Poor Jane

Here's a pic of my beloved Jane. Sometimes I kind of feel bad for her. She had a luxury life 2 1/2 years ago complete with 2 humans giving her their undivided attention and fighting for her love (ok, so maybe Aron wasn't really fighting me for her love but whatever). Now she's got 2 extra "roomies" (Ella and Luke) and no fighting for her love. Her roomies' hobbies include pulling her tail and whiskers and poking her in the eyes. It's no wonder the poor thing has irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, frequent bladder infections, and a nervous personality. She also can't eat Purina brand cat food because one of the dyes in their food doesn't agree with her belly (see also colitis and irritable bowel syndrome). She's been banished to the garage at night for reasons I'll not go into. I thought she could use a little self-esteem boost so I took her picture. For some reason, she looks a bit crabby and put out. Poor Jane.

Frightening? Intriguing? You make the call.

So over Easter, Ella decided she wanted to capture a couple lady bugs and put them in a container to have as pets (I know...yuck...but whatever). She took them along to the pediatricians when she went last week. Thank goodness the nurse didn't freak out when Ella tried to show her "friends" to her--the nurse must have a bug-lovin kid, too. Anyway, it's now what, like 2 weeks later? THE STUPID THINGS ARE STILL ALIVE! How? Shouldn't they have died by now? Am I doomed to have a kid that perpetually carries around her ladybugs in a container? I'm thinking that maybe Ella's ladybug friends may have to meet their demise by way of my trash can pretty soon. Oops! Did I say that out loud? Does that make it pre-meditated? Be gone, Ladybugs, BE GONE!!

How could I have forgotten?

Luke's 6 month check up was on Weds. He's 15# 12 oz which is the 10% for weight and 25 1/2" which is 10% for height. He's doing a good job gaining on the growth curve. He started out at the 3% for both height and weight when he was born so I think he's doing great. Even if he stays at the 10%, he'll end up being about 5'7" which isn't gigantic but were Aron and I really expected to produce big kids? Aron's only about 5'7" himself. Anyhoos, Luke's such a big guy now! He was quite flirty and charming with Dr Brown again (I think he has a crush-I keep telling him that she's married but I don't think he cares). He's on track developmentally. He's sitting up and rolling over quite efficiently now. He's working on his transfer from sitting to laying on his belly. So far he's pretty much just managing to fall on his face but he doesn't seem to mind.

Ella had a revelation yesterday. She woke up yesterday morning and was singing her ABCs in bed (as she typically does) until I went in to get her. I walked in her room with Luke and she looked over at me and said "Mommy. Daddy. Lukie. Ella. Family. Love." Aw, does it get much sweeter? I told her she was right that we are all one family and that we love each other. She nodded and looked at me like "Did it really take me pointing that out to you Mommy? Am I smarter than you, Mommy?" She then rattled off more names that were in our family, although, she added a few more that aren't in our family (like Liam and Kaylene) but close enough.

Happy Story Hour, er, Birthday!

Here's a pic of Ella from last weekend at Kingwood Center. I was going to lie and say this is my back yard but too many of you have been to my house and know this is not it : )

Today was Miss Lori's birthday! Woo hoo! Ella colored her a picture of Clifford and gave it to her. She used crayons and pens to color it and was very proud of it. We walked to story hour and we practiced what she was going to say while we were going there. She was planning on handing her the picture and saying "Happy Birthday, Miss Lori." She did so well practicing it. We got to the library and saw Miss Lori and nothing happened. She handed her picture to her and clammed up. Stage fright, I guess. Maybe Miss Lori is just so cool that she's intimidating : )

Myles was there, too, but he got in trouble with his Mom before it was time to do the craft so his punishment was no craft. Poor Myles! Busted before the craft! Ella needs to teach him her technique--wait until after the craft then run around like a wild child through the library pulling books off the shelves and getting all the other kids rowdy. Sigh. My child the bad seed!

Well, for those of you that we told that we were thinking about doing an addition to our house, let me just say that this option is off the table. We had Aron's uncle over last night (who owns a construction company) to give us an estimate on how much an addition would cost. He estimates that it will cost somewhere in the 75-100K price range. Um, yeah. That's not an option (unless one of you happens to have this kind of money lying around and would like to donate it to us) so I guess we'll have to come up with a plan B. Hmm...what could plan B be? Hmmmmmmm....we'll have to think on that...and think...and think...and...

