Life's A Dance

Happy New Year

2011-01-04T17:09:00.002-05:00

So our computer decided to crash on us about 2 months ago. So I've been trying to keep up on my emails through my iPod, but have obviously been unable to do anything on the blog lately which is so sad, because we've had oodles of blog worthy moments lately- three holidays, two birthdays, Ella's first lost tooth, a blessing, and last but certainly not least, a darling baby who is growing up WAY too fast. She hit three months old last week. Yet sadly, we've only been able to dedicate one post to Miss Lucy. Thankfully my parents were ready for an upgrade, so we inherited their old computer for the time being. As soon as I get our pictures sorted out, the posts will be soon to follow.

We had a wonderful Christmas. My whole side was able to come out to celebrate, which is the first time in a very long time we've had the whole family together. Ella struck up a fast liking to her Uncle Alex, who has been at school and on a mission for the past three years. We caught this fabulous conversation between the two of them at the dinner table, and I had to share:

Ella: Are you a kid or a grown-up?
Alex: I'm a grown-up.
Ella: Oh. Do you have a house?
Alex: No..
Ella: Do you have a wife?
Alex: No..
Ella: Do you have a car?
Alex: No..
Ella: Are you dating? (I don't even think she knows what that is!)
Alex: No..
A momentary pause-
Ella: Can you go to the store by yourself?
Alex: Yep!
Ella: Oh! So you're like a little grown-up.

We were all cracking up. I love the way little minds work. Evidently the above things qualify you as a grown-up in her eyes. Uncle Alex isn't quite there yet. Enjoy little adulthood, Al! It goes by all too fast. :)

Welcome home, Lucy!

2010-10-04T13:26:00.007-05:00

Lucy McKenna is finally here... she was born at 1:46 pm on September 30th, 6 lb 13 oz, 19 1/2 inches long. We are so happy to have her here safe and sound. Everything went well with the delivery- other then the fact that my epidural ran out a good hour before she was born- but it was all worth it in the end. Luckily she was a little thing, so she was out with about 6 good pushes. She is the sweetest baby. She is so content, and has only cried once since we've had her home. The girls adore her. Ella just loves to sit and hold her every chance she gets. Molly loves to hold her too, but she only lasts about a minute before she's ready to pass her off. Everyone loves being around her, and she has brought such a sweet spirit to our home. We feel very blessed.

One more week...

2010-09-22T17:03:00.002-05:00

So I had a doctors appointment today, and they scheduled me to be induced next Wednesday, the 29th. Hooray! Molly was a little too big and got stuck coming out- so they've been watching the babies growth really carefully and decided to induce early to keep her around the 7 lb. range. I am so happy to have a date- and that it's only a week away. I'm tired of being a big fat cranky pregnant lady. I can't wait to be able to bend over, and walk up the stairs without being winded, eat whatever I want without getting heartburn and paint my own toenails. And most of all, I can't wait to have this baby in my arms. We are all so excited to meet her and snuggle her.

UPDATE

2010-09-02T08:25:00.002-05:00

Molly located another pair of scissors and cut her hair AGAIN this morning. I am not kidding. I thought her hair looked a lot worse this morning, but I thought it was just because we had a bath last night and I could see it better this morning. I was in the bathroom and saw a big chunk of hair on the floor. I yelled- Molly! Did you cut your hair again?? She said- yep. I asked why, she said because she wanted her hair to look beautiful. I said- (I know, this is awful) well, it doesn't. It is no longer salvagable. Oh well. At least people won't think I cut it awful on purpose. It's pretty obvious what happened here.

A Rite of Passage?

2010-09-01T12:46:00.002-05:00

Molly came up the stairs this morning announcing- "I gave myself a haircut with my little scissors!" I couldn't believe it. Which is funny, because nothing should surprise me any more with this child. I was almost in tears. And she says to me- "It's funny! Laugh!" Which I eventually did. I think it really could have been a lot worse. Its almost salvagable. I mean, it was bound to happen at some point or another, right?? So I should just be glad that I can make them into somewhat believable bangs. It gets a little too short in the back, but I guess that will just have to grow out. She was feeling pretty proud of herself and even admiring herself in every mirror she passed. I informed her that she will not be allowed to use her scissors anymore, and she said- "Oh. That's too bad." Maybe one day she'll put all of her creative energies towards a good cause. Until then I am keeping the scissors well hidden.

Family Time

2010-08-08T14:47:00.013-05:00

We got all dolled up for the library story time featuring Princess stories. The girls made these gorgeous hats since we didn't have any dress up clothes.

Our uninvited camping guest. This guy was huge and fearless. On the first night he ran off with our blueberries, cheese, and a pack of hot dogs. And have any of you ever heard a raccoon hiss? It's a terrifying sound when it wakes you up in the middle of the night. The girls have a renewed fear of raccoons. And this time for good reason. I'm a little scared myself.

Mmmm.. smores. Molly loved toasting the marshmellows, but I don't think she ate a single one of them.

Ella loved the water.

Molly loved the sand.

My little boating girl.

Enjoying our family's favorite game. Bananagrams. It's the best game ever.

Driving the boat with Papa.

Cuddling up with a cozy fabric remnant. Totally her grandma's girl.

We made an impromptu stop when we found a firefighters museum on the way to our tour of the Culinary Institute of America. Molly has wanted to be a firefighter for probably a year or more. She loves them. So we couldn't pass it up. She had a fabulous time, but it kind of sabotaged the rest of our day. Lets just say that we didn't exactly get to enjoy our trip to the CIA which was the focus of the whole trip. Molly also threw a world class temper tantrum that I'm pretty sure got everyone within ear shot questioning my parenting skills. The things we do for our kids.

Enjoying the ride from the bike trailer.

Red faced and exhausted after our bike hike. She was such a trooper. It took us about an hour and a half to get to our picnic spot, and 20 minutes to get back to the car. Curteousy of the never ending hill we had to go up to get there. About half way through Ella pulls her bike over to the side of the path and says- I give up! Molly calls out from her cushy spot in the trailer- Don't give up sissy! We're almost there! She pulled through. I was proud of her. It was quite a long hike.

Molly orders blue ice cream everywhere we go.

Can you believe the size of these Sundaes?
We went to an ice cream shop near my parents house that was featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Great ice cream. But the sundaes were huge!

Visiting the museum and playing doc.

Ah.. there it is.

Sporting Grandma's glasses and looking good.

Molly looking so grown up.

We visited Papa at school and got to play in the fountain.

Love this picture.

We were able to enjoy a nice long summer vacation. We started out on our annual Waddington family camping trip- always a good time. We got rained out on the last night and ended up at a hotel (where Ella discovered and fell in love with the A&E show Billy the Exterminator...) but it just added to the fun. The girls and I went back to NY with my parents and got to spend two weeks there. We had beautiful weather. My parents found a bike for Ella on Craigs List, and she wanted to ride bikes every chance she got. They spent a lot of time on the trampoline. They would wake me up at 7:00am and ask- Can we go on the trampoline? They loved spending time with their Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Ikes. We were so glad to be able to spend this time with them.

Getting My Craft On

2010-07-15T09:17:00.004-05:00

So I've spent a lot of time perusing the craft blogs lately for fun and fabulous baby stuff, and I came across these little shirts. I thought it would be cute to make matching ones for all three girlies. I love to get crafty, but my sewing skills are pretty spotty. So ignore the less than perfect stitching. But other then that, I thought they turned out pretty cute. On to the next craft!

Fourth of July

2010-07-08T18:01:00.004-05:00

my little firecrackers

daddy and ella

enjoying the spoils of the parade

enjoying one of the highlights of the fourth of july

seriously, do sparklers ever get old? i think not.

watching the neighbors fireworks. we were too cheap to buy our own..

according to dad, the holidays require soda. no comment.

Happy 4th! We had a last minute visit from Todd's parents, so we got to enjoy most of the holiday with them and our Smith cousins. We went to a parade on Saturday, and then caught the Delaware firework show on Sunday night. We had a great time. Surprisingly, Molly was tired of the fireworks after about 30 seconds. It was a 30 minute show. She spent the rest of the time climbing on people or smacking her cousins on the head. I think she would have been happier with her own box of sparklers. We were putting the used sparklers in a bucket of water. When we ran out Molly said- just dry them off. Then we'll have some more. I love three-year-old logic. The girls loved the parade so much that they wanted to put on their own parade when they got home. They decorated their wagon with flags they made themselves, then wrote poems and made 4th of July bracelets to hand out to people. It was very sweet. Now it's just up to me to take them around the neighborhood. I'm starting to wish I knew my neighbors..

happy birthday to ella...and a couple of pierced ears

2010-07-01T20:55:00.003-05:00

so very proud

make a wish... (her wish was that she could have her birthday every day. technically, you're not supposed to tell or it won't come true, but i'm not sure that's what's going to hold her back on this one).

so my little girl turned 6 yesterday. it was a great day for all. due to the fact that the last of her little friends moved last week, we had to forgo a party this year in favor of some quality family time. the original plan was to take the girls to toy story 3, then over to build-a-bear before heading to red robin for dinner. we had an AMC movie gift card that had been collecting dust since christmas. however, because yesterday was the opening day of a certain vampire movie, AMC decided that all 20 screens needed to be playing that movie all day long. seriously? so her birthday became a two-day hurrah. we did the movie and build-a-bear on tuesday, and then yesterday we went to the pool and then dinner with daddy at red robin. but before we made it to dinner, ella had one more birthday request. to get her sisters ears pierced. they were so cute talking about it, and ella convincing her sister that it didn't hurt, and she would look so pretty... that i went with it. and they really do look cute on her. so it was a big day for all. ella insisted on making her own cupcakes this year. she really is growing up so fast. i have loved having her home from school. i don't know how i'm going to function when school starts in september. she is such a big helper and such a sweet girl to have around all day. she and molly have really started enjoying each other, and spend most of their free time entertaining each other. ella loves all things girlie. she loves the idea of being a big girl. she is constantly doing things to make her family happy. she's a great little artist, loves doing art projects, and reading books. she is affectionate, thoughtful and loving, and i feel so blessed to be her mom. happy birthday pretty girl! we love you.

