A Trip to the Zoo & Forest Park

I'll admit something....I'm a terrible mother....Over spring break, I took the kids to the zoo.  What?  How does that make you a terrible mom?  Well, because it was my children's first time there....yes, that's correct, plural, CHILDREN.  Ella has never been before this.  So on  Tues, March 27, I took them to the zoo with DeAnne, Lindsay, Beckett, & Piper.  They had a blast of course.  It was a little chilly and we checked out the double stroller so Ella wouldn't get tired walking everywhere.  After the zoo, we had a picnic in Forest Park where we played and took lots of pictures.  

When we went over to see the chimps, one walked right up to us! 

The zoo had so many baby elephants this year!  There were probably 3-4 little ones. :)

Eli-entranced at an aquarium view

It was such a fun day with friends.  I am so looking forward to this summer and all kinds of daytrips with the kids, and cousins, and friends.  Don't worry--it'll be summer, so I'll have NO EXCUSE for being behind in my blogging.

A Case of the Body Snatchers?

I've been busy lately and haven't been blogging....and I'm not the only one who has been busy....

It seems as if Ella's personality was recently abducted.  She went to bed on Thursday, completely normal.  I am convinced overnight though that a body-snatcher took the sweet, angelic personality, always laid back and easy to manage, and left her shell with a new personality.  Chronologically:

• Friday @ sitters-during naptime, tore down some curtains, took down a white board & erased it, and put on A LOT of makeup, ruining at least one eye shadow
• Saturday @ home: While I was feeding Eli, Ella put on my 14-hour lipstick (like a clown!) and painted her nails over her St. Patty's Day green nail polish.  
• Punishment-spanking, and removal of all nail polish.  The latter seemed to be the most upsetting to her as she screamed, "NOOOOO!!!!!  IT'S FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!"
• Sunday @ Aunt Kristin's: Good almost the whole day, except for while we were visiting.  Example: when we left, Reagan tried hugging her and saying, "Thanks for coming over" while Ella stiff armed her yelling, "YOU'RE WELCOME!" and running out the back door.  Huh?
• Monday @ home: #1- Ella eats 2 Cadberry Cream Eggs (MY FAVORITE!) for breakfast without permission #2-Ella gets into my makeup again
• Tuesday-Good day, but it took 2 hours to get her to go to sleep.  At one point, she got up to go to the bathroom & somehow, her panties got flushed down the toilet.  When I asked where they were, she said, "I told you they were wet!" and she keeps pointing to the toilet, then adds, "and now they're in the basement...."

RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!  Seriously?  What happened to my angel baby?  She was so good and so easy!  It seems as if overnight, everything has changed.  In any case, I would have loved to take pictures of any of these things.  However, I CANNOT encourage further misbehavior by acting like any of this is cute.  I'm sure one day (a long, long way from today) that I will find all of this to be funny.  However, right now, it's maddening!

Here are some other pics of the kids though:

This boy sure does love to eat....yet somehow he's in the bottom 10% of his weight class. Go figure!

Fun in the Tub--Eli LOVES bathing with Ella.  He loves it even more now that he's not in a seat.  He's such a big kid!

This was at the dentist (before).  She took it like a champ though and didn't cry once.  She was enormously proud of her x-ray too. :)

Baptism & Ballet

I am so proud to say we had Eli baptized on 2/25.  Although I know it's not Eli making the choice for himself (obviously), it's a big deal to me.  To us, getting up in front of hundreds of people and promising to raise our kids in the faith is a big deal and it means a lot.  I'm not sure why I start to tear up at baby baptisms, but it happened again.  I can't even imagine if I tear up at this, at us saying we promise to raise our kids a certain way, how I will feel if/when my kids do make that decision on their own.  Sorry you two, but prepare for your mom to be a tearful mess....

Nick and I were standing up front, so we couldn't see how adorable Eli was.  Apparently he was super cute and made everyone "oh" and "ah" over him. :)  Pastor Mike Schreiner is the one here baptizing Eli.

Ella has been hard at work lately getting ready for her recital in May.  The picture above is her costume that she will wear.  The other day, Aunt Kristin got to go and watch the girls in their ballet class (I am SO jealous!).  I will be taking a day off work soon so I can go and see my girl. :)  Here are a few of the highlights of the ballet class.

Look at that little sassafras attitude!

Here's a better picture of her smiling.  She got to be the class leader!

The girls practice leaps (Jeté) over a teddy bear.

Although Ella's kick may not be the highest, her "Grand" Battement is praised for form. :D

In other news, I felt like I had to write this adorable moment down so I wouldn't forget it.  Ella got down off a kitchen chair the other day and hurt her booty.  She was crying, and rubbing it, and for some inexplicable reason, blaming poor Scout.  I came in and asked, "What's the matter?  Why are you crying?"  She said, "I hurt my booty....."  Since a mother's kiss can heal all injuries, I kissed my hand, patted her bottom, and assured her that it would all be okay.  She looked at me and said, "Nooooo, here, I'll do this (pulled down her pants revealing all butt-cheek) and you kiss it!!!!"  Sorry babe.  Nope....not gonna happen.  Too cute though.  I laughed and laughed until she was laughing too.

