The only true and correct way to enjoy a Disney princess movie is to dress as the princess you are watching and dance to all the songs. (Notice the baby wipe she is holding?! They are in the midst of a cleaning song, after all!) As demonstrated by the four year old:
After dinner one evening, Ellie was regaling us with the tale about a dream she had the night before. It was about monsters, and she was quite descriptive about how they looked, where they were, and what they were doing. She was incredibly adamant that "It was REAL!" when we tried to remind her that there were no such thing as monsters.....this was the very end of her tale that Ron caught with his phone.....
**Ellie does not normally wear a bib, I am not that OCD! But she found one in a drawer before dinner and decided she needed to wear it! ;) **
Right after Christmas, Ellie had a birthday. Four... Years! I can no longer even pretend she's a baby. She's a kid. Now don't get me wrong, entering this next phase in parenting life is great. We can go places and don't have to worry about hauling diaper bags or toddler supplies anywhere, we don't have to worry about missing a nap resulting in a meltdown, etc. (Although it would be nice to get past the meltdown stage for all of them, but that's another post!) But no more babies?! Everyone said it would go fast, and I had no idea how fast until now. I guess I could be like that Duggar lady and just have perma-babies going on in the house, but I don't think my sanity would cooperate....nor would my husband!
We spent the 28th taking down Christmas, then heading out to get BDay gifts. Usually, we've found some good things for her on clearance, so that's always a plus, but the pickin's seemed to be slim this year for that....not sure why. Some stores were still seriously lacking on a good selection of toys even...ToysRUs was a bunch of empty shelves! But we had left a couple things out from Christmas loot, and found some other fun things, so presents were loved. My advice to anyone though, if it is your control at all, is to NOT have a baby that close to Christmas! Her Christmas toys are hardly played with and she gets a pile more....it is sort-of ridiculous! Then the poor kid doesn't get another present extravaganza for another 361 days. We may ask her when she's older if she wants to start doing a 1/2 birthday instead, just to spread the joy out a bit! :)
Anyhoo.....on to the bday pics.
Ellie's favorite book recently are the Laura Numeroff/Felicia Bond "If You Give a ----- a ------" books....Mouse a Cookie, Pig a Pancake, etc. and so forth. Which is good because I LOVE them too! For her BDay we added Cat a Cupcake, and Pig a Party.
Ellie had been practicing mightily on her older brother and sister's scooters this Fall. So for her BDay she got one of her own.....hopefully we can take it outside in March or so, but until then, she cruises around the kitchen and dining area.
Favorites for a four year old....dress-up and Disney princess loot. Perfect Cinderella playset to go with the castle she got for Christmas:)
The kids at our house get the choice of picking their own cakes....obviously, as only a four year old would choose the garish pink and purple cake with dress-up crown and scepter jammed into the buttercream!
All in all, a very good day. Happy birthday Ellie!!! You are a joy to our family.
Nicole and Ellie's dance studio put on their winter production of "The Little Match Girl" in December. Wow! Lot's of extra practices and rehearsals to get them to, and they weren't even any of the principal dancers. I thought they did a great job, and really appreciated all the hard work of the director, Wendi, and all her teachers and other studio help. So much extra stuff for them, and right before Christmas. I wondered how the story would be portrayed, since it really is a sad story, but I thought it was done beautifully.
Nicole was a village girl, right at the beginning, and then was a part of the candle dance at the end of the show, after the little match girl has died and gone to heaven. The dance was lovely, as all the girls came in holding little battery powered candles with the stage and auditorium unlit, and that's all you could see, were the candles moving in unison. Then the lights came up and all the dancers were in white and the little match girl was there dancing with her mother that she'd been dreaming of. Ellie was a dove in an earlier dream scene.
I had to laugh. Nicole is very easily distracted, and even though she knows her dance, if something catches her eye, she keep sort-of doing what she's supposed to be, but you can tell she's distracted! She's done this same thing at both piano recitals she's been involved in...I guess we need to work on her focusing skills! Ellie got out there and was a bit overwhelmed by being on stage, so she did a couple plies(sp?) and a turn and other than that, pretty much stood there with a deer in the headlights look, and seemed to forget that her arms could, and were supposed to, move! But as you can see in the picture below, she wasn't the only one feeling overwhelmed!
Here are some pictures I managed to get of them....they sort-of worked despite the fact that my ISO was maxed, no flash, and I was sitting in the back!
