Wordless Wednesday XLVI

Rockin' It 101

Ellie: I wanna wear a dress today!
Mommy: Ok, let's pick one out.
Ellie: Can I wear one that poofs out like a princess?
Mommy: No, sweetie. Those are too fancy for school.
Ellie: How about dis den? Does it poof out?
Mommy: That's a dress for the spring time and you might get cold.
Ellie: But I wanna wear it.
Mommy: Ok, we need to wear tights with it then. Oh no, there are no clean tights.
Ellie: I have an idea! How bout we wear pants underneathe the dress?!
Mommy: Great idea! Let's put on long sleeves and pants and then the dress on top.
Ellie: And I want to wear my princess crown.
Mommy: Ok.
Ellie: Oh I know! I want to wear bof crowns.
Mommy: Ok.
Ellie: And I wanna wear my pink socks! And princess shoes!
Mommy: Ok.

The result... Long sleeve black shirt, black pants, red short-sleeved dress, pink socks, white fancy wedding shoes, a red bandanna, and a jeweled crown.

Mommy: You're rockin' it!
Ellie: No, Mommy. I need sunglasses for I can be rockin' it. (grabbing purple heart-shaped sunglasses and putting them on) See? NOW I'm rockin' it!
Mommy: Oh I see.
Ellie: But I don't want to rock it right now. (taking off her glasses) I just want to be a princess.

Gramma Gable Gobble

I have been wanting to write this post for a long time but also avoiding it at the same time. Why? I'm not sure. I think that in many ways the relationship between my mom and my children is the one that means the most to me. That's not to say that the other grandparents aren't special, but I think that since I'm personally the closest to my own mother, seeing her interact with my children moves me in a different way than the others. And part of me is fearful that I can't find the words to give their relationship justice.

But oh how special it is. My mom is an amazing grandmother and watching her with my daughters is something of magic. I always knew that my mom would enjoy being around the grandchildren, but I had no idea... NO IDEA... how much my daughters would love being around her too. There is no doubt in my mind that my mom brings as much joy to my daughters' lives as they do to hers. It's really incredible to watch.


If Nana's specialty is always coming up with educational activities for the girls to do, Gramma's specialty is including Ellie (and I'm assuming Addie as she gets a little older) in her everyday life. Gramma volunteers to have the girls spend the night so often yet she has somehow found the secret to still accomplishing her To-Do list. If she needs to plant flowers, she has Ellie help her plant flowers. If she needs to paint, she has Ellie help paint. It makes Ellie feel so grown up to know that Gramma trusts her enough to do the work herself.


What I love most about Gramma is her sense of play. She is silly with the girls and they soak it up. She turns everything into a wonderous adventure where she often asks "Have you EVER seen anything like this???" and makes Ellie feel like they're discovering things that are new and exciting for BOTH of them. She shows Ellie how to play and use her imagination.


One way that Gramma has taught Ellie how to play is in friendly name-calling. Gramma often calls Ellie "Ellie Gable Gobble" and Ellie does the same in return. "No, you're da Gramma Gable Gobble!" When Gramma asks, where's Ellie Gable Gobble? Ellie says "Here I am Gramma Gable Gobble!" And it's not uncommon for me to answer my phone only to have it be Gramma calling to talk to Ellie Gable Gobble. It's a special thing just between the two of them. It's obvious that it's done with lots of affection.


Here is a Gramma who loves her job, and she's so good at it. I'm looking forward to seeing how Addie will follow her sister's steps and have a fantastic relationship with Gramma too. Gramma Gable Gobble, we love you very much!

Ellie the tour guide

Mommy and Daddy recently went to Cambridge for a short/long weekend. I suppose now is as good of a time as any to introduce our Treasure Hunt Blog... one I wish I had started years ago. You can see more pictures of our Cambridge trip there.

In the meantime, Ellie got a hold of our camera and decided to tell us all about the pictures that were on it. As she scrolled through them, her descriptions went something like this...

When I was born'd, I lived in dis house. See? Dat's where I was born'd when I was a baby.

And when I was a baby, I was just walking in dis house. See da house? I learned to walk when I was a baby in dis house.

And see dis picture? It's Mommy and Daddy and our door. See da dingbell?

And see da bridge? Dis bridge just FALL DOWN! It fall down into da water!

And see da water? Dere are CROCODILES in da water! Be very careful!

Stha end. Wanna hear anoder story of when I was a baby?

Thankful

One great big smile that tells everyone in the room, "My mommy is here now. I get to go home!"

One sweet little voice telling me, "I was missing you today!"

One kind soul whose breath is the last thing I hear as I fall asleep at night.

So much more to say but all I can think of is "Life is good."

Scrap Books

I did a major update on the pictures of my scrap books. Check them out! I'm loving them, even though I'm forcing myself to cut back... the girls do not need 18 scrapbooks by the time they go to college!


Ellie is Three Years Old
Ellie is Two Years Old
Ellie is One Year Old
Ellie's First Year
My First Pregnancy

Addie is One Year Old (a work in progress)
Addie's First Year
My Second Pregnancy

Mommy and Daddy (always a work in progress)

Addie walks everywhere

Look who is walking everywhere! I absolutely love the tongue and the sound effects.

And now Addie is getting into everything! Luckily, she seems to be a pretty neat and puts the item back MOST of the time when she's done. Too funny.

She is such a little girl now. OMG. Look at her!

And the whole "walking" announcement wouldn't be the same without some videos. Enjoy. I certainly did.

Tid-Bits XVII

I love how as soon as music turns on, Addie bobs up and down just a little bit.