Water Fun

2010-07-01T14:30:00.010-05:00

fun at the dublin splash pad

making time for a sisterly hug

we've been enjoying some beautiful ohio weather the last couple weeks. we've spent a lot of time at the pool, the splash pad, and on the good ol' slip and slide. the girls are also in a swimming class together- due to the fact that we've been lazy about signing ella up until now... but they are loving it. the instructor takes them out in twos, and molly starts to cry and gets out of the pool if she doesn't take both of them together. she cries- that's my sissy! i want to go with sissy! its very sweet.

Trip to Utah

2010-05-28T07:55:00.004-05:00

I had the oppurtunity (with help from my parents, Todd and great friends) to take a solo trip out to Utah to visit my grandparents and my brother Eric, his wife Holly, and their darling new baby Rylee. It was so refreshing to be able to have a few days off to just relax and enjoy my vacation. I also got to see a couple of old friends from high school, which is always a treat. I spent most of my time cuddling Rylee. She is my first niece on my side. She is a tiny, sweet, happy little ball of a person- and I can only pray that number three is as easy as she is. I think I've earned it.

It's a....

2010-05-26T19:11:00.009-05:00

GIRL!!

Yep, girl number three is on the way. I really didn't care what the gender was, so I wasn't necessarily disappointed or excited to begin with. Todd admitted later that he was pretty disappointed it wasn't a boy. But he's coming to terms with it. :) Both of the girls are thrilled. They both wanted another sister. When I asked Molly the morning before the ultrasound what she thought the baby was going to be she said- "it's a girl." I said- "Well, what if it's a boy? Would that be okay?" And she said- "But it's a girl." So I guess she knew something we didn't. When I asked Ella what she wanted she said- "A girl. We don't have any boy clothes or boy toys, so what would we do if we had a boy? We only have girl stuff." Very logical. I'm starting to get pretty excited. I'm a pretty big fan of the girls I have, so why not add another?

Keeping Busy

2010-05-03T15:24:00.003-05:00

Mmmm... whipped topping for breakfast.
Too bad Mom came down and caught me. I was just getting started. Looks like its back to the oatmeal bowl for me.
Here we have a case of ketchup painting. In her defense, I did for once forget to specifically ask her to NOT paint herself with her lunch. I did remember to ask her not to paint the table or the television, and she was quick to point out the fact that she did not paint those things. I didn't say she couldn't paint her face. That day. I didn't get a full body shot either- She effectively covered her arms and legs as well. Who knew you could get so much coverage from one little squirt of ketchup?

Molly is perpetually busy. I like to think that instead of being naughty, she's just really busy. Depends on the day and my mood. Sometimes I swear she's doing something naughty just to see me lose it. If I keep my cool, that's one point for me. So she'll try something else the next day. It keeps things interesting. Here we have a case of me coming downstairs after my shower to find her sticking toothpicks into bottles of food coloring. ??? I could maybe understand that if I had just used the food coloring. And it had gotten her wheels turning. But no, I haven't used them in months. She's just very talented and finding messy things to do. Have I mentioned how much I love that girl?

Wisdom beyond her years...

2010-04-13T18:50:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Ella was watching a show on Food Network with me. There was a husband and wife cooking together (which is a new concept to Ella). She said- Mom, is that the Dad that is cooking with the Mom? And I said yes. She said- why is he doing that? I said- because they both love to cook, and they love each other, so they like doing that together. You should marry someone who likes to cook. She says- But you didn't? I kind of laughed and said -no. Her response- So you got what you got. Such true words from such a small girl! In Daddy's defense Molly came back with- Daddy knows how to cook hot dogs in the microwave! We appreciate Todd for all the things he does for us- cooking just isn't one of them!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLY!

2010-01-11T21:03:00.002-05:00

We celebrated another year with our sweet little Moose. She turned three on Friday! It was a great day. She wanted a beach party, so we did it up the best we could- considering it was about 5 degrees outside. She also designed her own cake. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she said she wanted a Super Moose cake. When I asked her what a Super Moose cake looked like, she said- it has blue frosting with M&M's on it. So she helped me put the whole thing together, and she was very proud of it. Here are a few things about Molly to help you to get to know her a little bit:

She calls herself Moose- which I think is hilarious.

She wants to be a firefighter when she grows up.

Her favorite color is blue.

She loves to help Mommy in the kitchen.

She loves to wrestle with Daddy.

She loves being tickled.

She is a mischief maker. :)

Her favorite foods are pizza and candy.

She is very affectionate.

She is constantly making us laugh.

Her word of the moment is poo-poo. Evidently adding poo-poo to the end of any sentence makes it hilarious.

She loves nursery. Every time the word 'amen' is said during sacrament meeting she says (very loudly) AMEN- now is it time for nursery?

She is completely unique and fun and wonderful. She brings such joy to our family. I feel so lucky to be her mommy!

My (Naughty) Little Artist

2010-01-03T16:15:00.002-05:00

She was caught in the act of brightening up Cole's ear canal..

Molly proudly showing off her work of art... Cole.

What can I say about my sweet little Molly? She has a knack for mischief. She can find it in the most unlikely of places. She is always one step ahead of me. She thinks of things I would never think of. Examples: Painting my bedroom walls with a shampoo/lotion mixture, painting my hardwood floors with sunblock, and most recently... painting her best bud Cole with fingernail polish. Now, it seems like this child just needs some... paint. And an acceptable place to put it. But no, that would be too easy. It loses its appeal. Luckily, Cole was a good sport. Not everyone has the chops to put up with our Molly!

Sleepin' Sisters

2010-01-03T16:08:00.002-05:00

These are a couple of pictures we've taken lately after finding the girls fast asleep in each other's arms. So sweet...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2009-12-27T12:06:00.007-05:00

Molly also LOVES baby dolls right now. She has been taking very good care of her little baby. She feeds her about 90 times a day. Just like a real mommy...

Papa gave Molly a matchbox car firestation. I thought this picture captured our little Moose just perfectly.

Grandma made the girls these darling nightgowns. She found the Fancy Nancy flannel, and she knew Ella would love it. She decided to make Molly some also, but wasn't sure what Molly liked. She finally settled on Cars flannel, because that is exactly what Molly loves. The beauty of being able to sew is that she could make it into a darling little nightgown, something we have yet to find in the stores! The girls love them.

The one thing that Molly asked for was a 'tv flat' (flat screen tv). I have no idea where that came from, but she was set on it. Needless to say, she did not receive a tv flat this year. She did, however, get Splatster, a game that allows you to 'paint' on the tv with this little controller. On the box is a big picture of a flat screen tv with a Splatster picture on it. As soon as Molly opened it she yelled out- "OH MY GOSH A TV FLAT!!" She has since dubbed the game 'tv flat'. I am just happy that she thinks she got what she asked for. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Before the living room looked like a tornado had hit.

Doing the happy candy dance.

The one thing Ella asked for for Christmas was a unicorn stuffed animal. This apparently, was the only one 'Santa' could find. But she was thrilled with it. She named it 'Love'.

Coming down the stairs Christmas morning.

Pretty in Pink. Did you know that most of the stores are sold out of their Christmas dresses by November?? I know now. Hence, we are in pink. But still cute.

Helping Daddy with his gingerbread house. In his effort to create a graham cracker mansion, I think he bit off more then he could chew, so he enlisted some good little workers to help him finish the job.

We had a wonderful whirlwind Christmas. I can't believe how fast it flew by. We were very blessed with a WARM Christmas. They had been predicting snow for weeks, which would have meant that Todd would have had to go to work. Luckily, the weather warmed up to where we just got rain. We spent most of the day with just our family, before going over to Todd's brother Dave's house for Christmas dinner. We had some good friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve, and that really helped to fill in the void of not being near family on the holidays. We missed all of you, and hope you had a wonderful holiday as well.

Happy Birthday Daddy-O!!

2009-12-11T11:31:00.002-05:00

Todd turned the big 3-0 this week. Of course it didn't phase him in the least... maybe that's a girl thing? Or maybe its just me. Anyway, he was completely happy to do a small family thing. My neighbor was telling me that she took her husband skydiving for his 30th birthday, and was wondering what I was going to do for Todd. She was shocked that we were just staying in with the fam. We made pizzas and watched A Christmas Story (Todd's favorite Christmas movie. I never realized how inappropriate for children it is until I actually watched it with my children. Oh well.) and finished the night with chocolate cake. I love that he's a simple guy that is just as happy sitting at home with his family then going out and living it up on his birthday. I love that he works hard during the day and is happy to come home and help me out too. I love that he is a very selfless person who really just wants his girls to be happy. Happy birthday! We love you!!

Trip to the Woods

2009-12-07T21:24:00.006-05:00

Our Thanksgiving dinner coming out of the oven. It was DE-lish.

The girlies enjoying their Thanksgiving feast. Well, the rolls at least. I think they might have braved a bite or two of jello, too.

Playing Tarzan. That was after they'd been with the daddies all day, so I'm not exactly sure how that whole thing started. They sure are cute though!

We went to this great little Christmas tree farm so they could pick out their tree. It was run by an older couple. She dressed up like Mrs. Claus and hung out in this little Christmas shed giving out cookies and hot cocoa. The highlight was this mechanical Santa that they had hooked up to a speaker thing so that someone could hide outside and make Santa talk to the kids. The got all the kids names and informed them all that they were on the nice list. Which was awesome for the kids at the time, but it sure has messed with our December bribery techniques. Every time we try to threaten Molly with the 'do you want to be on the naughty list' line, she says- "Santa already say me on the nice list, Mom. Remember?"

Also at the Christmas tree farm.

Our craft night. We had an awesome Christmas craft night last year, and we were excited to get to work again this year. I miss craft nights!! Anne is the best crafting buddy. And the banners turned out awesome.

We were able to go out to Hannibal, MO this year to spend Thanksgiving with our dear friends, the Woods. We had a wonderful time. The girls had a great time reuniting with their little friends, and spent the majority of the weekend playing 'Christmas'. Dinner was awesome. But the highlight of the trip (for me) was our Black Friday extravaganza. Shopping is a shared passion for Anne and I, so we spent the couple of weeks before the big day mapping out a plan of action. We headed out the door at 2:30am. We shopped our hearts out until lunch, during which we reviewed our receipts, and then spent the early part of the afternoon making returns. And then shopping some more. I think we did a good 14 hours. At which point we realized we actually do have a shopping limit. We ended the day seeing New Moon. It was so nice to have a whole day to ourselves. I think that was the longest that Todd has ever had the girls, and he was a good sport about it. The best part was spending serious quality time with Anne. We became friends so quickly when they moved to Columbus. Its not every day that you find a friend that shares so many of your same hobbies, and that you enjoy doing them all with. Thank you for the wonderful holiday. We miss you guys!!! The spare room is ready and waiting for you!!