Thank goodness I'm not a cry-er

I know my friends enjoy seeing pictures of my family so here's a pic of Aunt Robbie and Luke from Easter.

For the first time today and completely without prompting, Ella told me that she loved me and that she missed me while I was at work. In her lingo, it was "Ella love you, Mommy. Miss you." Normally, I have to force the love out of her by twisting her arm before she'll say it to me. If I were my mother, I would be a puddle of mush and tears. Good thing I'm not her! Sniff, sniff, I think I'm getting a little misty (yeah, right!)

I thought Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest!

Today was pretty busy, too. We went to church this morning--Poppy even decided to come with Grammie which was a special surprise. After church, we went to GG and Pawp's (my Grandma and Grandfather) house. Ella ran right in to their living room and searched around for my Aunt Pam and Uncle Jack who are sometimes there when we stop by. She looked all around saying "Pam? Pam?" I told her that they couldn't come this weekend and I think she was kind of disappointed. She quickly got over it, though, when GG called her from the kitchen because she had a plate of donuts. Luke even got in on the action by eating some of the cream filling--tasty. She then stuffed herself with Chex mix and chocolate milk. I think my kid has a hollow leg or something.

We spent most of the day cleaning the garage and doing general cleaning. Ella rode her tricycle around in our driveway and helped Aron clean.


Here's a pic of Luke--Ella decided he needed some sunglasses to go with his jammies. I guess he's lucky...at least she didn't decide he needed a purse...

Yeeeeeee-owza! Busy Saturday!

We've been so busy this weekend--let's see if I can remember all of it. Yesterday, we went to Kingwood Center. For those of you that don't know, this is a local estate that was left to the city of Mansfield many years ago but a rich family. It has a bunch of gardens to walk around in with flowers. The picture above with Ella in it shows the fish and frog pond. If you look closely, you can see the frog in the water looking back at Ella (Yes, I know the frog looks like he's dead but trust me, he was alive and kicking). At Kingwood Center, there are peacocks and ducks and other wildlife to see along with wooded trails to walk on. Before we went there, we stopped for a bite to eat at Chipotle. Mmm...Chipotle...Ella had her own barbacoa taco. You can tell she's Aron's child by her food choices at Chipotle--lots of sour cream and lots of cheese with none of that pesky lettuce to get in the way : )

Actually Ella and I were out and about even before we went to Kingwood Center Saturday afternoon, when we went to Meijer's grocery shopping. Normally, grocery shopping isn't exciting enough to blog about but this trip was fun. She's very easy to bribe--if you tell her that if she's good while we're in the store, she can ride the horse after we check out. She usually gets 2 pennies to ride the horse (each ride costs 1 penny) with but yesterday was special. Ella and I were walking around the store talking about how she had put her pennies in her purse and how she was going to use them once we were checked out. While we were talking about this, a nice older lady came up to us and gave Ella 2 more pennies to ride the horse. She was very excited about this and of course, wanted to use them all at once. She was very good in the store so I let her.

After Kingwood Center, we made a quick pit stop at Grammie and Poppy's (my Mom and Dad) and picked up some things. Grammie was getting ready to mow the grass so Poppy decided he would take Ella for a quick spin on the lawn mower. (See also above photo).

Craft time!

Ah, story hour. The hour of fun. One of Ella's favorite times of the week. The hour for reading, dancing, and most importantly..........CRAFTING! Man! Ella sure loves a good craft. Now that she's one of the older kids in story hour (for the 0-3 lap- sit group we go to), she having a seriously good time with the craft. So much of a good time that she doesn't want to think about anything else. Everytime Miss Lori would finish reading a book, Ella would run over to the door and look at me like "Let's go people! Let's get crafting." Yesterday's selection was a flower made out of a popsicle stick and a cupcake wrapper. It involved coloring the wrapper and popsicle stick and then glueing the two together.


