Oh and this....

I forgot to add these.  The other night, Nick went out with Jeff for his birthday.  The kids and I cuddled up in our bed for a night of cuddling and Christmas specials.  It was awesome. :)  I loved every minute of it.

This is how many of our mornings begin.  I wanted to record the sound of Ella laughing.  The tinkling sound of little-girl laughter has to be one of the best sounds in the world. I feel like there are a lot of times in our regular life when I think, "Twenty years from now, I HAVE to remember this.  I don't want to forget a single second of our kids being this age."

Just a few things in Dec.

I think that my kids are so stinkin' cute that sometimes I just can't help but get out my phone and snap a quick pic of them in regular life. :)

In the mornings when Eli wakes up, we usually turn in the TV and let him sleep next to us in bed in hopes of getting maybe an extra 1/2 hour (or even 15 minutes) of sleep.  Yes, I know that this makes us awful parents, and yes, we did do this with Ella too.  Pretty soon, Ella toddles in, and I tell her to get up in bed with us too (again in hopes of getting more sleep, but this rarely happens b/c now we have 4 people in a queen size bed).  (Which by the way, 3 people seem to be crammed into my side, and every time I ask Nick to move over, he claims he's on the edge of the bed....except I can CLEARLY see at least 6" of space [maybe not "clearly" since I have terrible eyesight without the aid of glasses or contacts, but I digress....] !)  Anyway, this picture was taken in all of their adorableness one morning while we were trying to sleep through it.

This is Snowflake, one of Ella's favorite Christmas presents.  Yes, I realize I haven't blogged about Christmas.  I'll try to get to that soon.....Anyway, this present is from Aunt Kristin & Uncle Tony, and Reagan has a matching puppy.  They both love them.  The dogs have a purse carrier too, so that Ella can really show off in true diva-fashion. :)  (Oh, she's also a HUGE fan of the Little Mermaid jammies that she insisted I wash immediately for her to wear to bed.)

Lately, Ella keeps saying she has a baby in her belly.  But then she takes it a step further and says she's having a baby and needs to go to the hospital.  I'm not sure where this is coming from suddenly, although it could be thanks in part to Baby Jesus, as she has been requesting we start calling her Mary occasionally....Tonight she said, "Before Eli was in your belly, I stayed there for a little bit.  And then you went to the hospital and you laid down like a mother-dude and had me."  I was a little nervous at how she was saying that I went to a hospital and laid down to have a baby....I mean, where is she getting that (along with the term "mother-dude")????  I asked her to show me what it looks like to "lay down like a mother-dude" and have a baby.  This is what she showed me.

Last week, Kristin and I took the kids to the zoo to see the Wild Lights display.  It was SO cold.  Aunt Nancy sent these hats for the kids (Eli wore a reindeer, Reagan is the kitty, Ella is a puppy, and Brady is an owl), so we thought that this was the perfect occasion to use them.  I barely had any sensation in my fingers to take pictures, so these are the best that we got.  Still though, I think they show what a good time we had.

 This was Ella's first trip to the zoo.  I feel bad about it.  I always want to take her, but Nick wants to take her too, but never when it's hot, and it's a whole mess.  So anyway, there obviously aren't many animals out on a cold, winter's night.  She did get to see the penguins though....and she was amazed at the smelly penguins house.  Aunt Kristin bought us a membership for next season though, so I will be SURE to use it for our family.  Here are some more pics:



Photo Card

Joy Cheer New Year's

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Word to Your Mother

Yep, that's me....wearing my baby.  I'm tired of getting nothing done around our house.  Eli always wants to be held or entertained at least.  Plus, it breaks my heart to hear him fuss while I get something accomplished...afterall, I did leave him at a babysitter's all day.  So now I am wearing him to get stuff done.  I couldn't remember how to do the sling-thing, so I opted for the very uncomfortable, yet easy to clip together front-rider.  Eli had a great time and Ella thought is was funny for me to "wear" Eli. 

