Potty Trained...

...but still working on our table manners!

It's The Simple Things

Happy Sunday! We had a great weekend despite the fact that Ellie has Croup! Poor little thing coughs all night and is so tired! It forced us to cancel our plans and stay close to home, which actually turned out to be wonderful. Let's see... First, I may be so bold to say that Ellie is potty trained! She has been very successful and only wears a diaper at night. We are so excited! Second, Uncle Jim came over Saturday night for dinner (pulled pork tacos...yum!) Ellie LOVES Uncle Jim and the two of them entertain each other. We had a great time catching up with him!

Uncle Jim makes shoulder pads for Ellie :)

Third, we are taking care of my brother Andre's dogs while he and family are in Disneyland. Jaxie, Brutus, and Bella and Jim's dog Boston ran all over the house in dog excitement until they finally pooped out on the floor in the front room. Jaxie was so tired she overshot the dogbed and slept halfway on the floor. It's tough being a dog. :) I cannot believe I survived a weekend with a pack of dogs (literally) running through my home! Finally, today Dan and I took Ellie to the park. I read that a blast of cold air is good for Croup so we took Ellie to the park up the road for a little walk around the track, etc. The sun was shining for the most part so it wasn't miserable but the cold definitely made itself known! In any case, this was the BEST part of the weekend. You can tell from the pictures that we enjoyed ourselves immensely. It was just great to be outside again (come on Summer!) and spend time with my hubby and daughter. We continued on to Costco for a great round of free samples (what? you KNOW you do it too!) and then home for a yummy home-cooked meal. All in all, it was a great weekend. Ellie still has a cough but I am hopeful that by tomorrow she is well enough to go to Story Time at the library. So that is all from me for now. I am sitting here drinking tea and eating a homemade oatmeal-chocolate-cranberry-did I mention chocolate? cookie. I am feeling a bit more balanced since I finally got EVERY closet in my house organized, including my pantry (I even made it to Ikea to help me finish a few nagging organizational projects). Dan has been busy in the yard and sometime this week I am going to attempt planting Clematis. We will see how that goes. Spring cleaning is in full force around here! Until later... Lots of love, Ang

Rock Stars

Here are a few pics from our girls trip to Spokane. It's always so much fun and craziness when we visit that I forget to take more pictures. In any case, you can see we all had a lot of fun. Of course, Nick and Ellie spent every second together. Within the first 5 minutes of our visit, Ellie had beat Nick up and stole his pants (and then wore them the rest of the day). What can I say? Dan's response was "That's my girl!" :) Despite thrashing him around a bit, Ellie absolutely LOVES Nick and followed him everywhere and he was the sweetest big cousin. He "took care of her" everywhere we went. It was too cute. I really enjoyed all the time I got with my sister to shop and drink coffee and just hang out. I especially LOVED all the sleep! Ellie crawled into bed with my mom in the morning and I got to sleep in until 8:30 while she handled the morning cartoon, breakfast, etc routine! Hallelujah! It was positively wonderful. We plan on returning in April and then again in May for Noah's first birthday...and more sleep for me! :) Love to All, Ang

ROCK STARS!

My gorgeous sister and my ADORABLE nephew Noah

Special Delivery

A special delivery came for Ellie today. She was SO excited! I'm not supposed to say who got this for her but you know who you are....THANK YOU! This is the CUTEST little iron and ironing board I have ever seen. I want to play with it! It's vintage and girly and PERFECT for little Ellie. Ironically, she knew exactly what to do with it. I have no idea where she learned since she has seen me iron maybe twice ever. Anyway, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! She LOVES it!

Cinderella Dethroned

Can you figure out which movie is Ellie's new favorite? While we are on the subject, I thought I would take stock of Ellie's favorites since she is officially 2 1/2 years old today (WOW!). Here we go: Favorite Food: Chicken nuggets Favorite Candy: Pez or M&M's Favorite Drink: Tall Soy Latte (well, soy milk but this is how she asks for it...a few too many times through the drive thru with Mommy:) ) Favorite Show: Mary Poppins Favorite Cartoon: Max and Ruby tied with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Maisy Favorite Word: No Favorite Funny: Saying "Pooper" after every word Favorite Lovey: Yellow Favorite Doll: Hi-O-Jina :) Favorite Accessory: Umbrella Favorite Book: Llama Llama Red Pajama Favorite Outing: Going to the mall with Gabby and getting a pretzel Favorite Thing to do With Daddy: Swim Lessons Favorite Thing to do With Mommy: Dance to Taylor Swift's Love Story Favorite Way to Annoy Parents: say NO to EVERYTHING! Favorite Friend: Jaxie, of course. But Gabby, Sawyer, Olivia and Nick are all tied for second. :) Favorite Color: Pink (NO dispute on this one) Favorite Vacation: San Diego and some other info... Must carry a lovey or doll, snack cup, and drink at all times, dresses up in tutu in order to do any kind of dancing, WORSHIPS older cousins Nick and Olivia, confuses "hug" with "headlock" when she hugs her cousins, says "Garberge" instead of "Garbage", needs a haircut, can define the words "Fret" and "Patient," still tries to sneak into our bed EVERY night, has all of her grandparents wrapped around her finger, and makes Mommy and Daddy laugh every day at her precociousness. We love you Ellie Belly!

I'm not blogging very much lately because most of my days are spent fighting my two and a half year old on EVERYTHING! "NO!" is Ellie's newest weapon and she uses it with great enthusiasm. NO! I DON'T WANT IT! NO! DON'T CHANGE MY DIAPER! NO! I DON'T LOVE YOU! Just about anything that is suggested or requested is met with a firm and resounding NO! Couple that with (ironically) a VERY strong separation anxiety and it makes for a very confusing and frustrating experience for everyone! Ellie wakes up (with PERFECT consistency) every night at 12:30, 2:20, 4:40 and finally 6:30. She wants Mama every time and it takes 10 minutes MINIMUM to coerce her back to bed (without saying a word aloud...this is VERY tricky!). So if you add my lack of sleep with Ellie's NO! and separation woes...well, you get the picture. I'm sure all of you who have one or more child/children who are or once was/were two, are laughing to yourself because you recognize the familiar rants of a mother of a two year old! It's funny how quickly "strong willed," "independent," and "persistent" change in connotation! Oh well, sleep is overrated and the threes will be better, right? :) Love to All, Ang