Activities at Ms. Sara's

Sara does a lot of different things with the kids in the day. One day this week, they planted some seeds. Ellie brought home this poem and associated artwork that was part of the follow up activity. I was really impressed with this drawing she did. Her drawing skills have really accelerated at Ms. Sara's!

Great flower for a 3 1/2 year old!

Swinging at Gramma's

Yesterday afternoon I had to pick them both up. I got Ellie first and then we went to Gramma's to get Max. Ellie was so excited to be there, she asked if we could play with Amy at the swings for a while. So we went down for a few minutes. Gramma has a good set up for the kids.

Ellie's such a big girl holding on to this swing:

Max is growing too and just loves being outside and swinging. He would stay in this for a long time!

Ellie was very unhappy when I said we had to go home.

Ups and downs of Ellie's day

Ellie has had a hard time recently being dropped off at Miss Sara's. This has started since we returned from vacation. Most mornings she is protesting to the point of tears and hanging onto me like a mokey. She even asks each morning if she can stay with me and have a "Mommy day" as we call them. It's very hard to make her go when I would prefer to be home with her as well. However, I do believe it's a safe place and that she has fun. The reason is that every day when I show up to pick her up, she doesn't want to leave. Many times, if she's really into something big like playing with Owen or especially if she's doing an art project with Ms Sara, she actually tries to hide herself from me. Tonight she told me she prefered to stay the night at Ms Sara's.

My girl sure does have her ups and downs. I hope that things level out for her soon becuase I'm not going to get to be a stay at home Mom anytime soon - as we don't even play the lottery.

There was one day recently where when I showed up, she actually ran up to give me a hug. That was the best!

Max in action

I know this is a bit of a repetitive story recently, but the way Max gets around and gets into things really amazes me. His mobility surely exceeds Ellie's and his desire to get into everything also greatly exceeds anything I remember from her too. I think she was still rolling across the floor at 10 months (but not positive - I guess I should've started a blog 3 years ago... opps).

This weekend I had a lot of time to just chill out with the kids in the house. This is really what I need these days and enjoy after a busy work week. I like to see they play and try to play with them as much as I can.

Below are a few photos of Max getting into things:

Trying to play the piano... little man is taller then you would think, but those tip toes give him height!

Ellie needed to get in on the action too. It's a little hard for her still when I make a big deal about Max's accomplishments sometimes.

He quickly moves from one thing to the next. He really wanted to see what was in the hutch. Luckily, those old hinges aren't so easy to open!

Finally, at lunch today I let him have Tazhiki sandwich and he enjoyed it:

Ellie wants to see me dance in my wedding dress

This morning Ellie was hanging out in our room and she saw our wedding pictures. She asked, "Is that you and your wedding Mommy?"

After I confirmed, I told her my wedding dress was in the other room and asked if she would like to see it this afternoon. She enthusiactically said yes. So, after naptime, we got it out.

She really liked looking at it, but immediately expected me to put it on. David was outside, so it was me, with the two little ones, trying to get into a big dress with a long train that has about 30 laces up the back to put it on. Luckily, I could "Shiggle" in it (to use a fun David word) and pull it up over me. I walked into Ellie's room. She admired me, but wanted me to really put it on. I explained I needed help.

She was very upset when I took it off instead of putting it on with all my jewelry, shoes, and all the wedding stuff. I said maybe later, expecting her to let it go.

When Daddy got in, one of the first things she told him was "You have to help mommy get into her wedding dress later." David wasn't sure what she was talking about and tried to let it go. At dinner she brought it up again.

David wasn't thrilled at the idea, so I said to Ellie "this may be a gramma thing. We may need to wait for Gramma to come over to help put me into my dress." I asked if she wanted to call Gramma and ask her to come help and she said Yes.

We called Gramma and she said, "Hi Gramma. Will you come over and put mommy into her Wedding dress please?"

Gramma, "What honey?"

Ellie, "Will you come over and put mommy into her wedding dress please?"

Gramma, .... laughing..... "Why do you want to see Mommy in her wedding dress Ellie?

Ellie, "Becuase I want to see her dance in it."

I took the phone and explained what happened. Mom said she would come over sometime soon, but couldn't do it tonight. Gramma said to me "I'm so happy to have one girl in the family who loves to get dressed up and enjoys it as much as me."

So, stay tuned for the photos!

Ellie loves dressing up and being a princess so much. It makes me wonder what her wedding will be like. I look forward to enjoying that day many many years from now.

First taste of Chocolate

Today after lunch I found a package of chocolate animal cookies Ellie and I had bought as a treat one day. I decided we should all share them. When Max grunted at me that he wanted one too, I gave in. (even though they aren't supposed to have chocolate until they are one says Aunt Katie)

He enjoyed the cookies, though I didn't find him as overly impressed and excited as Ellie was when she first tasted chocolate. Perhaps that's becuase Ellie's first taste of chocolate was in the best form - Oreo Cookies!

When he was done, he did let out a few chants and squeals of excitement. He banged his highchair a few times too.

Here are a few photos:

Hummm, what is this?

It's pretty good...

More please?

Yeah for Chocolate!!!

Parenting

I was putting Ellie in the car after church when she buckled her seat without her in it just to make me have to undo it first. I reminded her that Daddy told her last night not to do that and if Daddy says not to do something Mommy means it to. I explained that Mommy and Daddy are her parents together and we expect the same things from her.

Her reponse, "Well, don't forget about Max."

I asked what she meant.

She explained that we needed to Parent him too - in essence trying to tell me not to focus so hard on her :-)

lol