Our commute to daycare

Ellie: What dis road name?
Mommy: Jay Rd.
Ellie: And we live on Souf Or Card Cweek Circle?
Mommy: Yep.
Ellie: When we get on a new road, tell me what is name, ok?
Mommy: Ok.

...

Ellie: See, dos care-ots (orange traffic cones)? See dem, Mommy? On the side of the road? See?
Mommy: Yes, I see them (I see way too many of them. I despise those carrots).
Ellie: Dey say "Don't go on dis side of da road!"
Mommy: Why can't we go on that side of the road?
Ellie: Bekuz they are fixing da road!

...

Ellie: A bus! A bus!
Mommy: Where?
Ellie: Right dere! Is a school bus! Let's win it!
Mommy: You want to race?
Ellie: Yes! We're going to win!

...

Ellie: What's dis road named?
Mommy: We're on the highway now.
Ellie: Oh yeah. I remember now. Daddy-Go (Diagonal) Highway!

...

Ellie: A taxi! A taxi!
Mommy: Where?
Ellie: See, right dere?! It's a funny little taxi.
Mommy: That kind of taxi is called a Corvette.
Ellie: Is a funnai taxi!

...

Ellie: Oh oh, where is da school?
Mommy: What do you mean, where is the school?
Ellie: I dink he's hiding from us.
Mommy: The school is hiding?
Ellie: Yeah, I dink he's hiding behind dos trees!
Mommy: Right over there?
Ellie: Hi Mr School! We found you!

...

Ellie: Whats dis road named?
Mommy: Remember it's a parking lot. It doesn't have a name.
Ellie: Oh. Hi Mr. Parking Lot! I see you.

Big Sister Quote of the Day XXXVI

Addie: Da da da.
Mommy: Did you hear that, Ellie? Addie is starting to talk. She's getting so big.
Ellie: Yeah.
Addie: Da da da.
Ellie: I love her, Mommy.
Mommy: You do? I always knew you'd be a really good big sister.
Ellie: I AM a good big sister!
Mommy: Yes you are!
Addie: Da da da!
Mommy: See, even Addie agrees.
Ellie: (BIG smile)

Addie starts to speak

Addie says "Da da da" and a groggy Daddy gets out of bed, walks to Ellie's room and asks her "What did you say?" No response. Confused, Daddy walks back to his room.

Mommy, also confused about why he went to Ellie's room, asked if Ellie was awake. Daddy says "I thought I heard her say Daddy Daddy." Mommy clarifies, "I think that was Addie."

"Oh, well then I probably just woke Ellie up."

Doh.

Wordless Wednesday XLI

If only it worked that way

Ellie: Mommy can I have two wipes?
Mommy: Sure. What do you need them for?
Ellie: I need to wash my feet.
Mommy: You do?
Ellie: Yeah, so dat my feet don't get too big.


Patent Pending: Wipes that prevent your feet from growing. It is documented that Ellie thought of the idea first.

Big Sister Quote of the Day XXXV

Ellie: Oh dere's my mommy!
Mommy: Hi Ellie! I missed you when you were at Gramma's house.
Ellie: And dere's my little sister! I missed you, Add-line.
Mommy: You missed your sister?
Ellie: Yeah. Can I hold her?
Mommy: Now or do you want to wait until we get home?
Ellie: Now so dat my friends can see my baby sister.
Mommy: Ok. Let's sit down.
Ellie: See, Maddie, it's my baby sister!
Mommy: (Seeing Addie slipping out of Ellie's arms) Do you want to hold her while she stands?
Ellie: Yeah.
Mommy: Ok, stand her up in front of you and you put your arms here and keep her straight.
Ellie: Ok. Look Mommy! She's standing! Add-line, you're getting so big! I'm so pwoud of you!

May I have a tissue?

Salina's Tissue Post reminded me of this one...

