunch to it so the idea of a partly sogged on Cheeto came to mind, like the ones we would find under our church pew in sacrament. To this day we still aren't sure what Guner wanted the morning of the Choyle but we think it sums up our family philosophy pretty well; a bit hard to understand, but definately delicious. (We won't even tell you about the infamous "floating balls" that used to appear on Gunner's ceiling at night. We think they were pretty much just an after effect of the nitrous he was given for his first dental filling at 5 years old.)
The week has been good, we had a quick visit from the Elmers. We were sad to see them go, especially Attie with her tiny Boston acccent. It's a total novelty for us west coasters to hear them talk. We did TONS of swimming, eating and nail painting and the kids are asking when they can come back.

Wow this is fun driving shotgun in a icecream truck. But...

I think I might do a better job driving!

There we go... Now we are ready for buisness. I am woman hear me roar!

Tess . . . Not an Easy Rider

Last night Tess rode a tiny motorcycle down two flights of stairs at a friends house and lived to tell the story. The bridge of her nose is bruised and scratched up and she was pretty shaken up. The best part was as soon as our backs were turned she did it again! While mom and dad were trash talking their way through a round of Guitar Hero Lil' Tessie took her first ride down Peter Fonda's highway. In the end I think a good time was had by all.

This week hasn't exactly been exciting but I think Joe would like it ALOT if I would help a little with the burden of the family letter each week by updating the blog and so I am trying my best. We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow. I mean light! (I think Minnesotans would call it frost.) Gunner still had school but we managed to light a fire and roast cold cereal by it this morning to make him feel better about the impending school day.

Whilst the kids were huddled round the fire roasting Cheerios and milk there was a fun little conversation. I came in midway but managed to overhear this, Scottie; "Gunner fire cannot kill anyone, what about Jesus!" "Yeah that's true Scottie but it is really deadly." "Well Gunner, did you notice that I believe in Jesus, I really really believe in Jesus." Gunner; "More than Santa?" Scottie; "Hmmm not really but I know Jesus could save me from a fire." (meanwhile Tess is running around in just her undees because she has spilled her bowl of milk all down her jammies and yelling, " save me, save me Jesus, Holy Ghost, save me!) Gunner; "That's true but you know who I don't believe in? . . .pause for effect . . . Satan." From there the conversation denigrated into a round of Satan wants me for a Sunbeam and I nipped it in the bud to read scriptures. Who knew the kids were such zealots and that our family Home evenings have such a poor effect on our children's spirituality.

After managing to get Gunner off to the bus the girls of course wanted to run out and play in the "snow." I have now made a rule that you must play in the snow for at least as long as it took me to get you zipped and strapped into your snow clothes. That is how I have this half hour to update the blog. We are ten minutes in and they have already tapped on the sliding door twice so I'd best type fast.

Another fun part of the week was going to the girls gym for its second birthday. Joe finally got to go and see the girls in all their glory. As you can see Tess has a little extra glory peekin' out from under her leotard but if I ever gave Tess the option of not wearing underpants I am scared of the chain of events I might start. It was very fun and everyone including Betsy had a good time. We love the Gym and they love the girls so what more could you ask.

Joe continues to put in exhausting hours at school and work but doesn't let it show when he is home. He even willingly helped me at 3am this morning try to wrassle Tylenol down Betsy's gullet to try and get her to sleep. He'll pay for that later today in class. Betsy in spite of waking up in the night is still pretty much perfect and loves tub time and clapping especially doing them at the same time and watching the water splash out of the tub. Gunner is till spewing out terrific one liners and entertaining the whole family. Last night while reading a children's book about manners he could not hide the horror on his face when he found out Boys are supposed to open the door for girls AND help the take off their coats, "I don't care what it says, I am NOT ever going to do that." There was some good news for Gunner though, at breakfast we recently had to break it to Scottie that she will not, in fact, be marrying Gunner. His response to the whole talk was, "Phew, got out of THAT one." He is a great help around the house and extremely patient with his sisters in spite of his overall feelings about the gender.

