"...sugar and spice and..."

a long, long time ago...

2012-01-24T21:41:00.000-08:00

so waaaaaay back in october my mom came for a visit. yeah, i know, i'm really behind on my blog. anyway, we had a great time with her. we went shopping, made crafts, played, baked…lots of fun stuff. you can see corinne in her jessie tutu that nona (my mom) made her.

my mom and i also took the kids to the petaluma in pumpkin patch. the girls absolutely loved the ladybugs that had infested the patch. they were everywhere.

and the there was the corn "sand" box.

the kids are starting to understand when visitors leave that we have to say "goodbye" and won't see them for a while. this is the first time the girls were sad when we said goodby to my mom at the airport. i had to pick up corinne because she started whimpering. on our way home we stopped off and ate lunch. i was amazed at how well the kids did!! ted was out of town for the second part of the week while my mom was here and it was so nice to have her here for that as well! come back, mom!

nicknames

2012-01-04T22:31:00.000-08:00

sometimes corinne likes to get under ella's skin a bit and call her "ella bella" which leads to "ella belly". of course, complaints from ella and brief reminders to corinne quickly follow. well, tonight we were all headed home from awana and ella was doing word rhymes. this is how the conversation went:

ella: guess what rhymes with mom? pom!

me: or bomb. (this was lost on her)

ted: what rhymes with ella?

ella: bella!

ted: do you know what "bella" means?

ella: i have a friend named bella in my sunday school class. (focus, focus)

me: do you know what "bella" means?

ella: no.

me: it means beautiful! (brief silence)

ella: mimi moo, would you tell me a story of peter pan? (mimi moo- this is what ella calls me when she's trying to get under my skin. i often remind her that i don't appreciate this nickname)

me: i don't know anybody that name.

ella: it's you! (quiet) mommy do you know what "mimi moo" means? it means beautiful! (uproarious laughter)

yep, i'm done in!

whales

2011-11-02T14:13:00.001-07:00

at lunch today i asked ella to take one last, really big drink of milk before she cleared her place at the table. she quickly filled her mouth up with milk and then after holding it there for a few seconds, cheeks puffed out and all, she gulped it down and said, "i did it just like a whale. i drank my milk just like whales fill their mouths up with water." then the thought process went a little further, "that's how whales get the fish and then they eat 'em. we eat fish with no eyes just like whales. we get the fish and then we cook them and they turn into chicken!" ...umm, not quite.

ella talk

2011-10-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

i keep meaning to start a list of all the cute ways ella says things. so here's all the ones i can remember for now and i guess i'll just add more from time to time:

redult=adult

uncation=vacation

author of summation=author of salvation (from "mighty to save"; although now she's got it right and is in the process of correcting corinne)

macaroni=pepperoni (used to be "smackeroni" lol)

clo=as the singular form of the word "clothes"

bike ride/ nature walk

2011-10-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

one of the activities in the girls' awana book was to take a nature walk and talk about all the things we saw that were created by God. so, friday afternoon we got the tricycles and the stroller out for a ride. i thought we'd go a few blocks and be home in time for me to make dinner (it was only 3:30, after all). well, we went a few blocks, 3 to be exact, walking around one cul de sac and one u-shaped street then headed home. we got home at...5:30! yes, it was a 2 hour bike ride.

cubbies

2011-10-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

awana started back up again a month ago. i have to say it's been really wonderful having them in cubbies learning bible verses. not to mention that ted and i are left with just one kid every wednesday night for 1.5 hours!

corinne has been looking forward to going to cubbies since last spring. she was so proud of herself when she earned her vest last week. i was looking at these pictures thinking why is she making that face? then i realized- she's proud of herself! this is her first real sense of accomplishment. and she earned it by putting God's word in her heart.

the difference in personalities between the girls always amazes me! ella learns verses by just repeating them, but i have to put them into a song for corinne to even be interested. once she hears the song, though, she's hooked.

i love these sweet babies!

dr. porkchop

2011-10-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

corinne turns 3!!

