Egg Hunt

Ellison woke up from her nap and discovered I had hidden all of her Easter eggs around the living room.  She had SO MUCH fun having a little Easter egg hunt.  What'd I tell ya - again, that $3 is really paying off!  We kept taking turns hiding the eggs and going around looking for them.

Lately, Ellison likes to line things up in rows.  Just about any set of objects.  Her eggs were no different, here. :-)

When Ellison was sick last week, I had to watch the Wiggles about 5 times every single day.  Not only is she all about singing and dancing with the Wiggles, but she's SO into nursery rhymes.  How perfect that the Wiggles have a DVD where they act/sing/dance out about 50 of them. Seriously, I get so tired of humming the songs at work because I can't get them out of my head.  Anyway, there's a part where Jeff Wiggle plays the piano that always makes Ellison run over to the piano and demand I get on it with her to play, "London Bridge".  Look at that hand positioning on my baby girl - a natural, I tell you!

[March 3, 2009]

A Big Snow Day!

The biggest snowfall in the area in 5 years!  It made for such a beautiful site in the sunny morning.  Daddy got to go into work extra late because his office building had no power.  Jonathan was so psyched to finally get to use the snowblower here - we bought it brand-new and got to use it in Colorado several times, but never in a bazillion years did we think we'd get to use it here in NC - a miracle!  BUT... OF COURSE it wouldn't start!  That would be too smooth, right?

Ellison couldn't WAIT to get outside in the snow.  She loved to walk in it and just be outside, and she would actually touch it more this time.  She even sat down in it at one point, but thought I was competely crazy for laying down in it (as did the neighbors, probably).  She wouldn't go that far.  She threw a few snowballs and thought that was funny.

She's actually using her pool toys (containers) to scoop the snow and play.

And pulled her wagon all around.  We need to get all-terrain wheels on that bad boy.

And the yummy, warm hot cocoa refresher afterward.

[March 2, 2009]

Under the Weather

Here are some belated photos of the now-healed resident sickie.  We had just been to the pediatrician's and found out how sick she was.  She look so pathetic, doesn't she?  On the way home, we had to tool around at Walgreen's waiting for her antibiotic to be filled.  That girl sprang back to life in the Easter aisle!  Seriously, moms and dads, if you're ever at a loss as to where you can take your little tike to have some fun - there's your answer.  It took lots of creative coaxing to get her to leave.

Elli got to bring home some little eggs and a little basket - she was sick after all!  It was the best $3 I have ever spent.  There is endless fun with these.  Filling the eggs up with Cheerios and Bunny Balls (aka Kix... and no, her warped parents did not come up with that name, you sickos), and emptying them back out, over and over again - it occupied her for the longest time.

[February 24, 2009]

While the pneumonia was in full swing, Ellison literally ate NOTHING for 2 1/2 days.  Even when asked if she wanted her absolute faves, the answer was always, "No".  I thought her little chest would benefit from some warm fluids, and she would benefit from the calories, so she had some hot cocoa.  She would never even try it before, but since she has a love affair with marshmallows now, it was pretty easy to convince her this time.

[February 25, 2009]

Quick Update

So I'm a little behind with photos these days.  Those will have to come later.  Just wanted to update that Ellison's back to her normal self now, thanks be to God.  With having been stuck home for a while (between Ell's illness and then all of the weather-related closings around here), she and I are itching to get off of Mackinaw Drive (our street) together!!!  I've decided I hit my limit when we play playdough 3 different times in one day.  It's all great, squishy fun, but bless her heart - Elli is apparently bored, too.  I got the hint when we quickly ran to the paint store today, and on the way home Elli commented, "No go home".  Well... she does that a lot anyway, but it supports my story...

Little Sickie

Usually our beginning bedtime prayer is always the same one, "Now I lay me down to sleep...", etc.  And usually she's mute while her dad and I repeat it, and she just wants to play around (trying to prolong the inevitable).  She finally said it herself the other night (while Mommy was at work - thanks, Ellison).  Then a couple of nights ago, she added her own little request: "Dear God, please help me feel better, in Jesus' name.  Amen!".  Ellison started feeling under the weather late last week.  She heard me pray out loud a couple of times for God to "please help Ellison feel better soon".

Well, I'm sorry to say that Ellison has pneumonia AND an ear infection.  Poor sweet baby Jane.  We are lacking in the sleep department as of last night.  After waiting it out for days, and controlling her not-too-terrible fevers with Tylenol and Motrin, I finally decided this had gone on long enough, and now she's not sleeping, and is getting worse.  I took her to her pediatrician's this AM...