You should've seen the other guy...

2009-12-03T08:26:00.003-05:00

Last night the girls were rocking out to Christmas music, and when 'Run Run Rudolph' came on, things got a little out of control! I heard Molly start to cry and I hear her sister instantly say- "I don't know what happenend!!" Which we all know is code for- "I really do know what happened, but I'm pretty sure Mom will be mad if she knew, so I'm taking this one to the grave." It didn't look too bad last night. Just a little bump and bruise on the corner of her eye. When she came into my room this morning, her eye was almost completely swollen shut! I said- "Oh my goodness! You look like Rocky!!" Molly said- "Yeah. Did Rocky have a boo-boo?" I heard her inform her sister, rather proudly, when she finally woke up that- "I look like Rocky" As I write this she is doing flips off the couch. I guess she's working on the other one!

Super Moose and Minnie Mouse

2009-11-01T19:00:00.010-05:00

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

2009-10-29T12:55:00.006-05:00

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!

2009-08-27T15:33:00.003-05:00

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...

2009-08-05T08:12:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-08-03T15:47:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-08-02T21:56:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-07-31T06:46:00.005-05:00

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.

A New Haircut.. and the many faces of Molly

2009-07-27T09:43:00.012-05:00

Pretty girl

Say cheese!

Sad face

Happy face!

Mad face

Silly face!

A before pic- this is how she looked after I sent her up to get her pajamas on. She said- "I did it!" Almost, sweetheart.

Last week I took the plunge and cut off Molly's golden locks. When the lady got out the scissors and chopped off the first chunk of hair my heart tightenend and I thought- "Oh my gosh! What was I thinking?!" It didn't help that Ella started to cry and said- "No! Why is she cutting Molly's hair?" But after gettting used to it for a couple of hours, I really like it, and so does she. Everytime some says they like her haircut, she says, "Thanks, I like your hairtut, too!" People have also been telling her that she looks so grown-up. She did a really big girl thing yesterday and I asked- "When did you grow up?" She answered- "When mama dot my hairtut." Too cute!

OUR NEW HOME!!

2009-07-23T07:51:00.020-05:00

My mom helped us to put in the front flowerbed which was no small task. The ground is solid clay topped with rock, mixed with the occasional chunk of concrete. Thank you mom!! It looks so much better. The people who did our yard were kind enough to put in near dead sod- hopefully my green thumbed husband can rescue it.
Upstairs landing, which up until a few days ago was where we were stashing all the boxes filled with things we didn't know what to do with. Now that those are gone, its a pretty nice space! I just need to figure out what to do with the walls.
The girlys room. So far this is the only room that has been painted. And I decided afterwards that I actually hate to paint, so it will probably be the only one I paint.

I made her a little reading corner since she is such a bookworm. I'm actually a little jealous of it.

Our furniture looked much better in our dingy old apartment!

I'm still trying to work out where exactly to put things on the bookshelves, but they are definitely one of my favorite features of the house.

The hallway leading to the kitchen from the living room.

I just like this corner for some reason.

My other favorite part of the house. We are loving the big open space in the kitchen. What I am not loving- the fact that I have to mop my floor at least every other day- sometimes twice a day- to keep it looking clean. Warning to all you dark wood floored people. I still love the look, and if I knew what I know now, I probably would have gotten them anyway. But it is definitely a pain in the butt. Any advice out there? What is the best way to clean my hardwood floors? And keep it that way for more then 2 hours?

The kitchen! Ah, cooking in a kitchen with actual counterspace and storage is a completely different experience. Best part? It looks right out into the backyard. Molly is having a little too much fun with the fact that the faucet has a hose and a sprayer though.

The long awaited playhouse is finally up. The girls absolutely love it. They are out there every day. Thanks again, Mom and Dad!

The girls helping Papa seal the wood.

Papa spent a good three days working almost exclusively on this house. It was truly a labor of love! Thanks, Papa!

The girls feeding the ducks in the pond behind our house. Its a nice bonus.

Molly a little too proud of herself for making us dinner. Yes, that is maple syrup all over my piano and my brand new floors. I had to wash the floors 4 times before it didn't feel sticky anymore. She was on Daddy's watch- he figured since she was being so quiet that she was being good. Any mother could tell you that quiet is always a red flag!

Ella's birthday fell on moving day, which was sad for me. Birthdays have always been a big deal at our house. I think she ended up having a good day with her friends though. We ended up at Magic Mountain with Kate, which was the only thing she really wanted to do. Again, a big thank you to Jenny and Megan for helping to make her birthday special. I can't how fast she is growing up. We love you Ella Bella!

We are doing well and are very happy in our new home. We are getting to know our little town of Delaware. I found out that we do have a small one screened theater when I took my brother to see Harry Potter. It is the quintessential small town theater. It is small and old with a stage at the front where someone goes up to announce the movie. We also went to the downtown parade on the Fourth of July, and to the firework show, which was awesome. I'm enjoying being away from all the hustle and bustle. We like to sit out on the porch in the evening while the girls ride their bikes up and down the sidewalk and look out at the big cornfield in front of our house. Thanks again to everyone helped us move and get settled. We're loving it here!

Quick Update..

2009-07-03T18:42:00.002-05:00

We're in the house! Moving day was Tuesday- which also happened to be Ella's birthday. Kind of a bummer, but a huge thank you to Megan and Jenny for helping out and trying to make it a special day for her. She had a great day. Anyway, we're still trying to get settled, but we are very happy here. The girls are loving the space, and Ella spends most of her time in the backyard on her new scooter or rollerskates. Thanks to everyone who helped by watching the girls or helping to clean. We couldn't have done it without you! I'll post pictures of the house and the birthday as soon as we get a little more settled.

Ella's sleep study...

2009-06-24T13:43:00.007-05:00

Sound asleep..

Still in dreamland...

Wondering what the heck is going on...

Just realizing that it's her silly sister...

Time to get up...

Ready to rock n' roll!!

Last week I asked Ella to go upstairs and get Molly up from her nap. Evidently she had taken the camera with her and chronicled the whole thing. I had no idea until I was checking the pictures on the camera and found this whole series. I thought it was hilarious!

The things they say...

2009-05-26T13:41:00.003-05:00

Molly is really growing up. She is very independent and talking up a storm. She insists on doing everything herself, and I understand that it is important to give her a chance to try things on her own. So I usually give her an honest go, but after about 10 minutes of watching her try unsuccessfully to button the buttons on the BACK of her dress, I usually take over. Sometimes I have to explain to her that she is only two- and sometimes Mommy's need to help. Her new argument is- "I not two, I 'free'!!" I'm not even sure how to respond to that. "Okay. Whatever." Is usually all I come up with.
Ella initiated a conversation on the topic of boys and girls the other day in the car. She proceeded to tell me who all is a boy, and who all is a girl. When she announced that Molly was a girl, Molly just laughed and said- I not a girl. I a moose. For those of you who know her nickname, that was pretty funny. I think she's really internalized it. On Friday I told her she was being a crazy animal, and she said, "I not an animal. I a moose." I said- "Oh, you're a crazy moose?" Molly- "No, I a happy moose!"
Ella has also picked up a few words in her vocabulary. Unfortunately, they are rarely used in the right context, and when they are, I'm pretty sure its by accident. The words are: disgusting, boring, and shocking (my personal favorite). Whenever we ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do she says- "That's boring and shocking!" Usually any time Molly is bothering her, it's disgusting. We tried to explain to her what the words meant, and she responded by saying- "shocking".
Last night in the bath Ella was being a total grump, and she defended herself by saying that she hasn't gotten enough sleep lately because Molly keeps waking her up. Todd said- Um, the other day before work I came into your room and you were the one trying to wake up your sister. Ella said- "Well, I had to wake her up to tell her not to wake me up any more!"
Gotta love it!

House Update

2009-05-21T12:22:00.002-05:00

Okay, here's a quick update on the house. It's finally coming together! We were so excited to go up to the house on Saturday and see all the progress. The kitchen is easily my favorite room in the house. And I am pleased to announce that I have three times the cupboards and drawers that I have now. And I will have a lot more counterspace. Once we have counters. The girls would stay there all day if we let them. We're hoping to close by June 15th. Plenty of time to enjoy the summer in our new backyard. We love you new house!!

Day at the Zoo

2009-05-02T20:59:00.003-05:00

We finally got ourselves a zoo pass. Hooray! Here's a few pics of our first trip with Daddy. Molly is still terrified of animals- but seems to do okay when they're behind glass. We just have to walk quickly past the petting zoo. She clings to my neck and says- "No Mama! Scared!" Which I think is funny because she is normally such a little bruiser.

Belated Easter

2009-05-02T20:45:00.010-05:00

So its a little late, but I thought I would post some pictures of Easter. I failed miserably at getting a good picture of the girls in their Easter dresses, but we got a few other cute ones along the way. My parents and brother came down for a week and spent the holiday with us. Always a good time. We had a little Easter egg hunt for the girls and some of their friends, courtesy of Grandma and Papa.

OUR NEW HOME!

2009-03-16T10:17:00.006-05:00

Most of you have probably already heard by now, but Todd and I finally bought our first home! We are all so excited. We were able to take advantage of the housing market and get a great deal on a new home in Delaware, Ohio. Its about 30 minutes from where we are living right now. We've been going up there every Saturday to check on the progress, and we finally have some pictures worth sharing. We're hoping that we will be ready for closing in June. Ella is very excited about turning 5 in her new house. As exciting as the house is, I think I am more excited for the fenced backyard. I'm not going to know what to do with myself!

This is a picture of the entryway leading into the kitchen and dining room. As you can see, I have a great view of the backyard from the kitchen. To the right is a the bathroom and a little playroom.

This is the view from our bedroom window. The girls are very excited about the duck pond right outside our backyard.

Ella in her hard hat.