Dinner is just SO exhausting!

What a sweetie!  I could just eat him right up!

This weekend

Friday

On Friday, I finished up schoolwork, cleaned the house and decorated for Christmas.  That's when I ran across this candle.  Seeing it again reminded me of last year.  I've been meaning to write this story down somewhere, but I forgot to do it all year, so I thought I'd get it down now before I forget for another year.

Last year, I told Ella that we were going to decorate the house for Christmas, Jesus's birthday.  "Because we're going to have a party?" "Uh, sure."  As we decorated the house, I noticed how excited Ella was when I pulled this candle out and placed it on a shelf.  I was busy continuing to decorate when I turned and saw Ella ready to take a bite out of my candle.  I yelled, "No Ella, STOP!" 

E- But Mommy, this is Jesus's birthday cake. 
M-Oh.....honey.  Come on over here and let's talk.
E-Mommy, will Jesus be at our birthday party?
M- (pause as I really tried to make this a teachable moment for her)  Ella, Jesus is always with us. 
E- (pauses, and puts up hand-binoculars over her eyes)
M- Ella, are you listening?  What are you doing?
E- I'm looking for Jesus.

Awwww.....

Saturday

This weekend was girls weekend at the Lake with Brandy, Denise, Elizabeth, Tara, Trisha, & Cathy.  This year was even more special than our annual trip because we're celebrating Brandy's 30th birthday.  I drove up on Sat. morning and went shopping at the outlet mall.  After shopping, we went out to a Mexican dinner.  Next, we went to Bootleggers bar, then on to JJ Twigs for kareoke and dancing.  We had SUCH a good time.  We noticed a sign of the times when I shimmied and shook it and lost a breast pad at the last bar.  Trisha found it, but thought that it was hers.  When I found out I was missing one (at the condo), that when Trisha put everything together.  The whole incident made her pee herself.....seriously?  What has birthing children done to us?  Is this what our 30s will be like?  In any case, we had an awesome time together this weekend.

Sunday

Today I got back and gave the kids big hugs; I miss them so much when I'm gone.  We gave Eli his first taste of mashed potatos and gravy.  He did like them, but the look on his face was priceless as he tasted the new texture.

Lastly, in conversation today, I seriously used the term, "three sheets to the wind."  That's it, I think that I'm officially old.....

Huh....

Ella has had a cold for over a week now, and I've been relatively worried that the drainage is going to settle in her ears, causing an infection.  I can't ask her if her ears hurt though because every time, she says, "Yes, I have an ear infection."

On Friday, Eli's midnight snacks came to an end.  Over the weekend, this caused a problem in our sleep, but I thought surely by now, it'd be fixed.  However, now he's only sleeping in 20 min. increments, and we keep dosing him with Tylenol.  Even during the day, he's barely consolable.  I attributed these problems to A)maybe not eating at night, then being cranky from less sleep or B) teething, and that's why Tylenol was helping.  However, today Eli started off my day by throwing up all over me. 

I took both kids to the dr.  Ella, the one I've been worried about for days, is fine.  It's just a cold.  Eli on the other hand has two SEPARATE infections.  The ear infection is what we can all thank for keeping us up for the last week.  Really?  An ear infection without a fever?  How was a mom to know that there could be infection without a fever? 

Poor little guy.  I didn't even think he was that sick!  Sorry kiddo.  Now we'll know for next time I guess..... 

Also, note to self: don't wait a week of sleepless nights before taking the kids to the dr!  Grrrr.....

Preparing for the Holidays

Did decorations get put up last night?  Nope.  Did baking get done?  Nope.  But we did have a nice time hanging out together and playing games like Let's Go Fishing and Candyland.  I <3 our family!

I got this game as a kid for my birthday, and I LOVED playing it.  My parents even have similar pictures of Kristin & me or my dad & me playing on the living room floor.