Ellie: Mommy, can I have a tissue please?
Mommy: Sure (handing her a tissue).
...
Ellie: Can I have a tissue?
Mommy: Sure (here's another).
...
Ellie: Can I have anoder tissue?
Mommy: Here, take a whole roll of toilet paper and then you can get your own tissue whenever you want it. I'll be right back.

(You see where this is going...)

(Mommy returns to find the toilet paper roll had fallen off the bed and Ellie was trying to pull it back onto the bed. Of course, meanwhile the mound of unraveled paper on the floor keeps getting bigger and bigger)
Ellie: I can't get it!... Oh, wait dere! I got it!
Mommy: Uh, not really.
Ellie: Oh oh! Da toilet paper is all gone! Mommy, can I have anoder tissue?

Grow old along with me

I have a couple beautiful friends who are getting married soon, each has a beautiful shiny new ring that I love. I look at the one on my finger and find that I am still in love with it. Michael done good. Michael done REAL good. We have been married now for 5 years, 8 months, 1 week and 2 days and only recently have I noticed the age that my rings are showing.

The beautiful engravings on the sides of both of my rings (where they lay against each other) are nearly worn off. I have mixed feelings on what I think of that. Does it make me want to take my ring(s) off, store it in a safe place so that it's still in a nice condition for when my children or grandchildren inherit it? Yes. Does it make me want to announce to the world how proud I am that my marriage has lasted long enough to have imperfect aged rings and it's still going strong, two kids and all? Yes.

I suppose that's the way it is with marriages. They start out all shiny and new and they age to a more comfortable state that some might consider dull. I love where my marriage has taken me and when I think about all the adventures that I've had while wearing my rings... well it makes my heart sing. I wouldn't trade that for anything - no matter how bright, shiny and new.

If and when the day comes when one of my daughters or their daughters wants to wear my ring, I hope they can appreciate the time and memories that went into making it as perfectly worn-down as it may be.

Wordless Wednesday XL

Flower Girl to Be

Put a fancy dress on a little girl and POOF! You've got yourself an instant spinning top. And apparently, if said fancy dress does not have the proper spinning flare then it just isn't worth another minute of consideration. Take it off NOW! Next please?

Look at this girl twirl! I absolutely love how she would watch the dress flare out. Her eyes had a sparkle that told the world "Look at me! I'm a princess!" that I've never really seen before - at least not quite like this. It HAS to be the flare! There's magic in the flare and Ellie knew it.I was amazed at how little time was needed before the spinning started, but who could blame her? Just look at how the dress poofs up!!! And the expression on her face? She KNEW she was rockin' it, silver high-tops and all.

And when she wasn't trying on dresses? Did Ellie have a problem waiting for me to get my measurements done and try on my own dress? Not at all. She LOVED watching the other REAL princesses try on their pretty dresses. She just sat (or stood) and watched and watched. You could tell what she was thinking... "Some day, when I get bigger, I'm going to be a REAL princess! No more pretending."

On roads and parking lots

Ellie: Mommy, what's dis road called?
Mommy: This one is Jay Rd.
Ellie: And when we go on new road, what's named?
Mommy: Then we turn onto the highway.
Ellie: No, dat's not a highway. It's a low-way.
Mommy: It's called a highway because we can go really fast and our speeds are high.
Ellie: Oh.
...
Ellie: And what's dis road named?
Mommy: This isn't a road. It's just a parking lot.
Ellie: What's da parking lot named?
Mommy: Parking lots don't get names. Only roads do.
Ellie: Why?
Mommy: I'm not sure.
Ellie: Day ran out of names?
Mommy: Sure.
Ellie: Cuz dere's lots and lots of roads, right Mommy!?
Mommy: Yep.
Ellie: And dere's not enough names for da parking lots. Poor parking lots.

Down by the bay

The longer a song is stuck in your head, the more inappropriate the lyrics become...

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow,
back to my home, I dare not go.
For if I do, my mother would say:
Did you ever see a goat wearing a coat?
Down by the bay.

...
.....
.......

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow,
back to my home, I dare not go.
For if I do, my mother would say:
Did you ever see Superman sitting on the can?
Down by the bay.