2009-03-06T22:19:00.007-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in so long... I claim WINTER BLUES!!! I've been lazy about a lot of things lately. Blogging was one of the first things to go. Followed closely behind by consistent parenting. We've had this discussion in particular a lot around here lately-
Ella- "Mom, can I keep this huge fort up in the middle of the living room for the rest of the week?"
Me- "No."
Ella- "Aaargh! Please!"
Me- "No."
Ella- A LOT of whining and crying.
Me- "FINE!"
Ella- "Can I have my lunch in there?"
Me- "No- lets eat at the table, please."
Ella- "But Mom!!"
Me- "No, Ella."
Ella- MORE whining and crying.
Me- "FINE!"
I've lost my resolve to argue with that child. We're just trying to make it through the winter. My sweet little Ella left with the warm weather, and I am just praying that when it comes back, so will she. In the meantime, we've dubbed her CruElla. Which usually serves to make her angrier. Because, as she says, she's "still Cinderella, who just doesn't like anything."
Here are a few pictures of the last couple months-

A couple of pictures from our trip to Buffalo to visit Grandma and Papa- there was a great little children's museum. We also went to the Fisher-Price museum of toys. Which was great, because it was freezing cold outside.

Our only venture into the snow this season. It was just too cold!! Molly refused to keep her gloves on, so within 2 minutes she is bawling and holding up her little red hands. The rest of the time I had to sit inside with Molly and watch Ella out the window. I am so over snow.

Ella loves putting together little beds and forts for her and Molly- whatever we can do to pass the time!

2009-01-12T21:46:00.003-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLY!

Molly had her birthday on Friday, and we are now officially the proud owners of a two-year-old! Its hard to believe that two years have gone by already. She grew up so fast. It didn't help that she couldn't wait to do it. She is fiercely independent, and is determined to do everything by herself. She started potting training herself 4 months ago, and gets really upset if you try and do anything for her that she thinks she can do herself. Those fits can set us back a good 20 minutes, so I usually play along. She is not super cuddly, but she is very affectionate. She loves to sit next to me with a little arm around my neck. She is also a big helper. She loves to help Mommy clean up, and unload the dishwasher. She also thinks she is quite the comedian, and is constantly cracking herself up. She is learning new words every day. Although if I ask her if she can say any specific word, she will always tell me "no". She loves baby dolls, Dora, and Elmo. She is such a joy to be around, and she is always happy. Molly, you have been such a blessing in our lives, and we love you so very very much! Happy birthday Moosie!!

2008-12-29T20:31:00.014-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

How cute are the girls in their Christmas dresses? Getting a decent picture was another story. One of these Christmas's Santa is going to leave me a very nice camera under the tree that will capture hundreds of perfect pictures, but until then I'll have to make do with whatever candids we come up with. We had a very nice low key holiday. The girls were so excited for Christmas this year. I'm not sure how much Molly really understood what was going on, but Ella's enthusiasm definitely rubbed off on her. She loved unwrapping presents, and got really mad whenever it was someone else's turn. The kitchen Santa brought her was a big hit.

Ella has been busy playing for the last five days. Everytime we go out she asks- "Are we going home soon so I can play with my toys?" She keeps asking me how the elves made all the different things in the workshop that she got for Christmas.

Its hard to believe that another year has gone by. We have been very blessed this year, and we're excited for all the possibilities this new year will bring. That being said, I'm about to go eat another piece of cake because my new year resolutions don't kick in for another three days. We love you all, and hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Are you on the nice list?

2008-12-14T20:15:00.003-05:00

So this morning Todd showed the girls this website that tracks Santa on Christmas Eve. It also has a countdown to Christmas, and I think there were some games or something like that. What I loved was where you could check to see if you were on the naughty or nice list. So we got on and checked both of the girls. It asks them a few questions like- Do you go to bed on time every night? and so on and so forth. And I am pleased to announce that both of our girls made the nice list this year. Well, according to Santa Ella is barely hanging on. But that was good enough for her. We may have sacrificed any leverage we had on her before Christmas by giving her that news. Anyway, check it out- www.northpole.com.

Naughty or Nice

2008-12-10T14:04:00.003-05:00

I have been so lazy at blogging lately- and I felt very justified, seeing as how the holidays are just around the corner. But when our funny little girl learned this new word, I knew I needed to make some time for the blog between everything else that is going on. Hopefully I'll be back before Christmas...

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

2008-11-25T21:12:00.002-05:00

The Christmas spirit has hit our house big time. Ella asks me on a daily basis when Christmas will be here. We've really had to reinforce that Christmas is about Jesus, not Santa. A great example happened during her bedtime prayer the other night- "Thank you that Santa can come to our house in his sleigh. Thank you for his reindeers. And thank you for Jesus Christ. And thank you that he has a good list and a bad list and he's checking it twice. But help us to be good, for goodness sake." She really had us cracking up!

2008-11-03T19:53:00.006-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween was so much fun this year. Ella is still asking me every day when Halloween is coming again. I've been pushing the Christmas angle, but the memory of Halloween is still too fresh in her little mind. Molly was a pro trick-or-treater. Ella was done about half-way through, and spent the rest of the time being pushed in the stroller so she could raid her candy bag. Molly couldn't wait to get to the next door. She would look up at us to make sure it was okay, then she would take off for the front door.

HAPPY FALL!

2008-10-28T19:43:00.008-05:00

We finally got a chance to go apple picking this year- one of my favorite fall activities!

Ella insisted on having her own bag so she could pick her own apples.

Molly was good at finding the most rotten apples on the ground. We were constantly having to look in our bags to check for any treats she added to our bags.

Molly has become my biggest helper lately. She loves to vacuum. Okay, so maybe its not that helpful. But she tries! She has started setting the table lately, too. The plates are placed precariously close to the edge of the table, and half of the time the forks are on the chairs, but she really does get all of the stuff to the table by herself!

Decorating sugar cookies, another fall favorite. Ella spent most of the time eating the chocolate frosting. Better her then me.

Ella loves making crafts, so I have been scrambling around trying to find different things for us to do. These ghosts were one of them. Ella's ghost is the highly decorated one the left. Molly's is the somewhat pancake shaped ghost on the right.

I haven't been very good at updating our blog lately- so I thought I would just throw all of the random pictures I have lying around into one post and call it good! Lazy, I know. Happy Halloween everyone! I promise to blog our little Ariel and bumblebee after all the holiday fun.

Second Time Around

2008-10-11T13:29:00.002-05:00

I just finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird. It was our bookclub book this month. I haven't read it since junior high, when it was a required read. It was so good, I want to pick it right back up and start reading it all over again. I don't remember thinking much about it either way when I read it in junior high. Its making me want to go back and read all the things that I read back then in order to fully appreciate them. Who knows what else I could be missing? I wish I hadn't have waited so long to read this again. Okay, I know I am branding myself as a total bookworm right now. But for all of you that haven't read this book since you had to do a character development paper on it, I strongly urge you to go back and read it again. I think you will find it a much different experience this time around. At least I did.

Poor Baby!!

2008-10-10T13:25:00.003-05:00

My poor baby took a fall down some cement steps last night and got herself a pretty good gash on her forehead. She is such a trooper, she barely cried at all. I think Ella was more upset then Molly was. In her defense, there was a LOT of blood. We thought it looked pretty borderline, so it took a little while to decide whether or not it warranted a trip to Urgent Care. I finally decided it better to take her and have them tell me that she didn't need them, then to not take her and leave her with a huge scar on her head for life. The doctor looked at it and immediately said that it would need a couple of stitches, so apparently my idea of borderline and her idea of borderline were not quite the same. We got there about 8:00pm, and Molly spent most of that time charming the nurses and helping herself to all the stickers and suckers she could handle. I think she thought it was a great treat to get to stay up so late hanging out with Mommy. The only time she cried was when we had to bundle her up and hold her down so they could put the actual stitches in, and even then she was just mad that we weren't letting her move.

When we got home Ella had made Molly a picture of all her favorite things to help her feel better. She asked three times in her night time prayer that Heavenly Father will make Molly's owie all better. She is such a sweet sister! All day she's been playing Nurse Ella, informing Molly not to touch her bandaid if she wants it to get better, and more importantly to definitely not show Ella her boo-boo because "it is VERY gross, and I don't want to see it." Ella took a trip to Urgent Care at the same age for stitches in the same place, so apparently its a rite of passage in our house. We're just glad that she's fine. She was going to be a bumblebee for Halloween, but I think she might make a better Frankenstein this year...

Worthy of a Post

2008-09-27T13:47:00.003-05:00

So a few weeks ago the girls lugged a bag of dried beans from the pantry into their room to play 'kitchen'. I let them enjoy that for a couple of days before I got tired of finding little bowls and cups of beans all over the place. The last straw was the bowl of beans and water I found marinating by the sink in their bathroom. About a week after I (thought) I had gotten rid of all of the beans, I was helping Ella into the bathroom to brush her teeth, and I found this little sprout coming out of the drain. I was confused for a second wondering how Ella had gotten the plant from until I realized that it had grown from one of the beans that must have gotten stuck in the drain. We got a pretty good laugh out of it. A few days ago Todd discovered two more sprouts making their way out of the drain. I have no idea how many got washed down the sink. It was pretty amazing. I finally got Ella to hold them for a picture. She didn't want to touch the sprouts. I asked what the problem was, she picks flowers all the time. She informed me "I only like to hold beautiful flowers, Mom. Not gross ones."

A Farewell to Summer

2008-09-27T13:22:00.013-05:00

Camping at Pymatuning Lake with Grandma and Papa!

Mmm.. whipped cream in a can! The endless junk food was definitely Molly's favorite part of camping.

Molly has decided to start potty training herself. I think as soon as the newness wears off, she'll go back to doing her business in a diaper.

Day at the zoo with the fam!

The end of summer came with a rush of activities, and somewhere during all of that craziness I lost some of desire to blog them. So I thought I would stick them all together as a sort of farewell to summer... excuse the seemingly complete randomness of the photos. The end of summer is always somewhat bittersweet for me, but I have decided to embrace the cooler weather and all that comes with it. Goodbye Summer!! We'll miss you!

Too funny not to share...

2008-08-26T12:50:00.004-05:00

Watch closely at the end of the video. It almost hurts to watch..

Uncle Bob's Wedding

2008-08-25T19:57:00.012-05:00

My brother Eric (a.k.a. "Uncle Bob") got married last week to his beautiful bride, Holly. It was a gorgeous wedding, and I am so glad that we were able to go out there and be with them. Minus Todd. Sorry about that, honey. The girls loved their flower girl dresses and spent most of the reception out on the dance floor showing off the wonderful spin radius on them. That was Ella's only request for the dresses. That they be 'spinny'. Even Molly would go out and spin on cue. We got to see a lot of friends and family, and the girls got to spend some time with my grandparents. I'm just glad that someone finally got Eric to tie the knot. :) Welcome to the family, Holly!

