Sweet little girls

Two extra monkeys at the zoo on New Year's Eve

A few quick updates of sweet moments to treasure away -

Ellie has such a good sense of humor. She loves to laugh and joke. Her favorite joke right now -

Me: "Ellie, how are old are you?"
Ellie: "I'm twoooo! Hahaha!"

So sweet. Ellie is also a very good at hide and go seek (better than Kate, who tells you where she is hiding :) Ellie will run and hide behind the bedroom door (I can't believe how quickly she's running!) Tonight when it was her turn to seek, she was yelling out, "Dada, where are youuuu?" What a cutie. Here she is giving Brett one of her sweet kisses -



A sweet end to the night, Kate wanted to feed Ellie her bottle. She did a wonderful job. While she was feeding her, she would say, "Ellie, I love you so much." Precious. After she was done, Kate and I were enjoying the moment and just looking at Ellie. Then Ellie, clear on the schedule, pointed to her bed and said, "Nigh, Night!" Okay, we've got it, sweet girl :) So cute.

Here are a few pics from New Year's Eve. Brett and I went to a fun concert on the 30th at Southgate house, so we decided to spend the 31st with our 2 favorite girls. We went to J. Alexander's for dinner to celebrate the end of a great year, where Brett finished his first year of school, Ellie celebrated her 1st birthday, and Kate is growing into a sweet little girl. Then we went to the zoo and saw the 9pm fireworks. A great way to end the year.

Sweet updates

Fun updates lately:

Ellie is sooo funny :) Such a joy. We played peek-a-boo yesterday and her belly laughs were so big. She is a delight.

Ellie's favorite phrase right now is "TANK OOO" (thank you.) She says it anytime you help her or give her something. She is so sweet.

Ellie is close to walking. So close.

Kate is loving school. She sits in her bed during naptime having circle time with her animals and talking through (out loud) every part of her school routine. She is an auditory learner, and she is so comfortable and happy in a traditional school environment. I think she will always love school.

Kate's brain works non-stop. This was our recent conversation:
Kate: "I don't want to wear jeans. They aren't fancy."
Me: "Jeans are great. They go with everything."
Kate: "So jeans are like cheese."
Me: "Huh?"
Kate: "You know, cheese goes with everything, just like jeans."
Brett said, "Maybe I should have had Kate take the analogy section of the GMAT for me."

Brett is doing well in school. Kate loves going to UC with him to get his books.

Kate was so awesome in her swimming lessons this summer. So brave. Here's a pic of her going off the diving board.



All is pretty well for the Littles!

Funny

Ellie has such a great sense of humor. Several times today, I feel like she was trying to make me laugh. Just getting in my face and being silly, saying funny stuff (not that I understood, but she did and thought it was very silly.) Her favorite book is Goodnight Gorilla, and seriously she read it like 10 times today. She knows it's hilarious. She's so desperate to talk; I know she will be telling jokes soon.



Some things Ellie is saying lately: She can go, ball, dora, jenny, kate, nana (banana), oh!, whoa! She was grabbing for Life cereal and said, "I want those!" At the pool I thought she was drinking from a pool toy, so I asked her, "Ellie, are you drinking the water?" and she said in a funny little tone, "I drink water!" Everyone around the baby pool started cracking up and thought she was older than she is.

Kate is such a sweet girl. She does such a great job with Ellie - she is so kind and loving with her. She even shared her orange peanut butter crackers with her today :) She's a snuggly little girl. Her joke of the day - "Why do some people say 'Ah, Man!' at the end of a prayer?"

Note on these pictures: isn't it funny that in both pictures we have the same expressions?

Blessed

I'm happy. Really happy. No particular reason, I guess. But I love my family. I'm proud of my husband. He works so hard, and it's a labor of love. I love my girls. Kate is so funny, and she's really starting to "get it." She went a whole day yesterday and controlled her emotions - when she wanted to get upset, she didn't. It was sweet to watch her process in her head, "I want this, but I'm not going to freak out even though I can't have it." Kate started swimming lessons today - I was so proud of her. She's cautious, but she jumped in and despite drinking the pool, she said being brave was her favorite part. Ellis is dying to talk. She's saying words already - dada, mama, kaitlyn, thank you, gandma, papa, no, yes. She's such a cutie. I just love her up. She's made of sweetness - full of honey, I think. I'm blessed. Sometimes really tired, and blessed with every moment.