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow,
back to my home, I dare not go.
For if I do, my mother would say:
Did you ever see a bird dropping turds?
Down by the bay.

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow,
back to my home, I dare not go.
For if I do, my mother would say:
Did you ever see a moose hanging from a noose?
Down by the bay.

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow,
back to my home, I dare not go.
For if I do, my mother would say:
Did you ever see a flirt taking off her shirt?
Down by the bay.

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow,
back to my home, I dare not go.
For if I do, my mother would say:
Did you ever see your brother doing your mother?
Down by the bay.

Getting closer and closer

The prosthetic arm project I worked on is getting closer and closer to becoming an actual product. Exciting! Check it out here.

Punk Bride

Mommy: Would you rather be a table or a chair? And would you rather have green or purple hair? (From "Would you rather be a bullfrog" by Dr. Seuss)
Ellie: Umm I like da gween hair becuz I like gween. Hey Mommy, can I tell you someping?
Mommy: What?
Ellie: When I get married, I will haf gween hair. Is dat ok, Mommy? Is... is... is dat a good idea, Mommy?
Mommy: Green hair?
Ellie: Yeah becuz I like gween!
Mommy: What ever you want, it will be your special day.
Ellie: Like my birfday? Am I still tree?

Wordless Wednesday XXXIX

Big Sister Quote of the Day XXXIV

"I wanna give Addie a toy..."

Passports

We've wanted to get passports for the girls for a while now. Though we've never needed them (we've only traveled in the US), it's always been a pet-peeve of mine. I can't believe how easy it is to travel with kids without the need to prove that they are yours. But this post isn't about that vent.

We have dreams that some day we'll wake up and have the opportunity to take the girls to Europe AND actually have the guts to do it. When that happens, we don't want to have the silly excuse of "they don't have passports" holding us back.

The first attempt at getting the passports failed. Not quite miserably but it failed non-the-less. We went on Saturday because it fit best with our schedules. Once we got there it quickly became apparent that Saturday worked best for everyone else's schedules too. We told Ellie ahead of time that we were getting a passport for her so that she could go on trips with Mommy and Daddy. She was quite excited, but after waiting in line for 15 or 20 minutes without moving, we could see the excitement melt into boredom.

We decided to avoid any meltdowns (from either Ellie or Addie) and just schedule an appointment for some time during the week, but as soon as Ellie realized we were leaving without her passport she got quite upset. We had to explain to her that it was ok because we weren't going to go on a trip without her. We would wait until we got her passport. She sadly said "OK."

The next week we went in again and got pictures taken and sent away the paperwork for passports. Again Ellie was super excited to finally get a really cool passport (she loves ours) and was upset when she realized we were leaving the post office without one. We explained to her that we had to send the papers to the passport place and we had to wait until they made her passport. They would send it to her in the mail. Another sad and disappointed "OK" and we were on our way back home.

Since then she has asked us about her passport probably every 3 days or so. This girl was very excited to get it. She knows it's something official and there is something important about it that will let her travel with us. She does not want to take the chances of us going without her.

And when the passports finally came in the mail, she proudly held hers up for Addie to see. "See, Addie! Is soooo booo-ta-ful!"

Well Ellie, you have no fear. Your parents no longer have an excuse to leave you at home.

My treasures

Today was a wonderful day. We're setting the standards pretty high with my first few Mother's Days and today was no exception. If you stick it through the long post, I'll reward you with a fantastic video.

It started with my family wishing me "Happy Moder's Day!" and Ellie would repeat it over and over through out the day. She loved the reactions it got out of me and I loved hearing it.

Then came my treasures. Oh the treasures!
I told Michael that what I really wanted for Mother's Day was for Ellie to sign her name on a card for me. Right after Addie was born (yes, exactly 7 months ago) Ellie blew our socks off when she showed me that she could SPELL AND WRITE her name. I was shocked but sleep deprived and sadly lost the piece of paper. It's taken 7 months to finally get her to write it again. He went above and beyond my expectations. As always.


