Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Addie's Party

Our little friend, Addie Burch, had her 2nd birthday recently, and we were so glad to get to go to her party. It was a beautiful evening, and we all had a great time. Ellison kept asking the whole time when Addie was going to blow out her candles so we could have cake. Her mama's daughter she is. I'm always the one at weddings kicking Jonathan under the table when he declines the offer of a piece of cake.

Megan, Cameron, Ella, and me
The kiddos all got to wear animal visors. Ellison of course picked the pig, since it's pink.
This girl would swing for days at a time if you let her.
Sweet Baity

Daddy and Elli


Ella and Baity

The birthday girl, Addie


The little man of the group, "Baby Matthew" (as Ell calls him) with his daddy, Bryan

Addie and her mommy, Stacy

Sweet Ella



Who's having more fun here?


Megan, Cameron, Matthew, & Bryan


Daddy lending Ella a hand

This best be the only pole our child ever gets this excited over...

Daddies and daughters (with a little random girl stuck in, too)






Mama's job anytime we're at a park or in our backyard

Stacy, Addie, and Chuck


Ellison couldn't WAIT to do the pinata, but when it came time to take a turn, she got a little gun-shy and asked for some help. :-)


She seems a little shell-shocked...

She took her time gathering a bunch of goods, and was happy with the results.

[September 27, 2009]

A New Look

Ellison asked me to put all of her barrettes in her hair one day. (Thank GOD we weren't going anywhere!) As I ran out of room on the front of her head, I tried making it sound like I was all done, but alas, she knew when there was even one missing. It looks like a mix between cornrows and Bo Derek in that one beach scene.





Elli's starting to pose for the camera now...

[September 25, 2009]

A Few of Her Favorite Things

I recently stumbled upon a Scorpio description, and read it, simply because I wondered if it would shed some light on some of my little Scorpio's personality traits. It basically mentioned how "Still waters run deep" in Scorpios, and another word that immediately caught my eye: OBSESSIVE. Um, ya think?! Man, if that isn't spot on...
And, so, when I describe a few of Ellison's favorite things, really I'm saying these are a few of Ellison's obsessions. Truly. I cannot tell you how bent this child gets if she can't have/can't find one of her obsessions when she decides she wants it.
1) "My favorite barrettes"
There are many in her drawer that look similar, but ah, there's a difference. They have to be the lighter shade of sparkly pink. She has named the two "my favorite barrette". On occasion, she even demands to have both in at the same time. So if you ever wonder if I hadn't bothered to rub the sleep out of my eyes when I was coordinating my child's outfit with her hair accessories, you now know why.

2) Her Swarovski butterfly necklace
Because it has taken me so bloodly long to post this entry, this obsession has worn off a wee bit by now, but there was a time. Daddy bought this necklace for Ellison in London during his trip to the UK. She wanted to wear it to sleep, to school, to play outside, to eat cookies, to go pee, etc.

3) Her sundresses

I just don't even know where to begin with this one. My blood pressure raises significantly just thinking about it. I LOVE that my baby has her own distinct opinions, quirks, tastes - whatever you want to call it. But I REALLY LOATHE having full out arguments and tantrums over them. Now, I don't think I'm a very mean parent. I will gladly let Ellison pick out whatever she wants to wear, even if it completely doesn't go together, even if we're going out in public. That's important to me. I am glad to do that and think it's good for her. But when I have to argue with her because it's a health issue, no fun. I turn into an ogre in her eyes because I won't let her wear a sundress when it's raining and 50 degrees in the morning when we have someplace to go. I have offered to let her wear them if she wears a shirt under them (SO not cool, Mom!), and I have offered to let her wear them if she wears a jacket (ewww, Mom!). Hence, the full-out tantrum (no exaggeration) because my little spawn is VERY headstrong. So, as of late, she gets warned that she'll have to wear normal clothes to a particular non-summer outing (like school), and she is promised she can change right back into her beloved dress as soon as we return home. I naively think she'll forget about it by the time we get home, but I am ALWAYS proven wrong. She has a closet full of cute clothes that she has worn to school and such, that her father has never (nor will ever) seen her in because those clothes are peeled off as quickly as if they're causing her to break out in hives. I thought the obsession would include any kind of dress, but she enlightened me. I thought I was doing her well by putting her in a cute fall dress. Upon getting it on, she surveyed herself and said, "But this dress doesn't twirl!".

So there are actually a few faves in the selection of sundresses (including the green one shown a couple pics below):

The true standout fave dress is the red one on the left, made by her beloved Abuela. :-)

5) Her shoes

See previous shoe post from August or earlier this month. Now it also includes her "red sparkly shoes" that are actually for her Halloween costume.

4)Her curlies

OK, so this is actually one of MY faves. I am in love with the little natural curls that only occupy the left side of her little noggin.

Oh, Baby Girl, I do get very frustrated at times, but I wouldn't trade you or your quirks for anything. I love you and the little things that matter to you!

I Wanna Be a Big Kid


Poor Elli... the girl just wants to hang with the big kids in the 'hood. She spots them riding their bikes and scooters, and wants to join right in. She can't figure out why they won't stay right alongside her. On some warped level it makes me sad for her, but such is life. The Fennel kids across the street, especially Mason, are really good at engaging Ell, though. As soon as he went by her, he told her "You're going really fast, Ellison!". You could just see the pride oozing from her, and that's why you then see her wanting to "show Mason" the rest of the time. They all are good sports and very careful around her. They even let her line up her bike with them in the street to race. She thinks it's the coolest.
[September 23, 2009]



Awww...




She was excited Alyssa came near her, if only for a second.

Princess In A Basket

All sorts of things happen, unbeknownst to me, while I cook dinner and hang in the kitchen. I found Mookie neatly tucked inside her one little toy container watching TV



She's going to be like that guy on Pearl Street in Boulder who disjoints himself to fit in a tiny plexiglass box for money.

Ahhh, and sporting her princess "ballet" dress, of course. She can OFTEN be seen in public with this article of clothing on.
[September 22, 2009]

Daddy's UK Trip

Daddy left us to return to his old stomping grounds and headed to the UK September 6-11 for business. Let's just say we're not used to Daddy having to travel since Wee One came into the world. Though she did fine for the most part - no sobbing for Daddy - it was a rough week for us. She took mouthiness and sass to a whole new level. I'm thinking (read: hoping) it was because she felt out of sorts with him gone on top of starting school and such. We still are having some trying days, but it seems to be getting better for the most part, and I have seemed to calm down about it. She did occasionally tell me throughout the week, "Mommy, I'm sad." When I would ask her why, she would just say, "Because I miss my Daddy." :-( I gave up control of the camera for the week (gasp!), so he could snap a few pics, though his trip was very quick - not really any time to do much in the way of sightseeing.


Jonathan says the hedges there are grown crazy-big all over the place for privacy.


Looks a little backwards to me... I would be such a disaster driving there...


The UK office


The town of Darlington, where he stayed. Looks so quaint. Makes me thirsty for a beer.




Jonathan's hotel - also very quaint


[September 6-11, 2009]