2008-08-25T19:29:00.009-05:00

The girls had a great time at the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Ella informed that she was a "little bit scared of dinosaurs". But that didn't last for long.

Rub a dub dub, no more room in the tub.

Probably Ella's favorite part of the entire trip, the little 4-wheeler. It turns out it really is every bit as fun as I always thought it would be as a kid...

We spent one day at the pool. Molly spent most of the time on this little water slide. She was a little timid the first time, but was completely fearless from then on out. I do miss Utah summers!

Gotta love the cheek hanging out...

All tuckered out.

I was able to spend a few days while we were in Utah with some dear friends. We had such a good time. It was so fun to see them again. I wish we were closer, but since we can't be, I'm glad that we could spend this time together! We kept the kids busy all day then got them all to bed so that we could hang out and get our girl time. I love you guys! Ohio 2010 or bust!!

Fun in the Sun

2008-08-11T13:01:00.008-05:00

We spent last Saturday at the beach with some friends from the ward. We all had a great time. Ella enjoyed the water, Molly preferred the sand. I just love being out in the sunshine!

OHIO STATE FAIR

2008-08-06T20:39:00.008-05:00

Today we took the girls to the fair. I remember it being more fun when I was younger. We had a good time, but after a couple hours of jerky rides, cheap toys, greasy food and stinky animal barns we were done! Molly had no desire to get any closer to the animals then she was in the stroller. When I tried to unbuckle her to let her get out, she shook her head and grabbed the buckle from me so I couldn't undo it. She's no longer screaming in fear of animals though, so thats a good thing. Their favorite part was definitely the rides. Poor Molly could only go on two of them. She had a hard time sitting and watching her sister go on the other ones. After one funnelcake we decided to forgo fair food in favor of a sit down (airconditioned) restaurant. All in all it was a good day. At least the girls will sleep good tonight!

Problem solved

2008-08-04T13:36:00.005-05:00

Little did she know what exactly she was helping with....

What'cha doing Dad?

Time for bed!

Wait a minute... something's wrong here. Couldn't I do this last night??

My sanity has been preserved for another night.. we discovered that the crib could actually be lowered a couple notches. So I think we are safe until she grows a couple of inches to make up for it!

HELP ME!!

2008-08-01T18:29:00.005-05:00

This morning both of the girls came running into our bedroom and Ella announced that Molly got out of her bed all by herself. Thinking maybe it was a fluke I didn't think much of it until tonight, when I finally got them all settled into bed and myself settled comfortably on the couch. I heard a loud thump and next thing I knew both girls were laughing and running around downstairs. So I put them both back in bed and a then brought the camera up to try and catch the escape on video. She didn't disappoint. In fact, I have put her in there 6 times now, and as I type I hear the pitter patter of little feet running around upstairs. Help me! How do I keep her in her bed?? She is going to break her hip. Oh, and please ignore the messy room...

Molly's New Dance

2008-07-30T19:16:00.004-05:00

Molly has been doing this dance lately, and it is so funny. She's always making us laugh. I think she knows how cute she is when she does it because she does it all the time now and just grins at us. She likes to catch herself doing it in the mirror, too. Crazy girl! Molly's little buddy Cole decided to rock out with Molly also. We love Cole because Molly can't get enough of him... and he actually puts up with it!!

Todd's Two Cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-23T19:43:00.007-05:00

Just to all of you women who's husbands love football and love to watch it. The season is right around the corner! I know Aubrey can't wait.

Sweet friends

2008-07-14T18:31:00.006-05:00

I've been blessed with a new visiting teaching companion, Sister Todd. She has been so wonderful to me and my family. She took Ella out to ice cream for her birthday, which she is still talking about. She also watched the girls on Saturday for me and I think Ella has found a new best friend! When I dropped her off, Ella was literally pushing me out of Sister Todd's house and into my car so she could get busy having fun. When I came to pick them up Ella told me all about how they planted in the garden, and made pictures, and played with stuffed animals, and then when I told her it was time to go she said- "But Mommy! I haven't had fun yet!" Sister Todd took lots of pictures for me, and I thought they definitely deserved a post!

All Grown Up

2008-07-08T11:39:00.002-05:00

For the last couple of months, Ella has been talking a lot about getting her ears pierced. I decided I would let her do it when she was ready and could make the decision herself. So after a lot of crying and begging, I finally took her to the mall. She was such a big girl, she sat there still as can be and barely even flinched when they did it. She has been so excited, and she looks really cute. But I have been a little sad about it... it was such a big girl thing to do. What happened to my baby?

Happy Birthday!

2008-07-01T12:14:00.008-05:00

These last few weeks princesses have taken a backseat to Hello Kitty. After two years, I can't say I mind the distraction.

She picked out this hair styling Ariel on her birthday. Its a little weird to see her tucking a giant head into bed at night, but I thought it was cute when I caught them snuggling on the couch!

I think Molly enjoyed the cake more then her sister...

Her big present this year was her new big girl bike. She has been asking for weeks if she could go to the toy store to ride this bike around the store. After a few times of that we decided she probably was ready to pass the trike off to Molly.

Sisterly love!

You have grown up so much this year and we are so proud of you! You are such a sweet sister and wonderful daughter. You keep us all smiling! Happy birthday little girl. We love you!

Dancing Queen

2008-06-21T21:06:00.001-05:00

A Very Merry Unbirthday

2008-06-21T18:27:00.010-05:00

Last week my parents were in town for a few days on their way back from Trinidad. For the past few years we've just happened to have the family together during Ella's birthday. This year, we decided to keep the tradition alive, even though we were a couple weeks shy of her actual birthday. It was a great day, even if it did wear us all out. And nobody was happier then the birthday girl.

We took a trip to the Park of Roses. All of the roses were fully in bloom. It was beautiful!

Molly has had this phobia of all living animals for awhile now, so I was a little concerned at how she would handle the zoo. She surprised us all, she loved it! She is still terrified of dogs though. Go figure.

We even got Molly into the petting zoo. It was an unbirthday miracle. This was the only time she got anywhere near any of the animals, though.

Grandmom and Molly in front of a huge, inflatable frog...

The birthday girl at Graeters.

My parents had gone six long months without good mexican food...

All tuckered out after a long, busy day.

They recently got new rides at the zoo. Ella and Molly both loved them. When Ella would go on the 'big girl rides' Molly would stand outside the gate reaching her little arms through and saying "More".

Eeewww....

Trinidad

2008-06-10T20:43:00.016-05:00

We just got back from our trip to Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday. It was amazing! We had such a great time. It was fun and relaxing and everything a vacation should be, but rarely ever is! Thank you, thank you to my parents for flying us down there, and to Todd's mom for watching the girls so we could have a week to ourselves. We are so blessed!

Enjoying sand and surf at the beach in Trinidad. I tried a little body surfing, but usually just ended up with a nose full of sea water.

This is a beautiful shot going over the mountains on our way to the beach.

We went to Pitch Lake while we were there. It is a huge natural tar pit. It was really interesting. I guess China is getting all of their tar from Trinidad that they need for the Olympics. So while you are watching the Olympics, you can think of me... :)

We also went to the Floating Temple. It was supposed to be this temple built on a little island surrounded by water. But the tide was out so far you couldn't even see where the water started. That might have made it a little more impressive. But we were able to snag a couple of really cool pots that people throw out into the ocean after they worship. The tide brought them all up to the shore. I'm not sure if we were supposed to do that, but it was cool.

Here is a picture of us on the shore by the Floating Temple.

This a picture of my little brother Isaac. He went to a Hindu school while they were living there. The people were so nice and threw him a big going away party when he left. They made an authentic Indian meal for all of us. It was really good. They don't use silverware. I somehow managed to eat it all without spilling it on myself, but not without spilling it on Todd. His school is just made of cinderblock that was open to the outside, and it is just one large room where the classes are seperated by a chalkboard. It was a very different experience for him.

We took this picture while we were in Tobago. My parents flew us over there for three days. Todd brought bread out to feed the fish. He thought that was very cool.

The sunset right outside our hotel.

This was the view from our room.

This is a picture of all of us enjoying the sand bar in Tobago. Its supposedly the fourth wonder of the world. But its way out in the middle of the ocean, and the water only comes up to your waist. It is surrounded by coral reefs, which we got to see when we were out on the glass bottomed boat. Its the coral that makes the water so clear.

A picture of our hotel.

Todd outside our hotel.

We rented jet skis one day and took them out to the sand bar. It was awesome. We also got to snorkel while we were out there. Hence the snorkeling gear.

It was neat to be able to experience both islands. Tobago was really gorgeous. And Trinidad really made me appreciate how very blessed we are to live in the United States. The people there were wonderful. But it was good to get home. I was starting to miss my girlies. I came back rejuvenated and ready to be the world's greatest mom. But they were ready for me. I think they were great for Todd's mom, and then saved up all the whining and crying especially for me. Or they are trying to punish me for leaving them. Either way, life is back to normal. At least I have the pictures.

A to Z about me

2008-05-20T12:31:00.002-05:00

A- Attached or Single?
Attached
B-Best Friend? Kara. We've been BF's for about 16 years now.
C-Cake or pie? Both.. (that's my sweet tooth talking)
D-Day of choice? Wednesday. Todd's home.
E-Essential Item? snacks in my diaperbag!
F-Favorite color? yellow. It reminds me of summer.
G-Gummy bears or worms? Gummy bears.
H-Home town? Puyallup, WA
I-Favorite indulgence? Body Pump at the gym
J-January or July? Definitely July
K-Kids? Two girlies.
L-Life isn't complete without? My family.
M-Marriage date?May 3rd, 2003
N-Number of brothers and sisters? Three brothers
O-Oranges or Apples? Apples
P-Phobias? Spiders. They give me the heebie jeebies.
Q-Quote? Better late then never. :)
R-Reasons to smile? My girls
S-Season of choice? Spring and summer. What can I say, I worship the sun.
T-Tag 3 people: Kara, Terra and Jamie
U-Unknown fact about me? I like cemeteries. Is that weird?
V-Vegetable? Love them all.
W-Worst habit? I love reading junk magazines in the checkout lane.
X-Xray or Ultrasound? That would definitely have to be seeing my baby on at ultrasound.
Y-Your favorite food? Chocolate chip cookies
Z-Zodiac sign: Scorpio

Uncle Matt's Wedding

2008-05-12T20:23:00.011-05:00

This weekend we got to go to Pennsylvania to watch Todd's brother Matt marry his sweetheart, Natina. Molly had so many cameras pointed at her this weekend that by Sunday, if she just saw one she would sit right down and say "Eeese!" It was so cute. Ella spent about 90% of the time coloring. Its her new passion. The girls had a nice time getting to know all their cousins. We wish we were all closer! Thank you to the Bradshaw's for putting us up for the weekend! We had a great time. But its nice to be back on a schedule. Molly took a four hour nap today!