Yesterday we planted a lot of bushes and flowers. It may not look like much now but there used to be GIANT bushes in front of and to the side of the house, and along the fence line. I wish I had "before" shots but the decision to remove them was spur-of-the-moment. I'm LOVING the results. But today we decided that the flowers needed watering and Ellie offered to hold the hose. Enough said. If only the pictures showed all the giggles.

This is my first Mother's Day with Addie in our lives and I was so happy to get some fantastic pictures of her. She also happens to be exactly 7 months old today. WOW! If I didn't feel like I had so much to say about today then I'd go on and on about how wonderful she is and how I can't imagine our lives without her. Alas, you'll just have to settle for the pictures that show how she's such a happy little thing.


After our nap today we went to have ice cream. As simple as that sounds, I knew it was exactly how I wanted to spend my Mother's Day.And of course, there's always a consequence to giving a child ice cream:

Hand prints, signatures and pictures... they're all treasures I will hold dear. Just a single one would have been enough for me to declare today a success. But they're not my most prized treasure. I got VIDEOS!!!! Oh my god, you just can't get better than these... Enjoy!
This went on and on. I have half a dozen little clips like these.

Thanks to my wonderful girls who make it so easy to enjoy life. You're both so beautiful.

Stickers

Sometime about a year and a half ago (when Ellie was 18 months-ish) I put a sticker on her tummy, and still to this day she thinks that's where stickers belong. The mind of a child is amazing. How can such a small detail like that stay in her memory for so long yet it most likely is not something she will ever remember when she's older?

A dream of mine II

A while ago I told you about my dream to live in an old school house and now I've found another dream.

It's fantastically crazy, guys! One that I would love and hate all at the same time. So let's get rid of the "hate" and "crazy" aspect of it and pretend like we have all the money, time and energy in the world...

I introduce to you another fantastic find close to where we live:
More pictures can be found here.

I know what you're thinking. It's beautiful, right?

Pros:
- Spanish tile roof
- Water fountains in the yard
- Great big trees
- Great iron & stucco fence
- Lake w/ bridge in backyard
- Close to 2 acres*
- Mediterranean style house
- Close to 6,000 sq ft*
- 6 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms*
- Marble floors, walls, columns... it's GRAND
- Arched doorways
- Spanish-style entry with mezzanine
- Three staircases**
- Grand tiled mural floors
- Grand painted mural ceilings
- Even the 3-car garage has terracotta tiles!
- Cobblestone driveway
- A ballroom!
- Great patios w/ views and outdoor kitchen
- Great deal (foreclosure)

In a nutshell, it's like a piece of Europe only a mile away from my home!

Cons:
- This is Boulder, not Europe***
- My furniture would look silly in the house
- Needs HUGE chandelier for entry
- Needs museum-quality pictures instead of my cross-stitches
- Nearly every bathroom needs fixing of some sort
- Every maintenance would be expensive because of materials
- Master bath (or one of them) has mirrored ceilings****

In a nutshell, it's not going to happen. Maybe we'll wait for the next buyers to fix it up and then when we get rich, we'll buy it from them to open a Bed & Breakfast. It would be PERFECT for a Bed & Breakfast! You could turn the ballroom into a tea-room, and each bedroom has it's own bathroom, and you could cook for guests on the patio, and and and... How fun!

I soooo want this house. Yet I sooooo do not. Maybe I just need another trip to Europe. That must be it. I need to get my Europe-fix.

* Different listings say different numbers
** To the upstairs alone! One grand staircase, one that is a servants staircase towards the back of the house, and one that goes from the entry to the master bathroom (WTF???)
*** No wonder it never sold
**** Who needs to watch themselves poop?