I love how Ellie has perfected the chair dance. Her shoulders bounce up and down whenever she's rockin' to the music in the car.

Every time I go into the bathroom at our house I get a smile on my face because our toilet paper is no longer kept in a role next to the toilet. It's kept in a big heap on the floor because Addie loves to unroll it.

I love how social Addie seems to be getting. I seem to get lots of compliments from random parents of other babies at school, all saying that Addie loves to play with them when they come in to pick up their own children.

I love how after dressing up as a princess, Ellie starts to dance and sing, only to be interrupted by a wedgie, to which she said "What a mindent... My panties are stuck in my butt... Ok... It's fixed now." Then she continued to sing her princess song and dance her princess dance.

I love how excited Ellie is to show me beautiful things. "OH! Oh! Mommy, come quick! Have you ever seen a sunrise like dat before?" and "WHOA! Check out dat tree! I just love the colors!" and "LOOK! LOOK! The cloud is purple. Is as pretty as I ever seen!"

I love how after observing older people blow into a flute, Addie sticks it in her mouth and hums.

I love how much Addie adores her stuffed animals. So much more than her bigger sister. She'll grab a bear and give it a huge hug, maybe even tackle it to the ground, then hand the bear to you and move on to the next one. She LOVES to bury her face into her bears and will even collapse onto them when she's tired.

I love my daughters' dancing styles. Addie will be sitting on the floor and will rotate her body clockwise then counter-clockwise. Ellie will usually do what she calls the "chicken dance" but it's more of a shoulder dance. She lifts her left shoulder then her right. Sometimes she has her arms bent up for "chicken wings" but not much more than that.

I love how Ellie always defaults to yelling "Pickles and Bananas" when you take a video of her.

I love how Addie stretches out her toes, as wide as they can go, before you put socks onto her feet.

I love how Addie says "Da!" instead of "Boo!" when she is playing peek-a-boo. She also says "Da!" when she blows kisses.

I love how Addie has learned the game Oh-Oh and says "Ah-Ah-Ah" when she drops something. At school, the babies all sit in a table that has a line of chairs inserted so that all the babies sit and eat i in a line... one day Daddy went to pick her up and she was sitting at the table with the spot on either side of her completely empty (chair, let alone baby). It turns out she discovered she could pick up the chair and drop it onto the floor. The teachers said she did it with a very apologetic "Ah-Ah" after dropping each one. Ha!

I love that when Ellie's class went out to their pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins (think apple-sized pumpkins), Ellie chose the smallest pumpkin she could possibly find (think grape-sized pumpkin) for the one she wanted to keep. She insisted that she wanted a cute baby pumpkin.

I love how proud Ellie is to "know all the words" to the songs we listen to. I don't have the heart to tell her that most of the words she sings make no sense, but she does manage to sing through entire songs.

Addie went to Bounce Town for the first time a couple weeks ago. She LOVED it. Ever since, she has decided that I am her personal trampoline. Every time she sits on me or crawls up to me, she starts bouncing and bouncing and bouncing.

I love how when Ellie sleeps with me, we always sleep sideways on the bed. It's more fun that way.

I love how Addie leans her forehead in for a kiss when you announce you want one.

I love how Ellie brings home rocks from the playground and claims they're "special rocks." She once even found a heart-shaped one "I found it specially for you Daddy!"

I love how easy it is to make Addie laugh. An exaggerated expression or funny movement is all it takes. Repeat said expression or movement again and again, and you have yourself a fantastic giggle monster.

I love how Ellie loves to tell secrets. She'll ask me to tell her a secret and I'll whisper in her ear something like "The pig is pink, not blue." Then she'll take a turn and whisper in my ear "The cow jumps and eats at the same time." The longer we play the game, the more ellaborate her secrets have become. My personal favorite was when she said, "Ogres live happily ever after wif donkeys. Shhh! Don't tell anyone!" This results in a lot of smiles between Mommy and Ellie, as though we're in our own little world.

Niffer's future

Long ago I told Michael that I could not marry him unless he agreed to be a cute old man some day. No, that was not my response when he actually popped the question, but it was a well known contingency. I have always felt that having him in my life is the one thing that matters most.

Now with our kids around, that statement is a little more fuzzy. I can't imagine my life without my daughters, but it still all goes back to it being Michael who gave them to me. He doesn't get nearly as much credit on my blog as he deserves.

Where am I going with this? I want this to be us in the future. An old couple wins $11M, keeps only 2% for themselves, gives each member $100k and then donates ALL the rest. Their attitude? "We have each other and that matters the most."

It's beautiful. It's what I want for Michael and I. The knowledge that we just need each other, and to be able to help so many others in need... that's what I want. Lottery or no lottery (it would help if we even played the lotto in the first place). I want my Michael, my cute old man, by my side while I go out and save the world, one donation at a time.

Big Sister Quote of the Day LIV

When Mommy and Daddy were in England, Ellie called us to talk to us. There were a couple statements that stand out in my memory that I have to share.

Ellie: I was missing you today!
Mommy: Oh! I was missing you too!

After telling her we loved her, we hung up the phone only to have it ring moments later.

Ellie: I forgot to tell you someping!
Mommy: Oh? What's that?
Ellie: My baby is walking EVERYWHERE!!!

Sure enough, Addie is walking. When I left her Thursday morning, she was crawling 90% of the time and taking just a few steps. When I saw her Monday morning, it was reversed. I'd guess 80% walking with crawling 20%. Sigh. Why do they have to make these huge changes when you're out of town?