I feel like all of this week's blog posts begin with the words "a few weeks ago", but that's just the way it is! One weekend in May, our town had a celebration at the city park and my girls were so excited to be there. Our daddy couldn't make it, but we met up with Gran, Heidi, Granmom (my grandmother) and our neighbors for a few hot, sweaty hours in the park. First on the agenda were face-painting and bounce-housing. The face-painting wasn't the most creative I've ever seen, but it was fast, easy, and cleaned up quick before nap. Ella wanted a purple flower and since Sophie can't exactly articulate what she wants without some examples, we opted for a pink heart. She couldn't have cared less! The most exciting thing, to me, were the pony rides! Since you probably don't know ...
ella
Sprink-a-wah
That's how Sophie says sprinkler and it's darn near my favorite word these days. I might not have the summer off to spend with them, but we are getting plenty of water time in on the weekends. This was a fun Sunday afternoon spent playing outside with their besties, who just happen to live next door. ...
Kindergarten Bound
A few weeks ago, Ella finished up her first year of "big school". We have the pleasure of having a four year old Pre-Kindergarten program at our public school and Ella attended this year. It is on the same schedule and calendar as the elementary school, so she had a year of practice before they start keeping up with absences! The last week of class, parents were invited to attend an end of the year party with a little presentation of awards. Ella was so proud to have us there and it was fun to see her in action with her friends. She loved her teacher this year and had such a wonderful experience. Growing up is bittersweet, but I am so excited to see her grow and learn as she moves into Kindergarten next year. one of my favorite pictures of Ella, taken by another mommy hamming it up ...
A Tooth, the Fairy & the Dentist
When last we left off (over a month ago - yikes!) Ella had a tooth that was dangling by the root. I swear, Josh & I had been convinced for weeks that it was going to fall out, but it hung on. It was laying on it's side and we had begged Ella to let us pull it, but she wouldn't even consider it. Every night after dinner, she wiggled it for show and we talked about pulling it. Every night she would go to bed with that tooth hanging on for dear life. One day, I told her that she had a dentist appointment in the next week and that if it wasn't out by then that I would let the dentist pull it. Her eyes got really wide, but we didn't really make any progress. On a Thursday night, she went with her daddy to her cousin Molly's house and about 30 minutes after they left, I got a picture of her ...
Guess who came to visit?
At almost two (4 days to go!), Sophie is at the perfect age to enjoy most everything. Talking about her birthday and the arrival of the Easter Bunny has elicited much excitement at our house for the last several weeks. Sometimes I wonder how much she's really understanding, but when I went into their room to announce the EB's arrival, she was giddy and couldn't wait to check out the goods. I know that everyone celebrates a little differently when it comes to Easter. Sometimes, baskets aren't even a part of the equation, some people do candy only and others make it look like Christmas. I try to find a happy medium and fill our baskets with things we would otherwise need for Easter along with a few fun surprises. I also let up on our limited sweets mantra and we indulge a little for the ...
An Egg-cellent Time
I don't usually procrastinate about holidays, but somehow we managed to wake up on Saturday morning and we still hadn't dyed our Easter eggs... or boiled them. Okay, okay, I hadn't even bought them! I also discovered the night before that Ella's basket might have a little more in it than Sophie's, so Josh & I decided to grab dinner (at Chuy's!!) and up pick a few more things. After dinner, we bought eggs and new pajamas for the girls and came home to get our party started. They were exhausted after their second day without a nap and I was surprised we actually made it through the evening with no meltdowns. I'm always stressed about these moments... that my OCD will prevent me from letting the girls have fun and experiment, that my photographs will turn out horrible, that the mess will ...
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Right next door is a pretty little house. It's old and charming like mine. They are really close to one another, share a wrap around drive and some pretty great trees. For the last eighteen months, it has sat empty. We were blessed for several years to live next door to my aunt Heather and her three wonderful children. They were such an important part of our lives and we were so sad when they moved on to bigger and better things. Ella has been pretty depressed about the empty house for awhile and dreamed of having neighbors, especially if children could be involved. We've known for several months that it was very possible some very good friends might move next door. Parker & Ella are the same age, Conner & Ella are in the same class at school and Carson & Sophie are two peas ...
Baseball
My girls love to be outside and they love sports. We all know this has nothing to do with me and everything to do with their daddy. This past Saturday was the alumni baseball game at our Alma Mater. It's a fundraiser for the current varsity team, which my brother-in-law helps to coach. They worked so hard to pull it off and we had a fabulous time at the ballpark. Not to mention, it's just across the street and makes for an awful easy commute! First up, we had to say hello to our daddy. He had just hit two out of the park in the Home Run Derby when we arrived. Sophie was pretty happy to talk with him through the fence. I just knew she would be a disaster at the park and into everything. I was surprised that she actually sat still the entire day (with only a few mishaps) and was MUCH ...