Chuck E. Cheese = CRAZY PLACE

Tonight we went to Chuck E. Cheese with the Perez family. We all thought the girls would enjoy the surroundings. Remind me to drug myself before going next time. WAIT - not because of the Perez's - we LOVE them, and we are happy to hang out with them anywhere! But this place was just crawling with too many people in too small of a "fun" space. I seriously was feeling like I was ADD by the time we left there. We all decided we needed to decompensate before heading home, so we jaunted over to Barnes & Noble where there's a very calm kid-friendly area. The girls ran around for a bit and entertained themselves. But as the proverbial saying goes, "It's all fun and games until...". In this particular case, we get to finish the sentence with "... two little girls decide to simultaneously mess their diapers". That Caroline & Ellison - they are so in tune to each other. :)

A Park Outing

On Saturday we went down the street to Guilford Courthouse Military Park, one of three of the parks in Guilford County that was commemorating the 227th Anniversary of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse during the Revolutionary War. It's actually a big production with several different events, the most anticipated being the re-enactment of the battle. We would've liked to have seen that, but little Mookie does need her afternoon nap. :) At any rate, we were able to catch the Observance Ceremony while we were at the park. Ellison was awesome - she loves being able to wander outdoors.

Joining in when everyone else would clap at appropriate times during the Observance Ceremony.

Lulled to Sleep

"See, Daddy, Mama's driving is so smooth that I get lulled to sleep." I'm sure she was thinking that, at least. I had the perfect opportunity to snap sweet little Elli & Teddy fast asleep in her car seat yesterday, after playing at Caroline's house. Yes, I was in the driver seat, and yes, I was on the road. How was this possible, you ask? We were stopped for about 15-20 minutes due to an accident, unfortunately for them, and I just happened to have my camera in the front seat, so I took advantage. I couldn't resist capturing that juicy bottom lip. :)

Uh-Oh

In the spirit of one of Ellison's favorite phrases, both her dad & I said, "Uh-oh" when we saw the goings-on in the Soto backyard. The tilted tree to the left of the photo fell against another tree & is simply in limbo. And you can see the other tree laying on the ground. Quite the windy day in Greensboro, wouldn't you say? We have continually been thanking God that these trees fell away from the house, especially since they would have landed directly on Mookie's bedroom had they fallen the other way. Whew! The only positive part of this whole thing is that Ellison has an all-natural "plaything" in her yard right now. She thinks it's fun to sit on the tree & bounce since it moves up & down. She needs to enjoy it while it lasts, because Monday they're going to be made into firewood when the tree service guy comes to remove them.

Spring Flowers

If you only knew how tough it was for me to narrow down these spring photos to even this many to post. I simply couldn't stop taking photos of our little princess enjoying the beauty of spring - it was so sweet! She loves smelling the daffodils, and was very excited that I cut one for her to hold on to.

Bunny Day

Ellison spent this past Saturday at the Museum of Nature & Science with her dad for "Bunny Days". Elli loves bunnies or "mi-mi's" as she calls them, but she hadn't ever seen a real live one up close. The bunnies were nearly bigger than her! Her dad said there were LOTS of people there, so it was a crazy time, but she had fun. It looks like she enjoyed looking at some of the mineral displays, too. :)

Chopped Liver!!!

Um, yeah. So I (the person who endured bed-rest-hell for 6 weeks and gave birth to Ellison) apparently resemble rancid, maggot-infested roadkill in her eyes. OK, I'm being a little dramatic (I've been told that a time or two before). But I couldn't believe that my daughter actually wants me to leave! Get this...

I had to work on Saturday & Sunday this past weekend, as I have the past 2 weekends before that, which means Ellison gets to hang with her daddy all weekend long. So Saturday morning just before I had to start getting ready, Jonathan gets Ellison out of bed, and brought her into our bed where she plays & we watch cartoons. She had this lovely little sweet smile on her face as they approach the bedroom until... she sees Mama. The smile leaves her face, she clings to her dad as if I'm holding a machete, and proceeds to lay her head on him. This goes on for a couple of minutes while I, the sole person who plays with her and takes care of her every need 5 full days a week, try to warm her up to me so I can get just a little kissy and smell her saliva-scented cheeks (I'm her mom - I LOVE that smell!!!). Even an insincere smile would do at this point. What does the little love of my life do? She looks at me, starts waving her hand repeatedly, and says "Ba-bye... ba-bye...ba-bye". !!!!!!! OK, I know I'm #2 on the totem pole after her father, but she WANTS me gone now?!?! She's lucky she's so darn cute and loveable. I just wanted to post this little tidbit to save for the days when I can remind her of how much she tormented me (just kidding). She makes up for it every minute of those 5 days I get to spend alone with her. :) I'm sure Jonathan's had a talk with her, because she will occasionally reach for me out of his arms... just not often enough for my taste... :)