(Insert annoyance here, at the Fed Ex person that just knocked on my door AND rang my doorbell after finally getting my sick child to sleep!  I know, it's not his fault...)

... where they informed me of the diagnoses.  Man - here I was waiting it out because her fevers were never over 102, and she had been sleeping well (til last night), and they ALWAYS tell you it's just viral and to just treat the symptoms.  And here my poor child has pneumonia with an ear infection.  Talk about feeling like a bad parent.  Figures, right?

Hopefully she'll start to turn around in the next couple of days.  Elli hasn't had ANY appetite - basically has eaten 5 noodles and a tiny box of raisins in 2 days.  She weighed 25 lbs, 10 oz at the doctor's.

OMG... I hear crying in her room after only 30 min.  I knew I should've gotten in the shower while I could!  I don't think I can go to work tonight looking like this...

Spoiled By Mail

Man, if only I could get mail like this girl does...  Ellison got yet another Valentine surprise - this time from Aunt Carrie & Uncle Jeff.  As always, she loves it all!

Starting Early

I about fell over the other day when we were at the park waiting for some friends to arrive for a nice walk.  We were standing there, and suddenly Ellison begins doing lunges by her stroller.  When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "Stretching".  Where does she get this stuff?!

Valentine Sneak-Peek

Farewell to Bo

Sadly, sweet Bo left our family recently to live elsewhere.  I don't feel like going into all of the details as to why, but there were several reasons.  Our hearts have been broken, but we have faith that he'll be in a good and loving home.  He'll forever feel like a part of our family.  We'll always love you , Bubby!

Whenever he was waiting to go for a walk, Bo would put his leash in his mouth in anticipation. :-)

Elli-isms

Her fave foods (if you can call them that) right now are "big marshmallows", Florecitas (she and Mama are so happy Abuela & Titi Ana sent us another supply!), popsicles, and cheese.  Seriously, she'd live off these 4 things if she could.  And she asks for cereal (and cheese) at about every meal (then whines, and throws a fit after she fetches the cereal box only to find that she has a horrible mother who won't give in).  She's got a taste for particular kinds of cheese at different times of day, too.  Here are the categories: big square cheese, little square cheese, sprinkle cheese, long cheese, and twisty cheese.  Do you think we may have too much variety in our fridge???

Bedtime.  Oh bedtime.  We start hearing about and hour before bed, "No go night-night".  Our before-bed routine feels like it gets longer and longer over time.  Our sweet little manipulator tries as best she can to draw out the process.  Between bath, jammies, brushing teeth, brushing hair, closing curtains, reading books, praying, singing, and rocking, (with Ellison trying to keep control the whole time) we need to start at about 3pm now.

If I had a penny for every time I hear the plea "No go home" when we're out and about...  I know, it's understandable considering the bars on the doors and windows, the chains we lock her up with, etc.

She recently started writing in toddler cursive.  She writes these little squiggly horizontal lines on paper and says, "I'm writing a note to Daddy", then starts to dictate one as she writes.

She knows she's got her Daddy wrapped around her wee little finger.  Every night when he goes to put her in bed after rocking her, she tried to get more rocking time by saying, "Daddy needs Mookie".

Lately Daddy seems to be forgetting Jesus when he gets behind the wheel.  I jokingly call him Lucifer, because he turns a little nasty, spouting off about other drivers.  After one such mini-tirade, I asked Ellison, "Daddy's being naughty, isn't he?".  She ran with it:  "Daddy naughty!  No, no, Daddy.  Assolutely not.  That terrible."

She's obsessed with picking sock fuzzies out of her toes.  She's ALWAYS taking off her socks and/or shoes, especially in the car.  Every single time she whips her little foot up and starts looking for "hairs" (that's what she calls the fuzz).  Today she was happy while we were driving home because she had red "hairs"; so much so, that she put her socks back on trying to get more of the stuff to pick from between her toes - "Probly gonna do it again, Mom".

Every day she make-believes that she's leaving.  "Bye, Mom!  See you soon.  I'm goin' to the store.",  "Bye, Mama!  Goin' with the kids.  Goin' to a birthday party.", "See you soon, Mama.  Goin' to Daddy's work now", and then she shuts the door.  And she is CONSTANTLY shutting doors around here.  And many of those times, she's pushing me out of the door with her little hands telling me to move.

When I was at work, she was playing with her daddy and said, "Gonna go in room and shut the door.  Frustrated."

After yet another mealtime where Ellison refused the food that was prepared for her, I tilted my head back and quietly sighed aloud, "Frustrated."  Ellison looked at me and said, "I frustrated, too, Mommy."  Puts it all in perspective, doesn't it? :)  Their little selves feel just as frustrated as we do over our little struggles.  As hard as it is to be a parent, it's gotta be hard to be 2, too.