Here's a pic of the kids in their Easter attire. I always enjoy the look of fear that Luke gets whenever we have Ella hold him by herself. Poor Luke. I decided that Ella and Luke probably have the worst Easter bunny ever (me). First of all, I forgot to buy Luke a basket for himself. He had to share Ella's basket. Second of all, I totally forgot to buy any candy to leave in the basket. To remedy this, I ended up taking a few pieces of candy I had put in a candy dish from the previous weekend with the Easter bunny at the state park and stuffed them into the one plastic egg I happened to have. Third of all, I didn't buy any of that green grass stuff that you're supposed to put in the basket. Sigh. My poor children will be scarred for life with an E Bunny like that. The Easter bunny brought Luke a couple books (think Peter Cottontail) and a little fuzzy chick. The Bunny brought Ella a t-shirt, dress up shoes, and a light-up Nemo pen.

Clearing the air...

A number of you (not just you, Jamie) have been concerned about the times that I blog and have noted that the times are around 1 or 2 AM. Fear not, my friends. I am not actually getting up at these atrocious times just to blog out our life for you. It's because the blog was set up in Pacific time rather than Eastern time (it defaults to PST unless you change it in your settings). I had been lazy up to this point and not changed it. I have now corrected this and the times are now in EST--it also corrects old posts. Sorry for the confusion and/or concern.

P.S. Yes, I do sometimes blog before I go into work so the 4:30 or 5 AM post times are correct.
P.P.S. I also changed the setting so that you can leave a comment without needing a username or account with blogger. If you feel the need to comment, feel free!

Easter--Parts I and II

Here's a pic of Granny Lindy and Luke--what a happy little chunk! (If you look closely, there's an egg hidden on the wreath hanging behind Lindy--that tricky Easter bunny!!)
Here's Ella running around with an egg on day 1 of Easter (Saturday). On Saturday, we hung out with Aron's Mom and Dad (Steve and Linda) at their house with Aron's Granny and Grandpa along with Aron's sister and husband (Annie and Kevin). Ella had a blast with Aunt Annie and Uncle Kevin. Ella walked around with Annie and Kevin for a while before lunch. We had a traditional lunch with ham and sides. Aron decided to be adventurous and made an apple pie for everyone to enjoy. It sparked a heated debate on the virtues of butter vs. solid shortening vs. lard in a pie crust. The pie was quite yummy but Aron, being the perfectionist that he is, sees much room for improvement. Ella took a nap at Granny Lindy's house and when she woke up, the Easter bunny had come and left eggs hidden around their yard. The Bunny hid many eggs for Ella to find (some were hidden and re-hidden and re-re-hidden yet again). It was a great day and time passed by very quickly.


Day 2 of Easter (Sunday) started early! We woke up early to go to sunrise service at our church (we had to be there at 7 AM--yikes!!). After that service, there was a breakfast at the church. After breakfast was another service. Whew! Two services in one day! When those were done, we went to Grammie and Poppy's house to meet with my Grandparents and Aunt Pam/Uncle Jack. There was much laughing and eating and all had a good time. The Easter Bunny came to Grammie's house and hid some more eggs (they were "recycled" from Granny Lindy's house the day before but don't tell Ella).

Just a couple extra pics...no entertaining stories...

Could we have been any busier?

Yesterday was story hour. As always, a rockin good time with Miss Lori. There was much book reading, dancing, and just plain silliness. Miss Lori had an Easter egg hunt set up for the kids once the reading and dancing were done. There was a find 2 eggs limit which Ella and Myles hit within one minute. Our kids are so generous, though. Ella found 2 eggs and put them in Myles' basket and Myles found 2 eggs and put them in Ella's basket. Such good sharers! Inside each egg were goldfish crackers--bless Miss Lori for not putting melty, gooey, gloppy get-all-over chocolate in the eggs. After story hour, we walked home (stroller ride for the kids, does it get much better than that?). For lunch, we decided to go to Grammie and Poppy's house for burgers and hot dogs. Grammie wasn't there because she had to take a class in the morning then she went grocery shopping but we all hung out with Poppy and had a good time. Ella and Myles played in a big pile of dirt and rocks. They were so dirty that we tossed them in the tub but, unfortunately, I didn't have any clothes for Ella to change into so she had to ride home in a spare t-shirt of Luke's from his diaper bag (remarkably it fit but was just a little bit too short). Who knew my 2 year old could fit into a 3-6 month size t-shirt?? When Aron got home, he took the kids outside to check out his beloved white peach tree (I think it's like a third child to him. A third leafy, barky, grows outside kind of child) to see if it was blossoming yet. He has grand plans for this tree. I think he thinks I will make him some peach pie--I keep telling him to keep dreaming. Anyone who knows him, knows that his most frequent request of me (and really of anyone who likes to bake) is to make him pie. I don't like pie so on the few occasions that I make one, it is only for him and he eats it in about 1 1/2 days. He's such a pig!! Anyway, he's very excited about the tree because he thinks it might be the first time it will bear fruit. There were a few blossoms last year but, alas, they all froze off and no fruit was eaten. Poor Aron!