2011-10-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

yes, after many months of waiting corinne turned three, had her jessie party and...got her tall, tall jessie doll! sunday morning before breakfast we let her open her presents from us and my aunt and uncle. i think the expression on her face says it all:

that afternoon we had her party. my mom had made her an outfit some time back and so she and my dad got her the had and boots to finish it off. you can't see the boots in this picture, but they are so cute; red glitter with gold trim. (they remind me of wonderwoman.)

for the first activity we had all the kids don their party favors: cowboy/girl hats bandanas and sheriff stars. they were going on a posse to catch dr. porkchop.

they found him, rounded him up, chased him...

and put him in jail.

the second activity was "square" dancing. let's be realistic, i was not going to attempt teaching a bunch of 2-5 year olds how to square dance, so we just bought some kids music and let whoever want to dance dance.

we got the cake from safeway and i think the gal did a great job. corinne loved it!

she thoroughly enjoyed the experience of everyone singing to her and then blowing out the candles. i am constantly amazed at the difference in personalities between our kids.

at the end of the night she was whooped, but she'd had one memorable day!!

ella's first day of preschool

2011-10-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

for ella's first year of school (preschool) we decided to enroll her at bethel children's center. we visited the school with ted once and after deciding this was the right choice for her, ella and i went back just before our vacation, for a visit going through her day. she officially started september 13th. she goes two days a week for 4.5 hours.

this has been a big change for us, but she is enjoying it!!

i had to get one with the two girls together! here's ella standing outside her classroom- yeay sycamores!!

bohdan wasn't sure what was going on, but as usual, he was a good sport.

here's corinne giving her big sis a kiss goodbye:

once she got there she couldn't wait to go in. she put tigger in her assigned cubby (yes, tigger goes to preschool, too. thankfully, he's free) and got started on a puzzle.

she had so much fun that it was a little difficult getting her off the playground and into the car.

but the kids and i were happy to have her back and hear about her day.

we rounded off the night with a game of ladybugs with daddy!

orlando

2011-10-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

after our time at my parent's, we packed up our rental mini van and headed over to orlando. we were able to use our timeshare points to book the resort for our little getaway to ormond beach and this one in orlando. this one was newly renovated and it was huge. immediately, once we walked in ted and i were so excited. this place was nicer than our house! everything was brand new AND there were 2 bedrooms and bathrooms! we started our time at "the fountains" with the girls emptying a bottle of bubbles on the balcony. there was music playing on the pool deck next door and they were dancing and slipping in it. we found that there was a pirate/princess party going on that night in the "kids zone" area so we signed them up. there ended up being ella, corinne and another little boy, so they got lots of attention. i was a little apprehensive about leaving the girls so we went over to the restaurant next door for dinner. it was pretty nice, there was live music and the food was pretty good.

i had ted take some pictures of our "room" with his phone before we all messed it up. the one below is the girls room. as beautiful as that bed is, they ended up sleeping on the pull-out couch right next to it. the bed was too high for corinne and ella didn't want to sleep up there all by herself.

this was our room. it opened out onto it's own balcony with a view of the lake behind the resort. on the other side of the bed was the master bath.

here's the master bath:

ted has this panoramic-morph app on his phone so this is the kitchen/ great room/entry room:

ok, so back to my timeline. the next day we headed off to disneyworld. corinne was totally into meeting all the characters, especially rapunzel and jessie. ella was pretty shy and didn't want to take pictures with any of them until we were having lunch and i explained to her that we just wanted her to have fun. then she warmed up to the idea (once all expectations were off.)

we had lunch in cinderella's castle. being a florida girl myself, i visited disneyworld growing up. i would always wonder what was in the castle. well, they finally opened up a restaurant in there and my curiosity was satisfied. the meal was pretty tasty, the kids were entertained and it was air conditioned-huge!

we ended the day by the tea cups (which ella rode about a dozen times!) i think the next picture says it all. we were all tired and hot and it had started to rain. it was nice to see tigger and pooh right before the exit. we grabbed a chicken dinner from the grocery store and called it a night.

the rest of our time in florida was spent here:

we would wake up, eat breakfast, head to the pool, eat lunch on the pool deck-then swim some more. the resort had two pools, both with a kiddie section. this was the pool right next to our "room", so we spent most of the time at this one. it was really cool. you could go on the deck behind it and sit on the lake or you could go under the structure for the indoor pool:

a typical florida sunset:

this was the evening we found the pavillion and grilled our dinner.

there was a tennis court right next to it and the girls literally just ran laps around it. i don't know how they had the energy because we had just spent the day in the pool, but well, they are kids!

that's it, our summer vacation. this was, so far, one of the best we've taken. i feel like we got to fit everything in: family visits, time with ted, and family time. after we got home i felt well-rested and ready to start in on the fall. thanks for bearing with me through all the pictures. i just want to remember this time, it was so precious!

pink!