Valentine Surprises

Ellison has totally been hitting the jackpot with fun packages arriving in the mail.  Grandma & Grandpa sent some Valentine goodies in the mail, which excited the pants off Ellison.

He little Valentine bear that came on her heart-shaped box of chocolates.  Doesn't it look like she just gave birth to him?  That look of pure joy, love, and adoration as she cradles him in her arms.  Hee, hee.

Man, she's likely thinking Valentine's Day needs to come more than once a year.  I mean, how cool is it to have a candy ring that dips into tasty purple sugar?

So the pics are a little backwards.  Here is thrilled Elli opening up her goodies.

Mr. Clean's Offspring

Well, I decided one day that I wanted to remove the ugly wallpaper from the half bath.  I didn't even care if the walls were left bare for a while.  So of course my plan snowballed - my last name was really meant to be "Murphy".  There was a law named after me.  We discovered that the wallpaper actually ran behind the sink and toilet.  THANK GOD I have such a handy hubby who can do almost anything.  He removed both fixtures (and the hanging cabinet), and we realized we'd need to prep the walls and actually paint if we ever wanted to use our bathroom for its intended use in the next few months.  Well, we may as well change out the sink fixture, light fixture, and big mirror so we can call it done, right?  Ahem.  My small project became a little more expensive than I had planned on, but again, I THANK GOD for my husband who is able to find any deal out there - I swear he gets Thank You cards from eBay and knows the Craig from Craigslist.  All this means that our downstairs is lacking a little bit of tidiness, and hence, the bathroom cabinet now has a temporary home under the island overhang in the kitchen.  The other day, I looked to see what my quiet toddler was up to, and found that she removed all of the items from inside the cabinet and was wiping off the shelves with a Clorox wipe.  When I asked her what she was doing, she looked at me like, "Duh", and said, "I'm organizing!" in her high-pitched happy voice. 

On a related side note... wanna know where the toilet is calling home these days?  The garage.  I told Jonathan we're going to pull our lawn chairs out in front of the garage (with the toilet in full view) and start sucking down a couple of 40s wrapped in paper sacks.

[February 1, 2009]

Enjoying the Outdoors

Hanging out at the park at the first sign of warmer weather a couple of weeks ago.  Not a bad way to start February.

[Februrary 1, 2009]

Ellison LOVES the swings.

Ellison and Mommy feeding the ducks and geese.

Surprises

Mookie LOVES to get packages in the mail.  Whenever one is delivered to the door and she spots it, she squeals and become quite animated, saying, "A suprise!  Let's open it!".  Often times, I have to explain to her that it's Daddy's and that she needs to wait until he gets home.  It takes a lot of coaxing, but usually she finally gets that she has to be patient since it's not hers, but Daddy's.  Well Little E thinks she is on to me.  After one such explanation the other day, she dropped the conversation, then came up to me about 10 minutes later, hung her head toward the ground while looking up at me, and muttered, "How you know it's por [for] Daddy?".  Hmm.  My little nugget thinks I'm yankin' her chain.  So now, I have to show her that her daddy's name is on the box, and not hers (she recognizes hers).  Man, 2 years old and this is where we are already.

OK, so Ellison was thrilled when I was able to tell her last week that the surprise package was indeed hers this time.  There were all kinds of goodies in there from her cousins in Michigan.  Here are just a few pics of her new loot.

Though Ell's feet have lots of growin' to do before she can fit into her cousin Emma's cowboy boots, she still had to wear them around the house, albeit carefully.

Her little indoor sandbox!  This is so freakin' great!  This means I won't get bugged to go outside to play with her big turtle sandbox when the weather's not conducive.

And her very own little camera.  She walks around saying "Cheese!".

[January 30, 2009]

Fairy Princess

Ellison woke up one day, and the first thing she said was, "Wanna play dress-up".  After trying on a couple of selections from her Fall 2008 line, she finally decided she wanted to be a fairy princess for 1/2 the day.

I need to note that our floor is not USUALLY this trashed.  It's actually a "get rid of" pile in the spare room.

What?  Fairy princesses pick their nose, too.

[January 30, 2009]

Piggytails - Take 2

Ellison was due for another haircut (the plan has been to keep trimming 'til it all fills in), so I wanted to see if we could get piggytails in again (for only the 2nd time in her 2 years) before chopping off her locks.  That, and she has been asking for ponytails.  She was so proud of the outcome.

[January 28, 2009]