Miss Joni

This morning at Discovery Days.......Ella's last day to have Miss Joni as her teacher

Miss Joni performing her first new baby hospital visit in her role as Early Childhood Minister at our church. This is baby Mae and this picture was taken September 2009.

Nicholas in Miss Joni's class in April 2008--this picture was taken before their preschool program where they sang "Johnny Appleseed"

Today was a very sad day for many Discovery Days preschool families. Miss Joni, Ella's teacher, is moving to Washington state on December 26 and today was her last day teaching at Discovery Days. Nicholas had Miss Joni 3 years ago and I fell in love with her as a preschool teacher. She has this remarkable ability to shower each child with love and she never seems to grow tired of pouring her heart into these little people. She makes each child feel special......she greets each child individually by name in the morning and hugs each child in the afternoon before releasing them to their parents. When Nicholas was in her class, he didn't really like hugs so he taught her to do "taters".......every time Nicholas would leave for the day, she'd give him taters. Awesome.


I'm very sad that Ella only got to spend half a year in Miss Joni's class and that Mae will never get to have her as a teacher. There will always be really good teachers at Discovery Days and my kids will always be in very capable and loving hands but there will never be another Miss Joni.

Eiteljorg Museum Trip--December 13, 2010

Nicholas and Ella in the Jingle Rails Western Adventure miniature train display

The Grand Canyon.......click on the picture to see an enlarged view......absolutely amazing!

Nicholas standing in front of the downtown Indianapolis display

Our little cowgirl Ella

Yee Ha.......ride 'em, cowboy!!!!

Mae Mae and Meemaw.....giddy up, Mae Mae!

Nicholas heading west in the stagecoach

We had a really fun day on Monday when visited the Eiteljorg Museum with Meemaw and Papa Carl in downtown Indianapolis. Our city has 12 free days of Christmas festivities with a different museum or event allowing free admission for the day. The Eiteljorg is a museum "dedicated to the appreciation and understanding of American Indian and western art and the many cultures of North America" (quote from their website). We didn't get to see the entire museum because we had 3 busy little people with short attention spans so we spent our time in areas that held their interest. New to the museum this years is their Jingle Rails miniature train adventure. It was awesome (Nicholas says as he helps me type this blog). The other cool area for the kids was the education center where they were able to decorate and raise a totem pole, play instruments, play inside a Native American dwelling, ride on a stagecoach, etc. So cool!!

More December Fun

This snazzy outfit was a Christmas present from Aunt Lalia and Uncle Jess......thank you!!!

Ella in her beautiful Christmas dress from Mimi

Nicholas and Mae......Nicholas in his Christmas green and Mae in her new dress from Meemaw. Nicholas performed with the children's choir at our church during both services. The grandmas and grandpas were all able to come see him sing despite the snowy weather. What a blessed day!

Our big 4-year-old Ella getting ready to open presents. We had a little belated birthday party with Mimi and Papa Don and Meemaw and Papa Carl after church on Sunday. Ella's shirt says "Tiaras Make You Taller".......a hand-me-down from one princess to another.

It took all of about 90 seconds for Ella to open her birthday presents from the grandmas and grandpas.......of course, she did have Mae helping her so that sped things along!

Holiday Fun

Ella and Mommy all dressed up for the Nutcracker Ballet.......Ella had a sparkly tiara on her dress and she picked out a sparkly shirt for me to wear. It was fun to get all dressed up like little ladies together! We loved the ballet. It was performed by Curtain Call Dance Academy at Ben Davis High School and several of our friends were in the performance. Ella was mesmerized by the beautiful girls in their beautiful costumes.

Silly big kids laying on the stairs

Ella ready for a rainy day....ready for preschool on November 30

Nicholas posing in front of our Christmas tree

Ella is 4 years old!!

Happy Birthday, Ella!! On Friday, she turned 4 years old. What a big day! We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast then made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting (per Ella's request......I think she shares Mommy's sweet tooth......) then we had friends over for a playdate and lunch. Big fun. Ella took a big afternoon nap......I think we had worn her out. Then when Daddy came home, we had her favorite dinner.....fishsticks and mac and cheese.......and then presents. Was there a fruit or vegetable consumed all day? I'm not sure but I do know she had big fun. We gave her several Barbies (2 were bought for me when I was little and were stashed in Grandma's basement for 30 years......still in boxes......Lenn thought maybe we should put them on E-bay!) and a double-seater swing for her babies. She also received sweet princess pajamas and a princess coloring book from our friends, the Waggoner family. Her favorite gift of the day was her Cinderella Barbie from her friend Jillian. Cinderella is sleeping with Ella and taking baths with Ella......she even went to the Nutcracker Ballet with Ella yesterday. Ella is definitely our girlie girl.

Visit with Yia Yia and Pappou

Ella and Pappou had a nice time discussing the names of the boys and girls in Ella's preschool class

Yia Yia and Nicholas

Papa Don reading to Mae (one of her favorites......her big animal picture book) with Niko posing in the background

Papa Don, Nicholas, Mae and Mommy (Ella was at preshool)

LOVING this picture......Nicholas James Demas and Nicholas James Detwiler

Yia Yia and Mae.......Mae and Yia Yia enjoyed looking at books together. At one point, I asked Mae to go get a book and take it to Yia Yia. Mae walked from the kitchen right out to the living room to the books basket, grabbed a book and took it to Yia Yia and handed it to her. So sweet!

We had a very special visit from my grandma (Yia Yia) and grandpa (Pappou) Demas yesterday. My parents drove GM and GP up from Columbus. GM is 93 and GP is 91 and it was such a blessing to have them visit us in our new home. We captured some really sweet moments on camera. These pictures are precious to me.

Disney Magic Show

On Sunday, November 7, friends of ours from church gave us tickets to the Disney Magic Show at Conseco Fieldhouse. There were 4 tickets so Lenn and I took the big kids and Meemaw and Papa stayed with Mae at our house. The show was big and bright and fun. Ella was absolutely mesmerized by the princesses. Nicholas was totally participating throughout the whole show.....they frequently asked us to say the magic word........but then after the show was over, Niko said it was boring. Go figure!

They wouldn't let us take pictures of the actual show......bummer.

It's always fun to get to do something cool downtown. Indianapolis has so much to offer.