Letterboxing

2008-05-04T19:30:00.007-05:00

This Sunday was Stake Conference, so we got out of church at 2:30. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon by letterboxing. For those of you who have never heard of it, allow me to introduce you. Its kind of like a treasure hunt. You go to the website, www.letterboxing.org. You can put in where you live, and it will pull up a whole list of letterboxes near you. Then it will give you a list of instructions on how to find each one. I think anyone can hide one. Some of them have funny stories or poems in them. Anyway, you follow the clues, and it will lead you to a box that is hidden in a tree stump or under a rock. Inside is a stamp and notepad. You bring along your own stamp and notepad, and you put your stamp in their book, and you stamp theirs in your notebook and log the day you were there. Ella thinks it is so cool to be able to find this 'treasure'. What I love about it is that you discover all these cool out of the way parks and trails and nature preserves that you never would have found otherwise. One of them we did today led us to this really cool path through a ravine with a waterfall and little bridges. So if you like walking, hiking, the outdoors, treasure hunts, spending quality time with your family, or trying new things... I definitely suggest giving it a try. Our family really loves it. Its a really fun, not to mention free, activity for the whole family.

The ones that we did today took us through Clintonville. It is the neatest little town! There are a ton of neighborhoods with older homes full of personality. I love it. I had to take a picture of this one house, because I fell in love with it. How cute is that?

The second picture is kind of hard to see, but it was a nest of baby robins. If you look really closely on the left side of the nest you can see the little head and beak of one of the little birds. I think I get a little too excited about those kind of things. :)

Molly has been exerting her independence a little more then I would like at her age. Today, she decided she wanted to wear her (dirty) Dora pajamas. She literally screamed and threw herself on the floor when I tried to change her. I decided it wouldn't kill her, or me, to take her out into public with dirty pajamas on this once. And what do you know, I was right. Not the cutest for pictures though.

Spring time and sore throats!

2008-04-29T19:16:00.005-05:00

I thought that we had been pretty lucky making it through winter without really getting sick at all. But apparently, we just decided to get it all in one week. Ella started out the week with a cold that developed into strep throat, and a week later, Molly started in on the same cough and fever. I took her to the doctor this morning, and it turns out she has strep throat, a double ear infection, and they put her on chest treatments because her cough was so bad and she had so much fluid in her lungs. My poor baby! I felt so awful having to load her up on medications tonight before putting her to bed. This is the first time I've had to take her to the doctor for being sick. She did not like it. Especially the five minutes (literally) I had to try and hold her still while the nurse tried to get her to breathe into the mask to clear her lungs.

On a better note, its finally sunny outside! We walk to the park whenever we get a chance, and the girls love it. We have a little playground in our complex that in my opinion is pretty lame, but there is never anyone there, and its fenced off so that the girls can just run around all they want and I don't have to chase them! You can't put a price on that.

I don't have a picture of my little sickies, but I do have a picture of us enjoying the long-awaited sunshine, so I thought I would share that. I thought the girls looked so cute sitting there together eating their popsicles.

Guitar Hero

2008-04-24T21:02:00.004-05:00

We've recently been introduced to Guitar Hero. And it is awesome. I have never been one for video games, but this one is right up my alley. And probably the only one that I will ever be able to kick Todd's butt at. :) I've tried to keep it put away until after the girls go to bed, but sometimes it calls to me. Ella was watching TV the other day, and she yells to me in the kitchen, "Hey Mommy, is just like your guitar game." The music on the commercial was one of the songs on the game. I think its time to put it away for awhile...

What goes around...

2008-04-15T20:08:00.003-05:00

Well, my baby has definitely grown up. She is no longer my innocent, precious little baby, but the aggressor. We went to some friends house for dinner the other night, and Molly spent the majority of the night torturing their poor baby (sorry Garrett!). He might have some pounds on her, but he did not take advantage of them! She was pulling his hair, jabbing his eyes, wrestling him to the ground... all with a sweet smile. I realized tonight where it stems from. I stuck the girls in the tub and proceeded to straighten up their room, and I kept hearing Molly wailing and Ella screeching back at her. So I kept up the unsuccessful refrain of- "Ella, leave your sister alone. Give her back whatever you took." She finally yells back, "but Mommy! Its not me, its Molly!" I go into the bathroom to see Molly standing behind Ella with a fistful of her hair. I am so used to Ella bugging her sister, I don't even take time to notice what is really going on! I would feel worse if I hadn't spent the last few months telling Ella- "one day she's going to get bigger". And you know what they say. What goes around...

HAPPY EASTER!

2008-03-24T12:22:00.007-05:00

Happy Easter! We had a lot of fun this year with both girls. Molly is still little, but she still had a great time. The first couple of pics are from an Easter activity that we had at the church. The rest are from Easter morning. I was amazed when I went through the pictures and actually found a couple where both of the girls are looking at the camera! Granted, I had taken about 30 pictures, but even then the odds aren't all that good! Ella was thrilled with her basket, and didn't even care about the eggs hidden all over the house. I was kind of bummed, because I, I mean, the Easter bunny, had hidden a bunch thinking she would love it. But as soon as Molly realized what was in the eggs, she was all over the place searching for them. She would shake it and come running over to me so I could open it. I don't think I caught her once all morning without a mouth full of candy. She was in heaven! Of course as soon as Ella realized that Molly was finding all the eggs, she joined in the hunt. She couldn't have her little sister beating her out! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We wish we could be closer to everyone to enjoy the holidays. Until then, the blog will have to suffice!

Leprauchans, the Easter Bunny, and the Holy Ghost

2008-03-22T12:15:00.002-05:00

Well, Ella has really loved being a Sunbeam. I love that she really seems to be taking things in. Every Sunday on the way home we talk about what the learned in Sunbeams that day. I've realized that although she is really listening, she also has no comprehension of a lot of the things they discuss. For example, since they learned about the Holy Ghost, she refers to him quite often. She'll bring out her Halloween books and ask me to read the one about the Holy Ghost. On St. Patricks Day, after the leprauchans left us a little treat, she informed me that she heard them last night. Along with the Easter Bunny and the Holy Ghost. She said- That Holy Ghost is pretty scary, Mom. I said, no, he's nice, remember? She told me- Not anymore, Mom. I told you he's pretty scary.

I've been trying to talk to her about Easter, and how Jesus died for us. But unfortunately, that translates in her three year old mind to- "Jesus keeps on dying. But thats okay, because the princesses will save Him." She then proceeds to have all of the princesses take turns riding on the horse to go save Jesus. Then they sing I am a Child of God. Its still too soon to worry, right? :)

BRRR!!

2008-03-09T12:22:00.005-05:00

This weekend we had record snowfall in Columbus (Darn! Knocking on wood didn't work!!)
Apparently it beat a record set in 1910. And Todd got a long overdue day off because of it, so I guess I can't complain. The girls were so excited. I tried to just send Ella out with Todd and keep Molly in with me, but she spent the whole time watching them out the window and crying, which wasn't fun for either of us. So I finally bundled her up and sent her outside too. The snow drifts were taller then Ella. Todd even carved a little slide out of one of them for the girls to slide down. Molly was happy until she took a face plant in the snow, and then she was done. And yes, I made sure to get a picture before I wiped her face off. Don't judge me!

2008-03-05T13:46:00.002-05:00

Winter seems very unwilling to release its grasp on Columbus. That said, last night it snowed again. Yay. Ella, however, was very excited. She begged me to go out and play in the snow, and I finally gave in because I am hoping that this will be one of the last snowfalls (knock on wood...). She was dressed up in her usual princess attire, so I told her that she couldn't go outside until she put clothes on. About 5 minutes later she comes tearing down the stairs saying, "I got my snow clothes on Mom! I'm going outside, bye!" I come out of the bathroom to see her headed outside in this outfit. I just started laughing. She proceeded to be very grumpy at me, as you can see in the photos. I told her she looked gorgeous, but those weren't exactly the best clothes for playing in the snow. I know how she feels though, I'm longing for short sleeves and sandals myself. Am I getting repetitive?

Sad news

2008-03-04T13:19:00.003-05:00

It turns out yesterday was a fluke... today is very cold, and very wet. Ugh. At least we took advantage of the one day that we did have. That will have to be enough to hold us over until spring is actually here...

Spring is in the air!

2008-03-03T20:54:00.002-05:00

YEAH! It was warm today! I took the girls to the park this morning. When I opened the garage Ella ran outside and said- "Aren't we so lucky to have a warm day?!" We've had a bit of the cabin fever lately. So I just had to take a moment to say hooray for March and hooray for sunshine!! We've missed you!

Just for Laughs

2008-02-26T20:06:00.002-05:00

I believe that 75% of my children's sole existence is to make me laugh. And lucky for me, my girls accomplish that goal on a daily basis. As I have mentioned before, Ella is very aware of bums. A few weeks ago as we were getting into the tub I told her that her bum was stinky. She told me very matter of factly that- you can't change your bum, Mom. How very true! Today she told me after I patted her bum to get her moving, Don't touch my bum, Mom. Its really stinky.

And here's my Molly moment- Today in the bathtub we were playing with a little squirting duckie (ducky?). Anyway, Molly wanted a turn to hold it, so I filled it with water and gave it to her, after which she proceeded to squirt the water full blast into her face. Okay, I admit thats one of those things you have to see to really appreciate, like watching someone fall down or walk into a glass door (Sorry, I think those things are really funny. I have a stupid sense of humor.) But anyway, I'm still laughing picturing Molly's face after she squirted herself.

I love my goofy girls!