2011-10-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

cutest little hands! my mom, my aunt and i took the girls with us when we went for pedicures. they felt so special!! i just love how chubby corinne's hands look in this photo.

first friday, more cousins and nona and poppop's

2011-10-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

every first friday of the month in my parent's town they have a street fair and it's seems that for the past few years we've gone to visit them we've gone to "first friday". since the first friday of september was around labor day the town put on a fireworks display, too. i think every time we go ella gets her face painted. this was by far the most elaborate one!

bohdan enjoyed eating savory and sweet crepes and mooching whatever other foods he could from various members of the family.

before we left the house corinne had decided she wanted a pink dolphin on her cheek. of course she fell asleep during the 5 min car ride there, so she got her face painted when she woke up and my mom (nona) got in on the fun, too.

it really was a lot of fun. i can't wait till the next "first friday". i have to admit that i look forward to it, too.

my favorite part (besides the chocolate and nutella crepe) was watching the girls dance. corinne is definitely the little dancer!! and ella had the time of her life.

a few nights later we went to ted's oldest brother's house. they also have 2 girls and a boy! it's always a blast to see rick and carolyn. ella and corinne were looking forward to spending some time in their home!

the girls adore their cousins! victoria and caroline play dress-up with the girls and richard is just so cool to them.

we celebrated richard's birthday that night with grandma and grandpa, too!

this picture was one in a series of MANY. it was difficult to get a picture of all 5 of them looking at the camera without someone crying or making a goofy face (this last statement includes my dad!) we had such a wonderful time in eustis with my mom, dad, aunt and uncle (which sadly i don't have any pictures of from the trip!!) wish we didn't have to wait so long till we're together again!

getaway

2011-10-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

after our time in fort lauderdale we headed up to eustis where my parents live. ted and i stayed a day getting the kids settled and then the two of us headed out to ormond beach (which is just north of daytona beach). i didn't get enough pictures of our time there which i'm bummed about, but i did get some. we checked in around 4pm and headed straight out to the beach. we hadn't been to the beach (one where you could actually get into the water) in quite a long time. we borrowed boogie boards from the resort and headed out. i had forgotten how much fun 1- boogie boarding could be and 2- you could have without 3 small children constantly on your mind. don't get me wrong, i love my kids, but the complete freedom for ted and me to get away was so wonderful!! whenever we look at these pictures we just let out a long sigh. so, after boogie boarding for a while we went back to the room and got some groceries before heading out to eat. we found a quiet, little restaurant and had a pretty yummy meal. the next morning i woke up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and bacon! my wonderful hubby made me breakfast. our room at the resort was a little studio so everything was pretty open, but it was perfect for us! after breakfast we headed back out to the beach for a stroll. then a little more boogie boarding.

after we were done get tossed around we headed onto the pool deck to relax. we grilled burgers out there and just sat at a picnic table eating our burgers and listening to the surf.

then we headed down to the boardwalk for some ice cream and a drive. it was nice being on our own timeline. we decided to get some seafood for dinner and then a movie. we headed back to my parents house around 10 am the next morning. i forgot just how much i enjoy being with ted and can't wait to do this again!!

vacation in south florida

2011-10-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

at the end of august we packed up very early in the morning and headed to the san francisco airport for fort lauderdale. we wanted to see both sides of the family and do a family vacation so, we broke up the vacation quite a bit. i thought it would be more tiring than relaxing, but i was wrong. we had such a good time.

the first leg of our journey we spent at ted's mom and dad's. it was so nice to see them again, AND we got to see ted's brother and his family (we hadn't seen them in about 2 years.) the kids had a blast playing with their cousins.

bohdan and grandpa really had a blast playing together!

the girls enjoyed snuggles and reading with grandma (and her chocolate chip cookies!)

it was a rare moment when the house was quiet. lots of scrabble-playing, coffee drinking, baby babble, children yelling/crying and the indiana jones theme song (from my nephew, mathias). i wish i had video of him playing an imaginary game of lego indiana jones. at one point corinne came down wearing one of her princess dresses and he looked at her and declared, "oh good, you can be my wife!" which apparently was something he needed in his quest to find the crystal skull?? too cute!

corinne played so hard that she just fell asleep on this ottoman one afternoon.

and bohdan crawled and crawled and crawled...

bohdan turns one!