*Nicole is front standing girl*
*Nicole is in there: in the back, just to the left of the girl in the black leotard!*
Next up early this summer: "The Lion King"!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, eight is a big deal, and that is because that is the age the children are baptized and become members of our Church. I took Nicole out for a little photo shoot, first, so we could catch her at 8, and second, so I could send out some invites to Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles for the baptism! I, of course, procrastinated until the last possible day, so I was just praying I got some I could use. Nicole is funny....her fake smile is obviously fake and forced, but if you get her laugh for a genuine smile, she either throws her head back and laughs as well, opens her mouth up too big, or squints her eyes down to almost nonexistent....makes for fun pictures! But here are some of the good results:
We used the one above for her invitation. Not the typical baptism look, since she wasn't in a white dress, but the door was perfect to put words on with photoshop, so I was thrilled!
Since the other kids were there that afternoon, I caught some quick ones of them:
Riley hates having her picture taken and is highly uncooperative when we try.....Ron had to grab her and hold her arms down to her side in order to get this.....someday, she'll be sad she was such a stinker about it since she'll have hardly any pictures of these years. :)
As I mentioned, Ellie decided this morning that she was done being a flower princess, which is what she wore to her dance lesson and her Joyschool parade. She went back to her original ballerina costume. This costume was actually Nicole's dance performance costume from last year, and ever since Nicole was done with "Little Mermaid" this past June, Ellie has deemed it hers and loves to play dress-up in it. So my plan for Halloween was to get some sparkly shoes for her to wear with it and call it good....until she changed her mind the 1st time and found the flower princess costume. Needless to say, and because she is spoiled, I was a bit stressed out when she announced the last minute 2nd change of plans. I was happy to find out her thick white tights still fit from last winter (it's going to be a cold Halloween this year!) and even happier when I ran to Target and found the very last pair of silver sparkly shoes in her size were on sale for $9! We did a little face paint and glittering, and viola, Ellie the Ballerina:
I should probably put her hair up in a bun for the real ballerina effect...maybe tomorrow. Not sure what the deal with the tongue is....too much excitement? And yes, she is still going to freeze tomorrow night. Not many people will know what she is all bundled up in a hat, coat, mittens, and most likely her snow pants!
Oh, and while at Target I found a kid size geisha wig on sale for $5....I got it for Nicole to make her look a bit more complete with the black poofy geisha bun look...it is hilarious!
Hey, I'm not talking about myself! Sheesh....what are you people thinking?!
Well, at least most of the time I'm not wearing a hat.... ;)
But I digress:
Today was Ellie's Joyschool Halloween parade and program. It was short and sweet, and the kids thought it was great!
Ellie is taking a dance class this year at DanceMakers Studios. She loves it! It will be fun to see what she can do later this year in her performances....watching 3 year olds dance is always good for some entertainment!
This past week the dancers were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to class. My friend was there and took some cute pictures of the girls that I need to share! (**Thanks Christiana!**)
Since I mentioned in the last post that Ellie and I are participating in a co-op preschool, I suppose I should post her 1st day of school pictures from, oh, more than a month ago! Thank you to the sweet friends in my ward that invited us to do this. I wasn't sure I'd do it again after I did it with Nicole, but when I realized that: 1. I wouldn't be doing it with a toddler and newborn at home, and 2. It is my last opportunity to do this with a preschooler, I jumped at the chance. And Ellie loves it!
Back to school today for the three oldest! I'm left with my little one at home, and so much more peace and quiet that I can't help but smile. Don't take me wrong, I love and adore my children, but how can you miss them unless they leave the house?! That, and too much together time for them equals more and more arguing and fighting, which frankly, drives me bonkers! But onto the point of this post:
Riley entered the world of high school this year. It literally seems like yesterday that we were walking her to 1st grade, so it is just so weird to think of her in high school. She was nervous, but excited. I hope everything goes well for her! I caught this picture as she was waiting for her friend to come pick her up...lucky Riley has a friend that is a junior and has access to a car. :)
Here's a look at our newest 2nd grader, sporting her new hairdo. Nicole and Jared are back at the charter school, and Nicole happily got the teacher she was hoping for. :) The only thing that could've made her happier was if she'd ended up having more of her friends in her class.....but no worry there, she'll see them at lunch and recess, and she'll make new friends in 5 minutes flat anyway!
