Super Moose and Minnie Mouse

Sweet little Minnie Mouse

Ready to get the show on the road

Cutest Super Moose this side of the Mississippi

The fam

Minnie Mouse and Super Moose!

Starting out the night

A little scared of the huge orange eyes on the door

Trick or Treat!

Another great Halloween. Good times, good friends, way too much candy. The costumes were rockin' this year. Ella finally ventured away from the princess theme (a little) and Molly confused more then a few people with her very original Super Moose costume. Its destined to become a classic though. "Super Moose to the rescue!" How can that not catch on? She decided about 6 months ago that she wanted to be Super Moose for Halloween, and Grandma made her the perfect costume. A couple people confused her for a magic reindeer, but everyone loved the costume. Molly could've knocked on doors all night getting free candy. Ella was quite content to ride in the wagon after the first couple blocks.

Just Catching Up

Its been a very long while since I have posted anything, so here's a few pictures that we've stored up over the last couple months. For the most part we've just been trying to adjust to a new life in Delaware along with Ella being in school all day. But we're hanging in there. We love our new home, Ella adores her new teachers and they love her right back. In fact at her parent/teacher conference last week her teacher said that Ella was the sweetest, kindest, most compassionate, wonderful little girl, and that she wished she had 15 more of her. I went away with the reaffirmation that we did the right thing putting her in school this year. Thats not to say its all been smooth going. She comes home grumpy about 95% of the time. I am pretty sure there is some switcheroo going on at her school, because the Ella they describe is definitely not the Ella that comes home at the end of the day. Getting her to talk about her day is like pulling teeth. "So, how was school today?" Grumpy stare. "That good, huh? Well, how was music class?" Another grumpy stare. "Really? I love that song." Now I get a reaction- "Stop that! I'm not saying anything!!" She has been making some friends, mostly of the boy variety. When Daddy told her that 'we don't like boys', she said- "I just like his face."

She's also decided that she doesn't like anything in her lunch. She vetoes everything I offer to put in her lunch bag, and doesn't want anything to do with the school lunches. Not that I blame her. Yesterday she wanted crackers for her lunch. Thats it. Just a baggie of Cheez-its. No grapes, no juice, no sandwich, no yogurt. When I tried to push the issue she ended up crying and chucking her lunchbag across the room. I figure she won't starve in 7 hours, right? Right?? I'm a little concerned about what her teachers must think though. I am well aware that crackers are not a sufficient lunch for a growing girl.

We also had the oppurtunity to enjoy some of Ohio's beautiful fall weather picking apples. It was a gorgeous day, and even the less enthusiastic of the group (a.k.a. Todd) enjoyed themselves.

The last picture is of Molly helping herself to an entire roll of cookie dough. I've taken to making a batch of cookie dough at the beginning of the week and freezing most of it in rolls for later in the week. Molly prefers them that way.

FIRST First Day of School!

Well, today was the big day. Ella's very first day of school. She is doing all day Kindergarten, which is a big adjustment for all of us. If I hadn't had a strong feeling that this is what Ella should be doing, it would have been much harder. I can't believe my little girl is a full-fledged school-ager! When I picked her up from school I asked her what she learned and she said- "I learned that recess means the park." When I asked what she did all day she said, "Well, we ate, and we had recess (that's the park, Mom) then we ate and we had recess again." Maybe I'll get more info later. She has a lot of boys in her class. Everyone at her table was a boy. When she walked up to her spot, the little boy next to her pulled out her chair for her. It was too cute. I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up with a boyfriend or two before the year is over.

Molly seemed a little displaced this morning, but by the time Ella got home I think she was just loving all the attention. I am excited about being able to spend more time just her and I. Last night Todd gave Ella a father's blessing, and Molly wanted one too. Todd talked about the special time that she and I will have together. Ella asked specifically about not being shy at school. She is very aware that that is something she deals with. I thought it was great that she thought to ask her Heavenly Father about that.

One day down, 200 and some odd days to go!

To Hula or not to Hula...

Ella has been trying to master the art of hula hooping lately- and it is hilarious. She hasn't quite gotten the hang of it, but she keeps on trying. I am no help at all, because I never could do it, even as a kid. We found a video on youtube that is supposed to teach you how to hula, and she's been watching that. She is determined. I have to give her props for not getting discouraged. I have tried multiple times to download a video of it without any success- so I finally just downloaded it onto youtube. If you want to check it out, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoyXtqXincI

Enjoy!

We've got a biter!

So I've heard that some kids are biters, some aren't. Ella wasn't. Molly evidently is. She's gotten me twice already. When she bit Ella today I realized that time out wasn't going to cut it. At the daycare I used to work for we had a biter whose parents wanted us to give him Tabasco sauce every time he bit. It worked, but I just didn't have it in me to give that to her. So I opted for lemon juice instead. In the future, I recommend finding a punishment that doesn't crack you up. I squirted the juice in her mouth, and then proceeded to laugh so hard at her face that it was hardly a punishment. I could tell she didn't like it, and she almost started to cry before she saw how hard I was laughing. Which made her laugh. Only time will tell if that was enough to get her to stop biting!

Molly got a cash register for Christmas and these days its been her favorite toy. Our job is to tell her what we want to buy, and then she informs us how much it costs and rings it up. Todd handed her this little plastic dog and said- How much is this? Molly says- 5 dollar. Todd said- Wow, thats a rip off. Molly- yeah, rip off. And proceeds to check him out. It was pretty funny. Maybe you had to be there.

Poor Baby...

Yesterday I found my oven full of plastic bowls and other non-oven safe things AFTER preheating it to 400 degrees. In the midst of reprimand one of the bowls started to crack in half, so I quickly grabbed it- with oven mitts- and put it in the sink. As I turn to do that, Molly reaches up to grab the small metal colander to put it in the sink. She got a pretty nasty burn across her hand. It was truly heartbreaking. She cried for a good hour and a half, and I couldn't put her down. We went through about a dozen bags of ice. She wouldn't let it go- she cried every time it left her hand. I tried to doctor it up a little bit before she went to bed with some stuff to soothe it and a gauze bandage. At least it took my mind off the fact that they ruined my very favorite yellow bowl. And I learned an important lesson. Always check the oven before turning it on.