2011-10-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

so, i'm a little behind with my blogging. bohdan turned one on august 27th. we had a little "party" at home with the five of us. the girls helped me decorate bohdan's blue star cake. they got a kick out of putting the decorations on it.

we grilled and ate outside and everyone enjoyed the cake, of course. bohdan wasn't sure what was going on, but, as usual, he was willing to go along with it.

his sisters picked out one of the giant bears at costco as their present to him.

a week later we celebrated the big one year old with family and friends in florida. we rented a pavillion at this really cool park near my parents house. the kids enjoyed playing on the castle structure and sliding on the tractor slides.

thankfully, we had some shade for the little guy and he had fun playing with grandpa and poppop. and, of course, eating more cake!

i cannot believe you are one, bohdan! the time is going too fast! i love you to pieces, little bear.

zooey

2011-09-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

corinne has been a little under the weather. so, this morning i took corinne (and the other 2) to the doctor. as we were leaving one of the employees complimented corinne on her little stuffed pink poodle.

corinne: her name is zooey.

woman: she's really cute.

corinne: she bites!

woman: well i don't want to pet her if she bites. (reaches her hand out.) i'll just pet her back.

corinne: (moves the dog just as the woman draws her hand back.) ruff. almost. (as in almost bit you.)

then later on this evening we saw a man and his dog at the park. the girls were petting the dog and corinne says: i have a dog named zooey.

am i really that bad?!

2011-09-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

the other night corinne wasn't feeling well. before i put them to bed she and i were sitting on the floor in the hallway outside the girl's bedroom door. she was laying down with her head on my lap. i told ella that corinne wasn't feeling well and asked her if she'd pray for her.

"dear jesus, thank you for this day and please help corinne to feel better on this day and please help daddy to have a good time working by himself (he was taking a potential new hire out to dinner) and please help mommy not to be rude..."

good grief!

could be a long month

2011-08-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

corinne is turning 3 on september 26th. since she adores jessie we thought it would be fun to throw her a cowgirl/cowboy party. we went to the disney store last week and looked around (mistake #1). while we were there corinne spotted a jessie doll that's designed after the doll in the movie. that was it! she wanted to buy it and take it home "for her birthday". i told her she could tell daddy that she wanted the doll for her birthday, but we weren't buying toys that day. after we got home that afternoon she came up to ted and whispered in his ear, "daddy, i really, really want the tall, tall jessie doll for my birthday". she keeps asking if we're "going to her birthday" (apparently your birthday is a destination.) yesterday she and i were sitting on the couch snuggling and she whispered in my ear, "mommy, i want the tall, tall jessie doll for my birthday"...it's gonna be a long month:)

oh..my..word

2011-07-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

this evening we went out for a ride. (since ted invested all that time in placing all carseats in the car and all.) ted and i decided to grab a coffee treat while we were out. so ted stayed in the car while i went in for our drinks. we've been working with ella sounding out words here and there (she knows what sounds the letters make just needs help putting them together). well, as i left off, ted and the kids were waiting in the car for me. the girls are munching on their apples, bohdan's playing with a toy and ted's playing "scrabble" on his phone. then he hears from the backseat, "buh-aa-duh aa-ess... daddy what is that word with the esses say?" what an inopportune time to learn to read...

he did it again...

2011-07-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

he got 3 carseats to fit in the backseat of our suv! we finally bought another convertible carseat so we could get bohdan out of his infant carrier. ted fit on britax (bohdan's), one graco (corinne's) and one sunshine kid's (ella's). he tried just about EVERY combination of seats and positions until this one worked. i have to say i'm a little excited about this one, too. not only do i not have to lift bohdan into the middle, but he only has one sis next to him. they typically do better when there's only one.

i'm not too sure how he felt about it.

swim classes!!

