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!