ZOO DAY!!!

It was a gorgeous 72 degrees today. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right for hanging out in the sunshine...AT THE ZOO!! Uncle Jeff is on vacation this week so he and Aunt Robbie decided to take Myles and Ella to the zoo. I told Ella about going to the zoo last night before she went to bed. Her eyes got as big as saucers and she literally jumped up and down while she screamed "excited! excited!" It was hard to calm her down before she went to bed but I told her that she had to hurry and go to sleep so that she could start getting ready for the zoo early in the morning. We went over the rules for going to the zoo with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Robbie

1.) No running away from Uncle Jeff and Aunt Robbie
2.) Always hold hands with Uncle Jeff or Aunt Robbie
3.) Tell Aunt Robbie if you have to go potty because Uncle Jeff doesn't understand the mechanics of girls and how they potty.
4.) Be a good girl
5.) HAVE FUN!

And boy did she have fun! They went all over the place in record time. Ella preferred to walk and Myles preferred to ride in the wagon. If you ask her what she saw at the zoo, she'll tell you she didn't see owls (they were sleeping), crocodiles (they were sleeping), or giraffes (surprise, surprise, they were also sleeping). With more prompting, she will tell you that she saw a baby elephant, lions, flamingos, and manatees. She had pizza and ice cream for lunch.

Luke hung out at home with Grammie until Ella came home in the early afternoon. After they dropped Ella off, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Robbie went home to take naps. It's hard to be a grown up!

I was stuck indoors at work all day (6:30 to 5!). I had many daydreams of running away from work and joining them at the zoo but it didn't happen. I went out at lunch to Chipotle so at least I got to be outside for the 2 minute walk from the car to the restaurant. Aron was stuck inside at work, too. We went for a walk with the kids in the stroller. Wooooooooooooooooooo! Good times!

It's so darn nice outside today!

Here are my two cuties having fun outside today. I think we're going to go for a walk pretty soon. Ella's decided that she wants to sit in the back of the double stroller and Luke should sit in the front. I don't think she's realized that you don't have near the amount of leg room in the back as you do in the front but whatever floats her boat.

Here I am!

I think this is the first picture of me in the blog. Of course, I don't look that good--my eye makeup's all smudgy and I look like I'm sweating a bunch but I decided to put it in here none-the-less.

Easter bunny!

Yup, those are my kids with the Easter bunny. Ella looking quite fashionable on the left--Luke hanging out on the right with his binky. Today was an Easter egg hunt at the State Park. It's put on by the Lion's Club every year and is a really great event. It's a good thing Ella remembered to bring her purse because I forgot to bring a basket to collect candy in--what a bad Mommy! I think poor Luke just really wanted to take a nap but he was a good little guy and watched his sister run around and pick up candy. The egg hunt was this morning at 10 AM but we had to get there a little early to make sure we could get our picture taken with the Easter Bunny. The Bunny's quite popular after the egg hunt and the line to get your picture is much longer so it pays off to get there early. Ella's purse was filled to the brim with candy and she could barely get it closed. I think Aron helped eat some while she was taking a nap but let's not tell Ella that, shall we? I guess maybe he did deserve a few pieces because he held Ella's purse while she was collecting the candy--it's not every man that can pull off carrying a plastic pink purse for his daughter.