2011-07-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

this year i traded voice lessons with marissa harrison for help with swim classes with the kids. we were able to do 2 sessions this year which was so great! every morning we'd head over and pick her up then go to finley. it was such a great routine that, truthfully, i'm going to miss it.

the girls adore marissa and so getting up and going in the morning was pretty easy overall. they were so excited every morning. ella went into the tadpole class this year. she did really well. she just needs to put her head under!

one morning she was dancing to the water arobics music- pretty funny.

ella really liked her teachers and said her favorite thing about swim class was the "ice cream" game.

corinne's favorite thing about swimming was "humpty dumpty" and toy time. by the end of the second week she was dunking herself underwater and jumping in pretty much on her own. she could touch the bottom of the pool and that help a lot!

bohdan liked splashing in the water. he would kick like and inchworm and "scoop". of course, the class at this point is just to have fun and i think that goal was accomplished! can't wait till next year!

keeping cool

2011-06-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

here are a few things we've been doing to keep cool so far this summer:

hanging out in the backyard

swimming in the fishie pool and hot tub (aka our mini swimming pool)

homemade pizza on the grill!

little man

2011-06-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

bohdan will be 10 months as of tomorrow!! the time has flown by!! this time last year i remember sitting at the farmhouse with ted for our anniversary dinner as we discussed names. we still hadn't come up with a name! well, we're way passed that. bohdan crawls and sits up by himself now. he has started pulling himself up onto his knees, but he's still a ways from walking. he doesn't like "chewing" anything. if we try feeding him something with a little texture he spits it out. he is the happiest easy-going kid!! he's slept through the night and gotten by with only 3 nursings a day since 2 or 3 months of age. he says "nana" (mama) and "dada" and "baba" (bye bye as he waves). the other day he actually blew my mom a kiss on skype! i love this little man!! he is gadget crazy like his daddy, loves cars, trucks and balls. i love you, little bear. i can't believe you're almost a year old!

the joke

2011-06-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

ever since bohdan was born i've joked that the girls will probably dress him up, paint his fingernails make him play dollies...

that day has officially arrived.

little artist

2011-06-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

on any given day you could find ella dressed like this:

she loves layers. i purposefully try to buy her clothes to coordinate together (of course there are always the "disco" pants she gets from nona, my mom). the other day ella got a hold of my camera and tonight i got the pleasure of browsing through them for the first time. here are a few good ones...

she likes taking pictures of her toys, i guess.

...and herself. ever since she was a baby, ella has enjoyed being photographed.

she has quite the silly photo humor:)

it was about here in my browsing through these pics that i thought, "oh boy, have i given birth to the next tina fey?"

she is definitely her own person and i love her!!

vacation

2011-06-09T14:50:00.000-07:00

so ted and i have finally decided to take the kids to florida for vacation. we really want to see his brother and family (we haven't seen them in years) and the kids need more time with their grandparents. so, we're spending time in south florida, central florida and then heading over to orlando for family vacation with mickey. ted let the girls in on the plan. now every time we leave the house the girls ask if we're going on vacation. the other day the kids and i were driving in the car and corinne says, "we're coming, mickey, we're coming!!" yeah, they might be a little excited.

20/ something

2011-05-31T21:26:00.000-07:00

i should have expected this day with ted's eyesight and mine...first trip to the eye doctor. i was so proud of ella. she was such a trooper and did everything that was asked of her. the doctor and all her assistants kept saying how good she was. she only cried when they put the drops in to dialate her eyes. i think she got a big kick our of telling the doctor the shapes on the mirror.

in the end she will be sportin' some glasses soon. one of her eyes is weaker than the other and has become lazy. we'll have to go back another day to pick out her frames. my guess is we'll come away with some pink ones...just a guess.

monterey weekend pt 3

2011-05-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

when we made our hotel reservations we had the option of purchasing aquarium tickets for 2-day entry for the price of one. so sunday we spent our second morning there. it was nice to go at kid's pace and not rush through.

this tank was one of the highlights for the girls. look how bright those fish are! guess who's there?! nemo and dory, of course:)

bohdan, of course, all smiles.

besides major bedtime drama in the evenings it was a great trip!

monterey weekend pt 2

2011-05-31T21:05:00.000-07:00

one great feature of the monterey aquarium is the play area. both girls enjoyed running around.