16 Months Old!

Another month gone by!!! Today for Ellison's little mini-birthday, we spent a fun morning together. We went to our usual Mother Goose library group, then we did some shopping at The Friendly Center. A bit chilly, but Ellison wasn't fazed since she was chowin' on Cheerios. We mostly just browsed, but it was hard - there are SOOO many adorable little clothes that her mama wanted to buy! We managed to get away with just one outfit. Ellison got to get out of her stroller and explore so many fun stores that are kid-friendly (after demanding, "Out!" in every one we went in to). Then to top it off, we went to Barnes & Noble - a kid hotspot here. She could hang out there forever with the train set, stuffed animals, books, and stage. It was a lovely morning for us both. :)
At 16 months, you all know by now Ellison's love of accessories (as mentioned several times). Her other favorites right now: Daddy (yeah, this one's ongoing), drawing, being let free in stores, bubbles, Collie Teddy (her Build-A-Bear) - this however does NOT replace her Teddy twins & La-La. She loves being outside just to explore, climbing on objects, her 'Once Upon a Potty' book, books in general, and using her voice. :) She's got such a great sense of humor, too. It's funny - when she turned 1 there were SO many changes that happened all at the same time, then it plateaus somewhat for a little while. Well now she seems to be going through another stage of changes. She's expanding her vocabulary & REALLY getting talkative. Her grandma said she takes after her daddy more now. ;) It's the best sound in the morning to wake up to her talking to herself & Teddy. It always used to be a monotone noise coming from her, now it's high pitches and inflections, with some "Teddy!" and "Uh-oh!" thrown in, usually followed by, "Daddy!". She's very in-tune to the letter "E" and the letter "O". Whenever she sees print and recognizes these letters, she proudly exclaims them. She loves writing the letter "O", too - she knows to make it a circular motion as opposed to scribble. Right now we're starting to practice more Spanish - she needs to be able to talk to her Abuela & Abuelo. :) She's got her English body parts down pat, but we're trying to teach them to her in Spanish now. We've been slacking in that department, unfortunately. We're working on colors, too. She still loves to say "Lellow" (yellow). For foods, she can be hit-or-miss when it comes to favorites now. Cheerios & bananas are still up there, along with those maraschino cherries that come in those little fruit cups. This past month marked the big transition from two naps a day down to one nap a day. That was tough trying to figure out, but we're all good now - just in time for the time change! Argh! Anyway, these are just some of the things going on in Ellison's world right now. Jonathan & I were just looking at some of her baby pics last night - for any of you who haven't been through it yet, SUCK UP EVERY SECOND! My heart is just broken knowing we'll never have those times back again with her at certain ages. I'm not sure God wants us to feel quite that way, as the future holds so much promise, but it just slips away from you before you know it. But we do love the fun and wonder of each new stage, too. Stay tuned!

The Mookie Hat Society

On a daily basis, when we're hanging upstairs, Ellison can be found either going through her shoe drawer or her hat drawer. She even does this at stores now, too. She has this special "hat radar vision", goes straight to them, puts one on, then takes off down the aisle at lightning fast speed. Her radar vision must suck the life from her other senses, because this child suddenly loses her hearing at this time. I could be shouting that Teddy was just kidnapped, I could even say that I found bananas coming out of the ceiling, nothing fazes this girl on a mission. She's completely focused. It's like the little voice in her head is saying, "Get as far away from Mama as quickly as possible, and don't look back... All you hear is 'blah, blah, blah'... Your name is not Ellison..." OK, so I've now established how much our girl loves hats right now. Here are a few shots of her going through and trying on each hat in her drawer. She even had to try on the mittens.

This one proved to be a little tricky with the strings all tied together.

Just Cuteness

I was actually trying to get us out the door in these pics. Ellison had other plans, though, once the hat went on. Notice the headband she's carrying around. Yes, we're still stuck on accessories. Hats, headbands, shoes, socks, bracelets, necklaces, purses, you name it.

Spice Girl

The spice drawer is a hit with Ellison most of the time while I try to cook (Jonathan's probably laughing at the last bit of that sentence - my idea of cooking these days is nothing short of simple & fast). ANYWAYS, Ellison loves rearranging (read "disorganizing") the drawer regularly. She has this thing for a container that holds the seasoning packets. She's always running off with it.

Mookie was making sure there was no MSG in this one...

Sportin' the Shades

Getting ready for bath time, Ellison found a pair of her dad's sunglasses and thought it was pretty fun to walk around in them. Or rather, to run away from us in them. Bath time always turns into a "Catch me if you can" game, but now all we have to do is mention bubbles and she comes running to the tub trying to put her leg over the edge. She then spends her bath putting bubble beards on her mom & dad, and intermittently eating bubbles from her hand.