Jared was so excited this morning he woke up all on his own, and came out all dressed and ready with even shoes on before he'd even had breakfast. First grade. I will admit, I will miss him. All day is a long time to be gone! He is very excited about three recesses and taking his lunch to school though. He told me this morning how he was going to organize his desk as soon as he got there. He is a funny kid! :)
So now, it's me and Ellie. I'm glad I have my little princess here with me for a couple more years! When we were out school shopping, Ellie decided she needed a lunch box. So we let her pick one out. She brought it with her today as we dropped the kids off. Then she asked if it was time for her to go to ballet. Nope, not until Monday! When we got home, she asked that I pack her lunch box with, what else? Lunch. So I did. She then put her cereal spoon down, and ate her lunch. At 8:30 AM! Ellie and I are doing a co-op preschool here in the neighborhood, but that doesn't start until September, so we have to figure out how to fill our days until then. But I'm liking the quieter and peaceful mornings just fine! :)
sigh.
Nicole. The girl loves music and loves to sing, but she can't carry a tune to save her life! Even worse is when she puts headphones on and the sings along, loudly, with the music. Quite painful and frustrating for the rest of us in the car with her. :) Ellie was quite certain that she didn't have the words right....oh my, if that was her only problem...in her defense, she was a little more in tune than an earlier song that we didn't catch on video.
Or how about this one:
Jared joins in and really helps out the beauty of that one!
We love Nicole. She keeps us on our toes!
I think I can now officially claim success with getting my youngest child potty trained. No accidents in days, staying dry at night, even telling me it's time to go, or going in the bathroom all by herself and getting on the potty!
Do you know what this means?! MY YOUNGEST CHILD IS OUT OF DIAPERS! No more diapers after 7+ years straight of a kid (or 2) in them! This is a very momentous occasion.
I was a little sad about getting rid of a lot of the baby stuff. Even got a little teary when the crib got taken apart. But this?! YES!
A huge congratulations and thumbs up to Ellie, who was, by far, my easiest one to potty train. (Although Nicole was pretty easy too, once she decided to do it. My angst was my own fault by trying to make her do it too early.)
Yay, yay, yay! It's a happy day.
Three years....wow! Since it felt like it was just a year ago that we welcomed this sweet little girl into our home, I am really having a hard time putting my brain around the idea that Ellie is turning three years old today! I no longer have a baby as my youngest, but a little girl. Although I am pretty sure I'll keep carrying her around like she's a baby, and thinking she needs to be rocked to sleep, etc.....Poor thing, I hope I come to terms with no more babies before she goes to kindergarten! :)
Ellie is such a little sweetheart in our family, although the controlling and in charge personality is emerging....they learn by example you know, and since she is surrounded by strong personalities, she is not going to grow up to be a pushover! Ellie has a very advanced vocabulary, and she pronounces her words well. It is hilarious to hear her say kaleidoscope, "that is wonderful", "oh, it's beautiful", and use them correctly!
Recognize these kids?!
He, he, he, he! The kids had a blast! Thanks, Nicole, and Rubberball, for letting us come play!
Go to THIS POST on THIS BLOG for more smashy face fun.
And thanks to onehm for the heads up that it was posted! ;)
A few weeks ago I stocked up on a couple pair of the Carters fleece footie jammies from Costco for Ellie to wear this winter. One of the pairs she chose is pink with brown monkeys. She has been asking every night to wear her "monkeys" since we brought them home. It got a teensy bit cooler today, and so I decided to let her wear them. She was so excited!
Daddy put her to bed, and then went to tuck Jared in. As he walked back out of J's room, Ellie stuck her head out her door and squealed, "Eeeee-eeeee-ooooo-ooooo!". Daddy asked her what she was doing. She looked at him with a scowl and answered, "I a naughty monkey."
Oh my....could she GET any cuter?!
Ellie informed me this morning....
"I need a phoom mommy, I need a phoom!"
A spoon with which to eat her cereal.
Well, I gave her a "phoom", and she proceeded to eat her cereal with her fingers. Just like every morning. Picking all the marshmallows out first. Thanks for the Marshmallow Matey's dad! We like Malt-O-Meal cereal at our house, cheap knock-off that it is!
So, everyone, grab your "phooms" and enjoy! :)
I think it's funny that no one has commented on the fact that my two year old is playing with poker chips and face cards in the picture below....such a stellar parent!
Or has someone turned me in to CPS anonymously?! ;)
Isn't she cute though?! That picture was taken on our trip to Colorado. We stopped in at a "Pioneer Town" that included a fun street of different businesses, including the Lizard Head Saloon. The kids thought that filling the glasses with poker chips was a blast.
As for Miss Rosie....wow, her "coco pops" are even more impressive today, including up onto her cheeks. Fun times!
Rosie Lola....