Disney Princesses on Ice

2008-02-24T20:58:00.006-05:00

On Friday we took Ella to Disney on Ice. She was in heaven! She was really excited to see Cinderella. They did a little summary of most of the princesses before the intermission. Ella was really concerned because they hadn't shown Cinderella yet. Then they announced that Cinderella would be coming out after the break. Of course she waited until the end of intermission to tell us she had to go to the bathroom. So we start to walk out, and the lights turned out, and she yells- I can hold it! And runs back to her seat. She sat there wiggling for about two minutes then says, I have to go potty! She didn't want to miss a minute. She kept saying to me- Mom, can you believe that we saw Cinderella skating? It was so much fun.

My little helper

2008-02-24T20:45:00.003-05:00

Molly has discovered the dishwasher. I think she has some kind of sixth sense, because no matter where she is in the house, as soon as I start doing dishes she races into the kitchen to get into the dishwasher. She's REALLY good at unloading it onto the kitchen floor. She climbed into it the other day and was so proud of herself. She is becoming such a busy little bee. We are really enjoying our little girl!

Please tell me its a phase...

2008-02-07T19:48:00.000-05:00

Well, Ella has been going through this interesting, if not akward and little embarrassing, phase lately. She has this thing for 'bums', as she calls them. It started with her constantly coming up behind me and trying to tickle my behind. So we had a talk, actually many many talks, about how people don't like to have their bums tickled and she to keep her hands to herself. Well, a couple of days ago we were at they gym. I usually go down to the locker room before picking up the girls from the daycare, but realized the other day after I had already gotten them that I left something in the locker. So I went down to get it, and as we were walking out I noticed Ella was lagging behind. I tried to hurry her along and then noticed that she was staring at something. So I asked her what she was looking at. She looked at me with these huge eyes and said- "All the bums!" Needless to say, that was her first and last trip to the locker room!!

Bella Dancerella

2008-01-26T14:42:00.000-05:00

Ella just started ballet at the rec center, and she is in heaven. (Ballerinas are right next to Princesses in our book!) She has always loved to dance, so I was excited for her to start too. Unfortunately, I think she spends more time leading the other ballerinas astray then listening to the instructor, but she is having a lot of fun. She loves how twirly her ballet clothes are. We are having a Primary Talent Show tonight, and Ella is dancing to "A Whole New World" in her Jasmine outfit. She is very excited to show off her new ballet moves. If I ever figure out how to download videos from my new camera, I will make sure to post it. :)

Happy Birthday Moose!

2008-01-10T21:04:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday our little girl had her first birthday! This year went by so fast. She has taken a couple of steps and we are just waiting for the day when she will be off running. She loves to dance. If she hears music, she stops whatever she is doing to give us a little dance. She says 'mama', 'dada', 'ella', and waves and says 'duh-duh' whenever someone leaves. She still loves to shove everything in her mouth. But if I catch her all I have to do is stick out my hand and say "Molly..." and she pulls it out of her mouth and puts it in my hand. Her favorite thing is water. She is constantly trying to follow Ella into the bathroom so that she can splash in the toilet. Yuck! She LOVES bathtime. We took the girls to the museum for her birthday and they had a water table. She was in heaven. She is such a joy, and we are so grateful to have her in our family. Happy birthday Molly. We love you!!

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-26T20:24:00.000-05:00

I got this outfit for Molly for Christmas because I loved the little cupcake hat and matching mittens. A tremendous waste, because after about two minutes of wearing them she figured out she could take the gloves off by biting them and pulling them off (she's not even one yet!) which freed her hands to remove her hat. Oh well.

Molly's favorite gift was this little piano. It makes the most noise. :) If you push this one button it plays different songs, and this girl loves to boogie. So it was perfect.

This was Ella's big gift this year. I think I was as excited about it as she was! Unfortunately, after the first few minutes she proceeded to unload all the furniture out of the dollhouse and commence play on the ground. I think we could have saved ourselves $50 by forgetting the house and just buying the furniture.

I kept trying to force this present on Molly because I thought she would love it... She was much more interested in her sisters presents, though. We spent most of the morning trying to keep Molly out of Ella's dollhouse. Let the battles begin!

I just thought this was the cutest picture. This is Ella's "best friend" Kate. They came over on Christmas Eve. Ella had just given her a little present that she had picked out for her, and they were both very excited about it!

Wow, I can't believe that Christmas is over already! This season went by sooo fast. But we had a wonderful holiday. It was very relaxing. It was just nice to be together as a family. The girls had a great time. Today we were at the store making the customary day after Christmas exchanges, and Ella was still saying, "Can I get this for Christmas, Mom?" I can't really blame her, we talked about it for months, and then its over in a day!

The Smith Gingerbread House Competition

2007-12-13T10:25:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we started our 'Twelve Days of Christmas' by decorating gingerbread houses. It was so much fun. Even Todd had a great time. But nobody had as much fun as Ella. She did a great job. She kept on working about 15 minutes after Todd and I had finished. I thought she would spend most of the time snacking on the decorations, but she didn't. She was 100% focused on decorating her house. And I have to admit, her house looked the best for it!

Todd's mother and grandmother came and visited this weekend also. It was a lot of fun. Ella loves having her grandparents around. So we were able to get a 4 generation picture that I had to share.

I've Been Tagged

2007-12-06T07:57:00.000-05:00

Okay, here goes!

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. Fact: Since the holidays are upon us, I figure it is only fitting to share a holiday fact. I know that decorating the Christmas tree is supposed to be a fun family activity, and it always was when we were growing up. But not in our house. I'm afraid that Todd (or anyone else for that matter) will mess up the exact placing of the ornaments. Each color needs to be so far from another ornament of that color. Todd also has a box full of wonderful ornaments that he got growing up that I refuse to let him put on the tree because it doesn't match my color scheme. I know, its awful.

2. Habit: I've had this habit for as long as I can remember. Whenever I am talking on the phone for any length of time, I doodle. Any paper within arms reach is at risk. In fact once when I was in high school I got banned from talking on the phone in my dad's office because apparently I doodled all over some important documents of his. Oops.

3. Fact: I hate Valentine's day! Okay, I'm probably not the only person that feels that way, but I really really do. I think I always build it up so much in my mind before the day comes, that when the actual day comes, it never fails to disappoint. Usually Todd ends up having to go to work, or staying late when he wasn't supposed to, or something like that. Maybe that day is just bad luck. Maybe I should start celebrating Valentines day in August.

4. Habit: Okay, maybe I shouldn't admit this, but for a long time I had this thing for Days of our Lives. Don't ask me how it started, I don't really know. But I had to be home by 1:00 to watch it every day. It was kind of my unwinding time. I luckily cut that habit, but even now if I happen to be home at that time and the girls are napping, I still watch it every once in awhile. :)

5. Fact: I love reading cooking magazines. Todd thinks it is really weird, but I can't get enough of them. I currently subscribe to 4 different magazines, and I can't wait for them to come. I read the whole thing, front back. Then when I am finished, I go back through and write a list of all the recipes I want to try. Oh, thats another fact. I love making lists.

6. Habit: I have to smooth out the sheets and comforter on my bed perfectly before I can sleep. I can't sleep in a bed unless everything is in its place. Which is ironic, because Todd is the exact opposite. It drives me nuts. I am constantly instructing him on how to smooth out his side of the bed before we go to sleep. Wow, I think I am a little bit of a control freak.

Okay, well there it is. I hope you learned a little something about me. Since I think that everyone I know has already done this tag, I will let it die with me... unless you are reading this and it somehow missed you, please take this as your invitation. You've been tagged!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

2007-11-27T09:29:00.001-05:00

Last week I took the girls to see Santa with some friends. We took them to this shopping center that has a ton of lights, lots of people all dressed up, and even a parade- which we missed (sorry Anne!). But it was still a lot of fun. The girls were so excited to see him. They kept running up to stand on the railings to catch a glimpse. The babies weren't quite as thrilled with the whole thing! But they were good sports. This is the first year that Ella has shown any interest in Santa Claus, so it has been pretty fun. We've taken to singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" anytime Ella starts to act up. Todd has threatened a couple of times that Santa isn't coming, but it just makes me laugh. Has any parent in the history of Santa Claus ever followed through with that threat? If so, I would like to meet that person. They could teach the rest of us a thing or two about sticking to our guns. But when it comes to Ella, it doesn't work anyway. She just tells us, "Santa is too coming." Anyway, it was a great way to ring in the holiday season. We even broke out the Christmas music a few days early!

Say "Cheese!"

2007-11-12T14:29:00.001-05:00

Ella has just discovered our camera. After two years of shrieking and covering her face every time I pulled it out, she will now seek it out to take pictures of everyone and everything. She loves taking pictures of her little sister the most. Everytime I take it out to take a picture of the girls she says, "Can my take a picture, M0m?" And she'll snap away until I take it away. Some of her pictures are actually pretty good, if I was needing a picture of the tv, candles, or Molly's diaper change. So in honor of her newfound passion, I thought I would post some of her pictures for you all. Enjoy!

A Time for Thanksgiving...

2007-11-09T20:35:00.000-05:00

My friend Jamie tagged me to write a post about all the many things that I am grateful for. I am glad I have this excuse to ponder about all the many blessings in my life, especially before the holidays. So here I go!

First and foremost, I am grateful for the gospel. Honestly, where would I be without it? It brings peace to me throughout all the trials that life brings. I know that by living it, we will be blessed. We can be happy. We can live with Him again. And that is the greatest blessing.

I am grateful for the oppurtunity to serve. I love the joy it brings, and how it helps you to become a more selfless person. I love my calling to serve in the Primary. It is such a blessing to be a part of teaching those children and sharing in their special spirit.

I am thankful for Ella. She is such a loving little girl. She also teaches me to be a more patient person! She helps me to realize that there are more important things in life than a clean house. And also that it is okay to go to the store in a tutu, rain boots and fairy wings.

I am thankful for Molly. She has such a special spirit. She is always happy, and brings a lot of laughter to our home. Both of my girls make me so grateful for the oppurtunity to be a mother, something I try to never take advantage of. I wake up every morning so excited to see their little faces and get a big hug, and a sloppy kiss from Moose.

I am thankful for family. I am grateful for parents that raised me well, and led by example. I am grateful for the support that they are always giving us. Thank you!

I am grateful for Todd. He works so hard at work and school so that he can provide for us, and so that I can stay home and do what I love, being a mom. He is a great daddy to our little girls, and they love him so much. Thank you.