On a separate note: I've been working with Eli a lot lately on "Soooo BIG" and kisses.  He has yet to catch on to so big, although he does love a good game of peekaboo.  However, last night, he was SO excited to give me kisses....big, drooly, open-mouth baby kisses on my chin.  I love those kisses!

They help to make up for the fact that no one is sleeping at our house.  We haven't for the last week.  Is it that I'm trying to get Eli to sleep through the night without feeding him?  Yep, probably.  Is he teething?  Possibly that too since Tylenol does help.  Is Ella having bad dreams?  Yep.  Is Nick sleeping on the couch to avoid waking up and not getting back to sleep?  Yep, that too. :(  Do you know that sleep deprivation can make one nearly go crazy?  After 5 nights of no sleep, I'm really getting close!  At least the kids are cute enough to make up for it. :)

That's all for now I guess...until next time....

Happy Thanksgiving!

When I wished Ella a happy Thanksgiving this morning, I asked her what she was thankful for.  First, I had to explain that thankful means "happy to have something."  She said, "Oh, okay.  Then I am thankful for food and my vanity."  At first, my heart soared when I thought she said "family," until I realized she was talking about her Disney Princess vanity with mirror and make up that talks to you.  Oh well....she is only 3 afterall....

Then Ella asked me what I am thankful for and I said, "I'm thankful for my family (big kiss on the top of her head) because you all mean the world to me."  This got me a huge hug and kiss from her.  Sheesh I love that girl. :)

Wow....really? Almost 2 months?

Okay, so it's been 2 months since the last post...I'm embarrassed!  Rest assured I've really missed blogging, I just haven't had any time!  Working & going to school full-time (TWO classes right now--ack!), along with deer season have really kicked my butt!  In any case, here's what we've been up to for the last few months.....

October-
DeAnne's Bachelorette Party

What a good time!  We rode a bus to a winery, then back to Harrah's Casino and a piano bar for the rest of the night.  It was so good to get to go out with Lindsay and DeAnne and get to know the rest of the bridesmaids better. The pic above is one I stole from Lindsay's blog. (Thanks Linz!)

Ella's birthday
Her party this year was Barbie themed.  We had SUCH a good time and watch the Cards beat the Brewers (game 6 of NLCS to go on to the Series) in the background.  (For historical purposes, I must add here that in Aug/Sept, no one thought we'd even make it to the playoffs, but I never gave up hope.  We took the wildcard and beat the Phillies, then Brewers, then Rangers.)  Ella had a great time and got a lot of makeup/nail polish/princess presents.  One favorite was a Dora and Diego movie that also features her as a character!  Way cool (Reagan was especially impressed!).

Pictures are on the camera, which I don't have near the computer or I'd load one up now.  Rest assured Ella, we had a great time and did take pics.  If I save this post until I put the pictures on the computer though, it won't be posted until 2012....

Devon's Wedding
This was a whirlwind trip to Omaha.  The wedding was the night before Ella's birthday.  It meant a lot to me that Devon gave Ella a tiara and feather boa with wand and had everyone sing happy birthday.  Almost daily, Ella puts on the costume and asks me to call her "Princess Devon."  :)  This was a beautiful wedding & really nice to see all of our family together.

Halloween
Ella was Ariel, the Little Mermaid (really, just a mermaid, I just told her she was Ariel....) and Eli was a tiger.  People we passed literally gasped at Ella's costume & said how adorable it was. :)

Which brings me to November....
DeAnne's Wedding
Despite my best attempts to copy pics from Facebook, I just can't seem to make it work tonight.  Refer there for pics. 

What a day!  Loved it!  Among other things, I got to see Jennifer and hang out with her.  Lindsay said the nicest thing about Jen the other night about how she misses her and wishes they were closer.  It was true for me too.  I miss our whole group.  It was so nice to see everyone and be all together.  The photobooth was my favorite part of the reception. :)

End of Nov.
Here we are almost to Christmas!!!  (OK, well Thanksgiving is just tomorrow, so not quite.)  I never decorated for fall this year because I just plain ran out of time.  When will I ever have time again to do things?  Anyway, we had the kids' pics taken.  Here are a few good ones.