Big Sister Quote of the Day XXXIII

Ellie: Let's go swimming wif my friends!
Mommy: Ok, who do you want to go with?
Ellie: I have tree friends. Brynnie, Izzie and Lauren.
Mommy: Are those your favorite friends?
Ellie: Yeah and Izzie's baby is Gabrielle!
Mommy: Is that her baby sister's name?
Ellie: Yeah but I like my baby better.
Mommy: You do? Why?
Ellie: Becuz... um... becuz I like Blues Clues, green, my baby and football.
Mommy: (laughing) You do, huh?
Ellie: And I like my Brynn too.
Mommy: Yeah, let's not forget her.
Ellie: No, dat would be sad.

Wordless Wednesday XXXVIII

According to Ellie

This is Princess Cinderella:
And this is Cinderella's prince:
Yeah, baby! Maybe I should have called this post "Princesses Gone Wild."

Tid-Bits XI

We recently watched Mary Poppins together, which was soon followed by Ellie joining me in merrily dancing and singing from the door, across the driveway and to the car. "Chim chim chim chim roo!" Ellie sang along with me as we spun and leaped through the night.

I love how expressive baby feet are. Excited - Addie kicks like crazy. Mad - Addie's feet stretch rigidly as far as they can. Happy - wiggly feet. Exploratory - Stretching to see what's beyond the known world around her. There is no limit to the number of emotions her feet seem to have.

I love how every night that I get to tuck Ellie into bed, we lay under our very own Northern Lights (they come from her Angel night-light). We point at the pretty patterns on the ceiling, with "oohs" and "ahhs" and talk about which colors we like the best. The light show is so pretty and it's just for the two of us.

I love how Ellie has recently started to give items and words affectionate nicknames. "Can I sit on your lappy please-y?" or "Where is my Bun-Bun-y?" or "Dis is my baby sister Add-a-line-y."

I love how Ellie likes to comb my hair. I may never cut my hair again if it means she likes to practice making Mommy look pretty. And practice she needs because so far the results are far from perfect.

When holding open a heavy door, Ellie proudly said "I'm a big girl be-kuz I have ree-a ree-a strong missiles!"

I love to see which "big person" songs Ellie likes to listen to. Whether it be a song that repeats "I know one thing, that I love you. I love you. I love you." ("Say Hey" by Michael Franti), or "She calls you baby, baby baby" ("Kandi" by One Eskimo), or "I've got shoes" ("I got chills" from Grease), or "Shrek song... I bee-la. I bee-la" ("I'm a believer" by The Monkees). It's neat to see what words she clings to.

I love how Ellie asks what a song is about and that they can often be boiled down to a prince loving his princess (or visa versa).

I love how Ellie still helps with changing Addie's diaper. She'll pick out the best diaper from the pile (usually the one with Big Bird on it) and claim that it's Addie's Fave-o-rit.

I always knew that the day would come when Addie would just adore her big sister and want nothing more than to just watch her. I knew that Ellie would be able to make Addie smile but I didn't consider the reverse. I LOVE how much Addie makes Ellie smile and act a little more goofy than her normal self. LOVE IT.

I love it when Ellie says "I had no ask-a-nicks today!" after picking her up from school. Two reasons: 1. No bags of soiled clothes to attend to and 2. It's such a cute pronunciation!

I love how Ellie's obsessed about the color green. It's like she has defined herself as "the girl who loves green." Green candles on her cake. Green dress for her birthday. Green balloon. Green books. Green PJs. If green is an option, it's the only option. It's neat to see that our suspicion on her favorite color when she was a baby was correct. That's pretty cool.

I love how according to Ellie, sitting crossed-legged is called being "criss-cross apple sauce."

I think it's adorable how the majority of Addie's smiles are very rectangular.

I love to listen to the giggles that have started to emerge from the backseat. Baby giggles and preschool giggles, both entertaining the other. Again, I love to see how Addie makes Ellie be more silly than she normally is.

I love listening to Ellie's voice on the phone. I can't describe it. I wish I could. It's just so sweet and innocent and a tad shy. But it's so clear and distinct... and excited. I wish I could do something to guarantee the sound wouldn't fade from my memory. It's perfect.