I am so blessed to have all of these things, to have a healthy family, to have a warm home and food on the table. I am grateful for all of my wonderful friends. They are always there to help. Even if its just to make those long hours until dinnertime seem a little shorter. :)

Thank you for having me do this Jamie! I am tagging my dad, Terra, Kara, Jamie B. and Jenny.

Is it Christmas yet?

2007-11-03T19:33:00.000-05:00

So back in June, after Ella's birthday, she was thrilled with the fact that she asked for things for her birthday, and consequently, many of them ended up in her possession. So immediately after her birthday, she kept up the refrain of, "Can my get that for my birthday?" So I informed her that she just had her birthday, and she would have to wait until Christmas. So that started up the, "Can my get that for Christmas?" Lately, no doubt a result of the growing holiday decorations we are seeing all over town, it has increased tenfold. Every thing she sees, every commercial she watches, she wants for Christmas. And it is not limited to toys. Among the more odd things she has requested for Christmas include Lysol, vacuum cleaner deoderizer, bandaids, and eggs. And to everything I reply, "You can ask Santa." I realized the other night just how important it is to her that I respond, when I came downstairs from putting Molly to sleep to find her bawling uncontrollably on the couch. Since that was exactly where I had left her 5 minutes ago, I couldn't imagine that she could have hurt herself to the degree of which she was reacting, so I asked her what on earth was the problem. I finally got her calmed down enough to tell me- "Can my -hiccup- just get -hiccup- that one princess one -hiccup- for Christmas?" So I repeated the refrain- "You can ask Santa." She gave me a huge grin and said, "Okay!" All was well once again.

Yesterday I went to the Disney store where all of the Halloween costumes were super cheap. Most of them were picked over, but there was a Jasmine outfit left in her size, and since playing dress-up is her all-time favorite thing to do right now (she has worn her Snow White costume exactly 9 days -and counting- in a row now) I tried, unsuccessfully, to buy it without her knowledge as a Christmas gift. As soon as we got home she asked, "Can my wear that Jasmine outfit?" So I played innocent. "What Jasmine outfit?" Ella- "That pink one with the shoes from the Mickey mouse store. Its in the car." Crap! So I had to tell her that that was a surprise, and it was for Christmas, and Mommy had to wrap it so she could have it later. That night as she was saying her prayer she said, "And thank you for my new Jasmine clothes that my can wear at Christmas." So sweet!

Trick or Treat!!

2007-11-01T13:02:00.000-05:00

What do you know? Shrek likes Halloween, too.

Our little 'soft serve' didn't last very long!

We had some friends over for a Halloween dinner. It was a lot of fun! The kids had a great time, too. :)

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-27T20:19:00.000-05:00

Tonight was our ward Halloween party/Chili cook-off. It was a lot of fun. It was also our first chance to try out our costumes. Although Ella had been wearing hers since noon yesterday. But who's counting?

Cute sisters!

Ella is Snow White this year. Grandmom made her costume, and it turned out beautiful. Everyone loved it. But no one more then Ella. She has not worn anything else since Grandmom gave it to her yesterday morning. She loves the attention she gets when she wears it, too. She is so cute. Even though she is Snow White, she was definitely the 'Belle' of the ball. Ha ha ha. :)

Our sweet Molly was an ice cream cone. She was so cute, and such a trooper in her costume. It wasn't easy for her to move in it!

Sisters

2007-10-19T19:14:00.000-05:00

The other day Ella wanted to put Molly in her dolly stroller and push her around the room. It was so cute, and they both loved it. I am so glad that they have each other, and I hope that they will remember that 15 years from now...

Pottery Masterpieces

2007-10-13T07:37:00.001-05:00

I signed Ella and myself up for a Mommy and Me pottery class this year at our rec center. It has been a lot of fun for both of us. I get to try my hand at being creative (which I'm not very good at), and Ella gets to make a big mess every week! Our first project was to make a pinch bowl. So I got Ella started, and we both got to work. About 20 minutes later I looked around the table at the other little girls holding a perfectly formed little bowl. Then I look next to me at Ella, whose bowl could now only be described as a plate, as she was sticking her hand in the slip- water mixed with a little clay- (how smart am I already?) and smearing it all over her previously decorated 'bowl'. But she loved it, and I can say proudly that she made it 100% on her own. We glazed them the next week, and finally got to bring them home yesterday. As we were leaving the rec center after class, this guy walked up behind me and said- "So she's the one that made that. I'm in the Tuesday class, and we were all wondering." I'd like to think they were all wondering because of the sheer talent that is so obviously displayed in her work of art.

Yesterday we also got to work with red clay which our instructor pressed out of an extruder. It came out in a thick tube shape. She asked the girls what it looked like. I think she was looking for 'snake' or something like that. Ella looked at me confused, wondering if she was really supposed to say what she thought it looked like. Then the instructor asked again what it looked like, and so Ella looked up at me and said- "Poops?" I had to admit, that's exactly what it looked like.

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-09T08:33:00.000-05:00

Molly time!

2007-10-01T11:24:00.000-05:00

It occured to me as I was looking at our blog that Molly was

somewhat underrepresented!! That could be because I spend so

many of my waking moments attending to my teething 8 month old,

that I feel the rest of us need some attention on the blog... either way,

she is a beautiful baby, and she is getting so big I needed to make a

post just for her! She is scooting herself all over the place now. She

loves her big sister, and Ella gets huge smiles from her everytime

she walks in the room. Molly's new favorite trick whenever we are

upstairs is to make a bee-line (how do you spell that??) for the stairs

every chance she gets. She loves that we all freak out and come

running, and she just laughs and laughs. As soon as we put her back

in the bedroom, she turns right back around and heads for the stairs

again. What we really need is a gate. The ironic thing is, that is the

only time she ever attempts to get away from me! The rest of the time,

she is following me around the house crying if she is not being held.

Ah, the joys of motherhood!

A video for Papa!

2007-09-30T20:17:00.001-05:00

Hey Dad! We took a video of Ella watching the video of you so you could see how excited she was. We took it the second time around, so she was a little more focused. The first time was a lot of giggling and jumping. Sorry we missed that one! Hope you enjoy. Thanks for the video, Papa!! She loved it.

I did it!!

2007-09-30T19:23:00.000-05:00

Todd and the girls were there at the finish line when I came through. It was the coolest feeling. They shake your hand as you cross the finish line, and then put the medal around your neck. It was a little depressing when the first place marathoner came in about three minutes after me, though... :)

Todd watched the girls while I ran, and even took them to a couple of mile markers to wave and cheer me on. It was awesome! Ella was pretty upset when I left. They waited at the 10 mile marker for me to run by, and when I did Ella came running out onto the course to give me a big hug, and started running after me. It was so sweet!

Yesterday we went to Akron and I finished the Roadrunner Half-Marathon!! What a rush!! It was so much fun. The weather was perfect and it was really exciting. Today I feel like I got hit by a bus, but it was totally worth it. I can't wait to do it again. Well, I can probably wait a few months. :) It was harder then I thought. Most of the course was uphill, including the last mile. But I did the whole thing without walking, so I was pretty proud of myself.

Our Dancing Machine!

2007-09-22T18:57:00.000-05:00

We recently got Disney Princess Sing Along Songs at the Library. It has three songs at the end where it shows kids dancing to the song. Now it is Ella's favorite thing to do. Everyday she goes up to her room and gets a dancing skirt on, and then she asks me to put on the dancing songs. And then she dances her little heart out to all three songs. It is so cute! I was able to get some of it on video before she noticed that I had the camera. :)

Kids say the darndest things!

2007-09-10T18:41:00.000-05:00

So I took both the girls to the Verizon store a couple of days ago in a fruitless attempt to get a new phone. There was one guy working there, and after 45 minutes of sitting around waiting for him to finish with the person he was helping (who, I would like to add, came in after me with no kids in tow) I was just about ready to walk out the door. Ella had been telling me for about 10 minutes that it was 'time to go to a new store', and I kept telling her to wait just a few more minutes. Finally, after her latest, "We don't need to wait a few more minutes, Mommy, we can go to new store now" - and me responding, "You are being so patient- 5 more minutes, okay?" She suddenly yells at me, "OH! Look, Mommy, quick! Our car is leaving and there aren't any people in it!!"
Okay. Point taken. :)

Tag, I'm it!

2007-09-07T12:46:00.000-05:00

I was reading my friend Terra's blog, and saw her Tag, I'm it post (very cute) ... And assuming that I am Aubrey S., (maybe she knows a few?) then I guess it is my turn. So here I go!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Working for Building Blocks Learning Center.
2. Driving my parents crazy (Sorry about that!!).
3. Shopping at the mall (Wow, some things don't change after 10 years, do they?)
4. Talking on the phone for hours on end (refer back to item #2!).
5. Going to Puyallup High School and Pierce Community College.

5 things on my to-do list today:

1. Feed my friends cats and water her tomatoes while she is on vacation.
2. Grocery shopping.
3. Attempt to tackle that gigantuam (is that a word?) pile of clean laundry in my bedroom. (Not exaggerating. Ella asked if she could climb 'the mountain' today. How bad is that??)
4. Go running.
5. All other motherly duties, i.e. cleaning spills, picking up toys, changing diapers, not losing my patience...

5 snacks I enjoy (I'm not much of a snacker, but here goes):

1. Apple slices
2. Chocolate chip cookies
3. Yogurt
4. Peanut Butter Pretzels
5. Anything sweet I can find in my house...

5 songs I know the lyrics to:

1. Song #1 on the Shrek 2 soundtrack i.e. 'Shrek beginning'
2. Song #3 on the Shrek 2 soundtrack i.e. 'Cha-cha-cha-chang chang song'
2. Song #14 on the Shrek 2 soundtrack i.e. 'Fairy Godmother fast'
4. "When my mother calls me, quickly I obey" (ok, thats pretty much the whole song).
5. "Move Along" - currently my favorite running song.

5 things I would do if I was a millionaire:

1. Get my dream house.
2. Buy a car. Or two.
3. Pay off debt.
4. Vacation!!
5. I think the money is gone now.

5 bad habits:

1. Forgetfulness
2. Turning on all the lights in the house.
3. Watching "Days of our Lives".
4. Using up all my patience during the day with the girls and leaving, um, none for Todd. Sorry honey!
5. Interrupting

5 favorite toys:

1. Dustbuster
2. My iPod
3. Scrapbooking stuff
4. Books!
5. Core Secrets ball