Okay, Eli is crying, so I should really stop blogging & feed him....later gators!

Bullying Already?

There's a little girl at Ella's preschool, Ava, who, in my opinion, is nothing but BAD NEWS.  She pushes Ella around (even made Ella "crash" into the toilet the other day....seriously, where was the supervision?!), play fights with her, tries to take toys, and teaches her bad words.

Here's our conversation on Monday:
Ella-Daddy was pissing me off.
Me-Oh no, we don't say that word.
Ella- (ignoring me now, talking to Memaw Johnson) Daddy was really pissing me off.
Me- Ella!  We don't say that word!
Ella- (still ignoring me)  He was REALLY PISSING ME OFF!
Me- Where did you hear that?  (Fearing she'd say from me or this weekend's trip to the campground)
Ella- Ava

Grrrrr.....seriously? 

What's confusing to me though is that Ella's imagination is starting to really go into overdrive too.  (Last weekend, she told me she didn't feel good and got sick.  In the background, I hear Memaw saying, "Quit lying to your mom!  You did not!")  It's hard to tell what to believe. Ella frequently tells me that Ava gets time outs, and that she (Ella) doesn't.  This makes me think that Ava is starting trouble, and not that it's two-sided.  Then, she follows it up saying Ava got a spanking.  This makes me think she's lying.  Ava sometimes just gets "shooed away" from Ella.  I believe that too.

I don't want to teach her to hit this little girl, so we've been practicing how to deal with her at home.  Nick calls it, "Mommy's tough girl routine."  This involves putting hands on hips, looking Ava in the eye, and yelling, "You stop it right now!  We don't act like that!"  Sometimes, shaking a finger around is also involved.(Seriously, this is the cutest thing to see acted out!)  I tell her to make a scene so that a teacher will come over and break it up without Ella tattling (a nasty habit that will rear its ugly head soon enough, I'm sure!).  For real though, the next step is teaching her head locks.  Ava better watch out!

Brady is also having a hard time with a bully in kindergarten.  That little boy punched him in the mouth the other day!  Kristin is going through similar rehearsals at her house.  Where do these kids even see that stuff?!  We need one strong, brave kid to stand up for the other ones...Reagan, looks like it's up to you kid.  :)

Until next time....

Showers, and Birthdays, and Camping...Oh My!

We had a pretty busy weekend this weekend. 

Friday
I had the day off (I like to say that St. Charles took the day off in honor of my birthday, but really it was a comp day from parent-teacher conferences.....).  I took Ella to get her hair cut and we went to lunch together.  I had hoped that this would be a tradition to start with her.  I want to spend my days off school taking her out to lunch and having a special day together.  Although I am determined that this will be our tradition....our first lunch went awful.  What was I thinking taking two kids to a sit down restaurant alone?  Overwhelming to say the least.....  We had a super busy day after that preparing for the rest of the weekend.  Memaw and Papa Johnson picked Ella up and took her camping for the weekend.  Nick and I went on a date to 54th St. and then home to watch Bridesmaids, a hysterical movie that is a bit too closely rooted in reality. :)

Saturday
Some people say that it takes a village to raise a child.  I think that a strong set of grandparents and a campground are a good substitute.  They SPOILED Ella like crazy this weekend.  (Sorry Eli...we're sort of tied together right now, or they would've done the same for you!)  Papa bough Ella two new bracelets and two "halos".  Miss Linda gave her an early birthday present of a Barbie Jeep, and Miss Tara and Miss Mickey gave her a Disney Princess vanity that lights up and has make up....seriously, how am I supposed to top all of this for her birthday?  Here's a pic of her all dressed up for the Fall into Paris parade (where she also got a bagful of candy!)