Also, Eli had his 9 month check up yesterday.  He weighs 18 lbs, 5 oz. (10%--are you kidding me?  He's a chunky monkey!).  He is also still not crawling; he seems mostly happy wherever he is and doesn't care to move.  We've been instructed to put him on the ground by himself for AN HOUR 3 TIMES/DAY!!!  Are you kidding?  Apparently, he's strong enough to do it, but doesn't want to.  We tried last night.  1.) He hated it and cried most of the time.  2.) He stayed in the seated position and didn't attempt moving at all.  I remember this happening with Ella too.  She was also a late crawler.  I remember being concerned that she seemed content to be right where she was all the time.  I was worried about her lacking ambition and what if she didn't want to go anywhere in life?  Now look, all of my fears were put at ease, and I'm sure Eli will be the same way.  Even when we lay him down and encourage him to crawl with toys, pacifiers or fun gadgets in front of him, he rolls on his back and just smiles at us.  If I leave, he usually will stay on his stomach, and keep his head up for awhile....until he puts his face into the carpet and cries.  Really....I ask you, how can I possibly let this go on for an hour?  Grrr, Eli, just please start crawling so the dr will get off my case. :)

Okay, this has quickly turned into a novel, and I should be writing a paper instead of blogging.  (I will in fact be graduating soon and REALLY NEED to get this done!!!)  Kiss, kiss!

overheard today

there were so many snapshots today that i wanted to be sure were written down somewhere. i still feel like i forgot some though.

"there was a green monster and he was really scary, and he bit me and i cried. true story."

(Eli grabbed Ella's green truck Uncle Craig & Miss Amanda gave her for her 3rd bday and was playing with it.) "NO! no Eli!" (looking at me to explain) "it's just too gorgeous. it's just too gorgeous. he can't have it."

when we were playing outside, she fell off her tricycle. it was a slow fall, but even her face hit the concrete. i picked her up, as she made the beginning of i-might-still-cry noises. as i put her on her feet, she spotted that Baby Scout had fallen out of the basket on the ground. "BABY SCOUT!" and now real crying noises as she swiped the stuffed dog off the ground and nuzzled her.

that's about it for now until next time....

The Imagination of a Child

Last night was a pretty laid-back night for us.  At 5:30, we went to a 2nd birthday party at Jump for Fun.  Ella is too scared of bounce houses to actually have any fun, so she spent the majority of the "jump time" sitting with me.

After the pizza, soda, cake, and presents, we went home.  First, we had a dance party.  YEAH!  Nick actually joined us this time.

After the impromptu dance party, Eli went to sleep.  The rest of the family stayed up late to eat popcorn and watch Tangled.  Around 12, we finally all decided it was time for bed.  SUCH FUN!  I love staying up late with the family.  :)

Here's a few random pics of the kids:

Can I just say how ADORABLE it is how seriously into each other they are?

Oh, I can't not blog Ella's comment the other day.  "Daddy is my favorite Prince Charming guy of all."  I said, "Yeah, Daddy is my favorite Prince Charming too."  :)  

I told her she was such a big girl the other day because she put on her own shoes and socks.  She asked that since she's so big if she could have a ring like mine....I looked at my wedding ring and told her that one day a boy would give her a ring of her own when they got married.....so then she started talking about how when Eli grows up, he will give her a ring.  I tried explaining that he is her brother, but she got frustrated with me yelling,"I KNOW!  HE'S MY BROTHER AND HE'S GOING TO GIVE ME A RING!!!"  Whatever I guess.  :)

I tried making this post the other day, but something happened with my pictures, and I gave up.  I believe this should be dated 2/6/12.

What I saw:

The story:
"A mosqito bit me and I yelled at it, and I cried a little bit, and I fell down on the ground, and made snow angels. And then the mosquito cried too."

Hmmm....so I guess it'll remain a mystery. What an imagination Ella has!

In other news:
Eli sits up so well now. He is so big and getting stronger each day.  He's still not moving anywhere yet though. I guess he's more like Ella than just what's in the face. He's another picture of him doing what he does....

Random

Ella has a new pet.

This is Tinkerbell.  Papaw Johnson caught her in the woods on a very cold day.  He just knew that Ella would love her because she is all pink and purple, Ella's favorite colors.  Ella has her in her room now and keeps her safe.  If you tap on her lid, she flutters her wings and flies all around.  (Looking back, a video may have showed her off better....)  Ella LOVES her. 

And here is Eli just looking adorable as ever.  <3

Around the Johnson House

I thought I'd make a list of things you might see or hear if you were to come to our house on a random day.

1.  You would most definitely see a mess of toys and dog fur.  And then you'd hear Nick say, "Can we PLEASE just clean the house?"  I do clean it!  It just seems to get cluttered again immediately afterward.

2.  You'd probably see Ella singing and dancing.  This video features her best A Capella rendition of "The Cupid Shuffle."  She butchers all of the lyrics, but she's just adorable, so who cares?

3.  You'd see and hear Ella delighting Eli with her antics.  A simple balloon can bring so many smiles.

4.  You could watch THRILLING games of peek-a-boo.  You don't even have to look away or hide.  Eli is so excited just at playing a game!

5.  And then fights for Eli's attention.  "Say DaDa!" "NO! Say MaMa?  MaMa? MaMa!"  This is almost always followed up by "NNNNOOOO! Say El-La! ELLLLLLLLLL-LA!"

6.  At Memaw and Papaw's house, you'd see Ella climbing into the cage with Paisley and Cabella.  They're so black, you can only see glowing eyes next to her.  We tried turning on the lights for a better picture, but then you could see the dogs and Ella's face was just a white, washed-out blur.  I settled for this one. 

7. You'd hear Ella say, "Mommy, you make my heart soar!" Then see her smile with both dimples.  LOVE THAT GIRL!

8.  You'd hear Scout's tail thwacking on everything in the house. Followed by Ella scolding her, "Scout! NO!"

9.  You'd hear Ella talking (NONSTOP!) about her cousins or camping out and how much fun she has with her friends. 

10.  You'd definitely see me stalking the children in an effort to photograph or videotape their every move.  I can't help it!