Outside fun

I wish I blogged more, but somehow I never make the time for it. But I had fun today and thought I'd share it:

Ellie LOVES to be outside. Of course, everyone likes being outside, but I think it is Ellie's favorite thing. If she is really upset, we take her on a walk and she calms down in no time.

Yesterday while walking, Kate was cracking me up. We played "I spy":
Me: "I spy with my big eyes, something red."
Kate (after looking for a while): "I don't see anything red."
Me: "Look right there, that car."
Kate (laughing): "Mom, you're being silly. That car is maroon."
Me: "Oh, well, I guess you're right. Sorry, Kate."

Then we get into an absurd and very silly conversation about a squirrel::
Me: "Look girls, a squirrel."
Kate: "I wish I had a squirrel puppet."
Me: "What would you do with a squirrel puppet?"
Kate (already amused with herself): "I'd put it in my room. Then I'd by another one." (at this she just started cracking up at herself.) Then the two squirrels would be friends for life."

I'm just laughing, not knowing how to respond, when she adds, "Now, I'm just kidding, Mom. I don't really want a squirrel puppet. Don't buy me one for my birthday." Okay, Kate :) So silly...what fun these two are!

Joy

I'm pretty sure Ellie is the most joyful person I've ever met. She laughs and smiles more than anyone I've ever known! Peek-a-boo is the funniest thing on the planet. When I tickle her, she loses it :) I pray she doesn't lose this quality. What a sweetheart!

She's also quite a little athlete! She rolled over today and looked like she wanted to crawl across the floor :)

Things that make me smile

I'm starting to think that 2 years is the height of drama - the highs are so high and lows are low. Kate is a very emotional person. Seemingly small things can really upset her. And when she is excited, wow! Lately she's been making me laugh with her funny sayings and take on the world. She really picks up subtly in conversation. A few conversations we've had recently:

Me: Kate, look it's snowing.
Kate: Is that the white stuff.
Me: Yes!
Kate: Well, can we celebrate mommy?

Kate: Mommy, you're not wearing a shirt.
Me: Yes I am, Kate. I'm wearing a black t-shirt.
Kate: Oh, you are wearing a shirt. Just not a very pretty one.

Me: Kate, if you have faith in God as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you.
Kate: But mommy, I don't like mustard.

Brett (first thing in the morning): Kate, do you have a dry pull-up?
Kate: Maybe, maybe not. You never know. We'll have to check and see. (these are many of her favorite phrases.)

Elli is as sweet as she could be. What a darling little girl! She is SO joyful! When she smiles, her whole face lights up! It is so sweet. She is so talkative too. What fun!

Fighting off Mush

I recently adopted a new parenting strategy - when Kate asks me "why" she can or can't do something, I've started giving her the actual reason versus just saying "because." I'm happy to report that it seems to be working, as she's submitting more easily. A specific example is, when she asks to watch TV and I tell her no, I've explained it's because "if you watch too much TV your brain will turn to mush." Now she nods and moves on to something else. Here is a funny example from today of what this strategy is producing:

Kate: "Mommy, can I have another cookie."
Me: "No"
Kate: "But Mommy, I really want another cookie."
Me: "I understand you want another cookie. I would like another one too. But we can only have one cookie."
Kate: "Because our brain's will turn to mush."
Me: "No, if you eat to many cookies, your belly turns to mush, not your brain."
Kate: "And we don't want a mush brain or a mush belly."
Me: "That's exactly right, Kate."

Our home

Finally, our home looks like it belongs to us! The outside has not matched who we are, and the new red definitely does. Yay!

One of the best things that has happened to me in making improvements to our house - I'm starting to get confidence in my design aesthetic. I've struggled to embrace it at times, and I've learned that's at least partly because, I like things other people don't. I appreciate BOLD, UNIQUE, and DRAMATIC. I like things that are different, in general and in design. So, when I get other people's opinions, it often is not the same as mine, which hurts my confidence. The worst is when I don't go all in - then it's sort of a half-baked version of what I enjoy - lukewarm, blah. Kind of like the old exterior -

I'm so happy with the new colors. I think we've done the best we could with what we had to work with. Our neighbors definitely enjoy it - it fits in our unique and eclectic neighborhood well. Most of all, it reflects our family so much more. It feels like our home.

Gator!

This is probably my favorite wedding pic so far! Bride, Groom, flower girl, maid of honor, friends galor doing the GATOR at the wedding. Awesome! I love that Nikki is down in her dress, I love that Kate caught right on, I love that it's from Animal House, I just think it's awesome! A great event - fun had by all!