Round Four...Poor John came in from Zurich this afternoon and he's got the crud now, too. Bless his heart. The good news is that none of the kids got sick today so I think we are on the downhill slide now. Cross your fingers. Now if we can get John well, we'll been in good shape again. Keep him in your prayers because I understand his pain. Ick!

Round Three...Well, Jacob woke up throwing up this morning. WOW!!! The quadruple whammy in our household. Poor kids. There is nothing more pitiful than sick kids. They just want it to go away and there is nothing you can do but hold them and clean them up.

Not Recommended.....Well, it has been a rough couple of days in the Elliott household. John and I went out Wednesday night for a nice dinner at a restaurant here in town that we really like. Unfortunately, I wound up with food poisoning in all the worst ways by midnight that night. It was AWFUL! I'd rather give birth and I'm not kidding. Then my dermatologist called and one of my moles came back as a basal cell skin cancer and so I have to have it removed and use this special cream for 8 weeks. It is supposed to be no big deal and it is totally contained. But not the best news to get anytime but especially when you feel like poo already. By yesterday I was at least able to be vertical for short periods of time so I am on the mend. Unfortunately, around midnight last night Julia started throwing up. She apparently got one of the little bugs going around school. She and I managed about 3 hrs sleep last night so bedtime will be very welcome tonight. Thank heavens for John! Talk about a man who came through all the way when the going got rough, he took care of everything! He needs to go back to work just to get some decent rest...ha! He even took Jacob to a birthday party today at the ice arena so Julia and I could stay home and rest. He's the best!!!

Basketball Program...Today was the first day of the 5-6 yr old basketball program that Jacob is participating in. It is every Saturday until the end of February. It is organized by the rec center but is located at the middle school. Jacob was a little nervous before we got there since it was something new but as soon as we got there he saw Daniel and Douglas from his class at school so all was right with the world. He had a great time and did really well! They practiced dribbling and bounce-passes, etc. He can't wait to go back next Saturday. It ought to be action packed since he has a birthday party to go to at the ice arena next Saturday after basketball and another birthday party at the karate center the following Saturday. WOW! Busy...

Carousel fun with the Polings...

Tea Party with Dad...

Snow Angels in the Kitchen

The Runner




New Year's and Other Fun...

Homemade Party Hats and digging some tunes on daddy's headset.

More Christmas...

Little Mermaid

Straight from China...a hat for Jacob and pj's for Julia




Christmas Eve and Day 2006...

Agua Clara: a neat band playing in Penn Station. We bought their CD.

The precision skaters at Bryant Sq Park ice arena.




Bryant Park in NYC...

Jacob's first time to ice skate. The beautiful Christmas tree and some neat vendors set up for shopping. Top it off with pizza and it was a fun night.

Jacob's Teacher

The Macarena







Prepare yourself for a massive picture dump. We changed web browsers so here are a bunch
of pictures since the middle of December. First, Jacob's class party...

Routine Is Good...Ha! That may sound funny but now that we are in our second week with everyone back in school, it feels like we are back to having a daily rhythm. The kids were sick so much in Nov and Dec that it felt like we would never get back to some kind of routine. Jacob's class went on a fieldtrip today to the grocery store. They got to see live lobsters out of the tank. He thought it was very cool but also kind of scary. For the second week in a row, Julia has done great at her school. I think we are finally over the hump with her in terms of fits, etc. They are a lot less frequent and a lot shorter. Hallelujah!

Our great friends from Marietta, Kathy and Chris (and their son, Kyle) are coming this weekend. We are so excited! They are a lot of fun and very easy to hang out with. I have babysitters lined up for Saturday night and Sunday day so we can show them the sights. It ought to be a lot of fun! However, I have forewarned them that with only 1 bathroom, no reading material is allowed...ha!

New Babysitter...Well, last night our newest babysitter, Hillary, came over to eat pizza with us and meet the kids. She is a real nice girl and the kids hit it off with her. She is a junior in high school and is an ice skater. She also teaches ice skating. We will probably have her do a few lessons one on one with the kids. She is available only on Friday and Saturday nights so we already have her lined up for next Saturday night when we have friends coming into town from Oklahoma. It will really be nice to have two different babysitters to call when we have things come up that we want to do without kids or just date-night. We don't go out a lot without the kids but it'll be nice to have more options.

Poling Family Visit...We made an unexpected visit into Manhattan yesterday to see my sister, Monica, and her family. They have been on a whirlwind trip to Boston and NYC. Her oldest son, Ellis, will be a senior next year and so they are maximizing the time they have together before he is off to college. It was so great to see Monica, Jack, Ellis, Calvin and Henry. For those of you who were at our wedding, Calvin was the ring bearer. I couldn't believe how big everyone is now and great to see Calvin's sweet face and remember back to our wedding. Jacob was excited all day to get to see "the cousins". He didn't quite understand that they were Julia's cousins, too. They share cousins...ha!

We rode the train in and met up with everyone in Central Park. We enjoyed a nice afternoon visiting while the kids rode the carousel and played at one of the playgrounds. Big fun! We finished all that off with pizza and then back home on the train. And on the train, we happened to meet up with one of our favorite neighbors, Mr. Greenberger, so that made for a nice diversion on the way home.

Happy New Year 2007!!! We had a really good evening. I made tacos for dinner and John picked up our neighbors, John and Brona, from the airport. They had just returned from 2 weeks in Ireland, where she is from. They had a great time and were anxious to tell all about it. Then, Jacob, Julia and mommy made homemade party hats. After Julia went to bed, Jacob and John and I played boardgames and ate ice cream. Jacob legitimately won the $1,000,000 on the Deal or No Deal boardgame. Yahoo! Then at midnight, some of our neighbors were outside banging pots and pans so we went out on the porch to welcome the new year and watch fireworks in the sky. I think it must have been out on a boat somewhere since it wasn't far but was out toward the ocean. We watched the ball drop on tv in Times Square. John and I agreed that we had no desire to be in that mob! Anyway, it was a quiet but festive night at the Elliotts. Happy New Year! May God bless you!!!