After the egg hunt, I went to a party with my friend, Amy. It was fun and we had all kinds of yummy Thai food to snack on. While I was there, Ella went to Granny Lindy's house (Aron's Mom) and colored Easter eggs and made Easter crafts (imagine a bunny and duck made out of pipe cleaner, construction paper, and a plastic cup). She helped Grandpa Steve with the baby lambs and took a nap at their house. What a big girl! While she was doing all that, Luke and Aron went to Great Granny and Great Grandpa's house for a visit. Luke enjoyed sitting in Grandpa's lap and playing with his face. After that, Luke and Aron came back home to get ready for a visit from Aunt Annie who was in town for a couple hours. Ella came home with Granny Lindy and Grandpa Steve so that she could play with Aunt Annie, too.

Busy, busy day!

Good times, my friend. Good times

This pic is from last Saturday morning. Aron is kind enough to get up with the kids on Saturday mornings--hey it's the least he can do. Ella usually gets up around 7:30 or so. They do the morning ritual--go potty then go downstairs so Ella can have a juice box which is probably her favorite part of every day. Then they snuggle under the blanket that I made her and watch this cartoon called "Liberty Kids." What is Liberty Kids, you ask? It's a cartoon where all the characters are from the Revolutionary War Era. Like Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington. Truth be told, I think Aron enjoys watching it way more than Ella. She's just there for the snuggle and juice. He's such a dork. How he ever conned me into marrying him, I'll never know. Last week, poor little Luke got mixed up in the Liberty Kids business so here's the picture of them, snuggled up on the couch waiting for Daddy to get done taking their picture so they can get back to watching Liberty Kids. Sigh. Let's just hope they aren't a big dork like Daddy.

Story hour was yesterday. Ella misses her buddy, Kaylene, who hasn't been to story hour for a couple weeks because Kaylene has a new cousin, Willa. She did some dancing with Kaylene's boyfriend, Mason. She also played peekaboo with her new friend, Wesley, while they lay on their bellies in the fire engine box thing. The craft this week was painting with water on construction paper. This was pretty cool. As always, Miss Lori rocks! Luke was busy during story hour flirting with Mason's Mom, Missy. He's quite the ladies' man, let me tell you. He flirts with his pediatrician, nurses, and basically any other woman he sees.

Fun times at Grammie's work

We decided to visit Grammie at her work today. Ella was a little shy at first but quickly warmed up to all of Grammie's work friends (Nita, Janet, Grace, and Katie). I think we picked the best day to go--Nita made veggie pizza which was quite tasty and one of the story hour mommies brought in sugar cookies. We brought our lunch to have with Grammie which was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a fruit snack, and goldfish crackers. The best part was that it's National Library Week (so go out and visit your local library everyone!!) and if you checked out a book, you got a king size twix bar. Does it get much better than that? A book and a tasty snack to go along with it. I will caution patrons of my Mom's library, though, do not get chocolate on the book. You may be in for a hefty 2 cent fine if there are chocolatey fingerprints in the books when you return them! : )

Luke was quite the ladies man at the library. He has a little crush on my Mom's friend, Janet. He was very quick to smile at her. He watched everyone eat their food and was a little upset that no one was sharing. I tried to explain to him that when you have no teeth you can't eat veggie pizza but he didn't really want to listen.

Both kids had a great time visiting Grammie at work and now both are taking naps.

And so it begins...

Well, boys and girls, we officially entered a new chapter in Ella's learning. She has figured out that some people are boys and some people are girls. She knows she and Mommy are girls and that Luke and Daddy are a boys. If you ask her what Myles is, she says his last name. She also says that for Uncle Jeffy and Aunt Robbie. With prompting, she will eventually tell you that Jeffy is a boy and Robbie is a girl. The other night in the tub, she looked down at herself and said "circles." I couldn't figure out what she was talking about until she then said "Nipples. Boobies." Oh, I think I'm in trouble, ladies and gentlemen. I think I'm in trouble.

Here's a pic of Luke enjoying a good cooking magazine. He will make some woman very happy someday if he can cook. Heck, he'll make his Mommy very happy someday if he can cook. We learned today at my grandparents that he enjoys pickle juice. I think he would've also eaten the rice chex that Ella was eating there if I would've let him. I think I'll wait a few more weeks until he's 6 months old and then try Cheerios and maybe graham crackers.

We went to Uncle Jeffy and Aunt Robbie's last night. They had gone out with some friends so my parents were watching Myles. We decided to throw Myles and Ella into the tub together. Suffice it to say that there was much splashing, giggling, and squirting each other with their respective tub toys. Those little hams!