Back home, I was getting ready like crazy for DeAnne's shower, and still managed to forget a lot.  (Thanks Nikki for bringing everything I forgot!)  I picked up Nikki along the way and had a great time celebrating DeAnne's very rapidly approaching wedding! 

I only wish that we had all had more time to talk with one another!  Still, I was glad to see everyone. 

DeAnne-you will make a beautiful bride.  (Duh! As if that even needed to be said!)  I cannot wait for your BIG day!!! :)

DeAnne, Lindsay, Nikki-seriously, we all need to get together--with or without kids, I don't even care....How about the first week in Oct. or the week of Lindsay's bday?



After the shower, Nick & I went to dinner with Dave & Brandy, Brian & Denise, and Craig & Amanda, at Cedar Lakes Winery.  Here is another group that I swear I do not get to hang out with enough!  Amanda had never been to a winery before, so when I wanted to go to one for my bday, I thought I should totally invite her b/c I know how much I love them!  We had a great time.  After the winery closed at 9, we went to Kristin's (who was watching Eli) and sat around their firepit for a few hours.

Sunday
I spent the day getting caught up around the house.  P/T conferences last week really killed me, and I had 9 loads of laundry with my name on them....ugh.  So we spent the day doing laundry, running the dishwasher--twice...that's just awful, and such things like that.  Nick's parents brought Ella home.  They stayed to watch the Rams game and we saw hot air balloons flying low right next to our house.  We seriously thought they were landing in the open lot across the street because their ride was there to pick them up!  I guess they changed their minds or something because they ended up in a corn field down the street.  Still, Ella loved it, and Scout still hates them.  (Even the fur on her tail stands straight up.  She looks like a dinosaur!  I wish I'd gotten a pic of that!)

It was a great weekend, and we had a great time with family and friends.  Love you guys!

What we did this summer...a little bit anyway

As promised, I finally am posting pictures of events that happend this summer.  Here's what we did this summer:

• May: We worked/went to school and waited for Eli.  Finally he was born on 5/25.
• June: We did not do much except sit around the house with a new baby, although we did go camping a few times.
• July: We camped A LOT this month.  We also hit the county fair, where Ella was tramatized by the sheep (you'll see the pics soon), and staged our own photo shoot.
• August: We camped  A LOT this month too.  We celebrated our 7th anniversary with a nice date in Moberly so as to not disturb our camping weekend.  School started back up.
• September:  Kristin and her family joined us for Labor Day at the campground.  Other than that, baby showers and bridal showers are keeping us home this month.

Here are some pictures to illustrate these events:

Walking to the fair, full of excitement!

My thoughts: "Free rides? Yes! Ella will love this!"

Wait, she doesn't seem so sure about these rides....

Let's go on the hot air balloon ride!

This turned out to be a TERRIBLE idea!  Ella cried during the whole ride and begged the attendant to let us off...he showed us no mercy.

How about we go look at the animals now?  What could go wrong here?

This is the sheep that climbed up the fence and tried to nibble on Beckett's hair, then looked right and Ella and loudly said, "BAAAAAA!" sending sheer TERROR through my toddler's body.

"It's okay, it's okay....calm down.  The sheep isn't trying to hurt you.  Just saying 'hi!'"

Outside the barn, attempting to calm down after she has clearly been traumatized

Leaving the fair
HA! If only it could've been this easy!  In reality, the trip back to the car was also full of tears, leaving Lindsay and me with two very tearful toddlers after a relatively rough afternoon. 

Now moving on to the photoshoot:

big ol' belly

Say wha? Mommy, you crazy!

Oh no! Don't cry bud!

Here is your "mute button".  Much better. :)

Shhhhh!!!! I love you!

lunch time

snug as a bug in a rug

"I KNOW!! LET'S PUT HIM IN A BASKET!!!"

my beautiful boy

I have the perfect idea!  Next, let's make it look like he's taking a bath!

And....we're done.  He seems to hate this bath idea.

Thanks Linz for all the pictures!  I love them!