Tess has been potty trained for over six months but has recently started wanting to do everything by herself. You can see in this shot she put the cart before the horse after a trip to the toilet but we give her kudos for being willing to strip down and start again from scratch. Scottie is always wanting to color and recently asked me if I would teach her to read. We'll see how it goes but I am excited that she actually wants to do it. I think, though she would never admit it, Preschool is having a good effect. On that note and the fourth audible knock on the glass door my Blog time has ended, 'till next time!

Sweep the leg! Finish Him!

I realize I negelected to include a picture of Gunner in his awesome karate get up so here it is . . .

Jack Frost nipping at our nodes . . .

Winter is officially here when everyone at the Ellsworth house is good and sick. Joe starts his LAST semester of Law school today and you think we'd be relieved but I think we are still dreading it all too much, talk to us again in April. He shoved off for work at 7:30 this morning and the kids were especially clingy. Thankfully this really is the last time we have to do this. We are good in spite of the coughs and excessive goo and have had a great Christmas break. We even had several family visits. I've listed a few highlights:

-Tess getting a lump of coal in her stocking. While the other kids were very concerned it was one of Tess's favorite toys, basically an indoor rock.

-New Years Eve with the Jacksons eating junk food until people were literally throwing up.

-A visit from Steve-o and his wife Marissa including the butterfly house where Tess squished a butterfly flat (not an accident).

-Cutting down our own tree but doing it fast enough that Betsy could stay in the car.

Betsy is technically perfect. At 8 months old this is her first real illness and she is still a doll. She is so easygoing and cute. She loves to crawl on her hands and feet, and say Mom or more. Everyone in the family loves to hold her and fights over the chance. Her interests include electrical cords, baby blueberries and rice cereal and grabbing moms hair and then pulling hard. She is easy to make laugh and a wonderful blessing to our family.

These pictures pretty much sum Tess up, run and don't look back and never wear pants. At 2+ she is officially the family nut who not only invents great songs but dances to her own tunes. Her love of coach Tammy, her purple leotard and anything gymnastics related is unparalleled, well maybe her love for Joe can compete. They are perfect opposites of each other and get along great. Recently in a fit of anger Tess said this, "Hey! give that back you dingle wingle! I mean, oh, sorry, you are not a dingle wingle hee hee."

Scottie, Only just recently became convinced that her preschool teacher does indeed have her best interests at heart and even goes into class without crying. She loves anything, pink, pony, or strawberry shortcake. And is happy to refill any one's glass at the dinner table to avoid having to sit down and actually eat. She is also very concerned about the police and the role they play in our family's life. for instance, "Mom you have GOT to watch out for yourself. Wear you seat belt and slow down or you are going to get copped into jail!"

Nobody wants a roundhouse kick to the face when Gunner is wearing these babies. He is an orange belt now and thinks anything involving kicking and punching, especially with Joe is terrific. He is in second grade, has a Strong dislike for all girls who are not blood relatives and will be baptised in June. Recently, at the baptism preview, during the Q&A session he asked the Bishop this question, "After I get baptized, from then on can I just call you Dan?"

I am always functioning on less sleep than should be allowed to legally drive a car full of yowling kids around but do my best to stay between the lines!

Joe tries not to let Stress get the better of him. Obviously, here, he has failed. Amidst studying for School, finding a job, passing the bar, work at Boeing and house shopping we hope he finds time for an afternoon nap or game of around the world, the two things he never gets to do. Notable Quotable, "Cool, I didn't know we were rich." After helping Samantha unload what he thought was an inordinate amount of expensive groceries. In my defense, he has been in class while we grew to be a family of six!

Wet and White Christmas

We had a fun and low key Christmas. We got another tree from the tree farm and this one was supposed to be smaller and we only paid $30 because it was a "Charlie Brown tree" It ended up being 10 feet again and with lights on and blue balls, (Ted what are you laughing at?) it looked like a regular tree.