ella loved playing dress-up. especially if she could get some of the older girls to help her with her outfits.

bohdan pretty much enjoyed sucking on his finger. he did get a kick out of looking at the swimmy things in the tanks, but, as usual, he was a happy camper wherever we were.

we also had fun at a nearby park called the "dennis the menace" park that tanya had suggested. the kids LOVED this place. so great for them to run around and enjoy some open space to play.

monterey weekend

2011-05-31T20:59:00.001-07:00

we took the kids to monterey for the long weekend. it was kind of like a mini-vacation. we were all pretty excited for a change of pace and scenery.

ella absolutely loved the aquarium, but it took corinne a little to warm up to it.

once she got to see the penguins she was sold and was up for looking at all kinds of fish, octopus and sharks. in fact, as we were peering into one of the large tanks that housed a few large sharks she started growling at the biggest shark as it was swimming by. she looked at me and proudly said, "i roared at the shark, mommy!"

the the end of day one all the kids were exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel after lunch.

awana awards night

2011-05-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago we celebrated awana awards night at santa rosa bible church. ella started cubbies in late november and caught up in her book. she earned her cubby bear for completing her first awana handbook!! she was so pleased with herself.

as we were on stage ella was a bit shy, but once she got back to show daddy, corinne and bohdan she was to the moon!!

after the ceremony we went out with the gaffney's for some ice cream at cold stone. ella and collin were so excited!!

my little lady

2011-05-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

we went to monterey this weekend. i just so happened to pack corinne's minnie mouse glasses. she kept asking me to put them on her. so while we were in the car one evening she asked me to put them on her. i helped her with them (as best i could while buckled in the passenger side of the car) and then for some reason i started singing tom jones' "she's a lady". well this caught on and she kept requesting it. then ella said, "i'm a little lady, too". corinne quickly said, "no, ella, you not a lady, i a lady". and that's that!

new backyard

2011-05-08T22:14:00.000-07:00

here's the semi-finished product of our hard labor a few months back. new sod.

ted turned the back half of the side shed into a playhouse for the kids.

here's our vegetable garden.

the peas are almost ready to harvest.

here's part of the unfinished side of the yard.

mother's day weekend

2011-05-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

this was a great weekend. saturday night we spent with our dear friends, scott and april. we went out to eat at la texicana and then headed over to redwood covenant to see phil wickham.

mother's day included beautiful flowers from my sweeties

sweet little ella button

my free-spirited corinney-rinn

lots of sillyness. this was kind of funny. while ted was bringing out the furniture ella said, "should we have music?" next thing i know she's got corinne's ariel boom box playing "be our guest". they started "dancing" around the table.

my sweet family

cuddly bohdan bear

anticipating dessert. as we started eating the cake corinne said, "should we sing 'happy birthday' to mommy, daddy?" of course ted informed her that it wasn't my birthday but they could sing "happy mother's day" to me. he started singing "happy mother's day" to the tune of "happy birthday". ella started frowning and said, "no, no that's not very good, daddy." poor ted.

ella asked for seconds and while she was partaking of her second sliver she sang "happy birthday" with the lyrics of "happy mother's day" to me...it's all a matter of perspective.

easter

2011-05-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

this easter was lots of fun. on good friday before we headed off to the good friday service we dyed easter eggs. the girls had fun putting their eggs in the dye. for the last egg we mixed all the colors together to make a brown egg. we sang "mighty to save" while we waited.

our church put on their annual easter egg hunt. all the kids lined up and waited for the word to start.

here's ella getting ready!

bohdan didn't get to participate this year, but he didn't seem to mind much.

that afternoon we went over our friends mark and carissa's house for a yummy dinner. mark hid easter eggs in their backyard for the kids. they had lots of fun searching. corinne wanted to just eat the candy.

it was a great day!

girl's night

2011-05-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago i took corinne out for ice cream while ella was at cubbies. she chose 3 different kinds of ice cream with sprinkles and ate the whole thing!

too busy

2011-04-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

yesterday i was looking through a gardening magazine. they had a little article about pumpkins and it reminded me of the pumpkin seeds we bought over the weekend. the previous day the girls helped me trim back some of the bushes and smaller trees in the backyard and we really cleared quite a bit of space. i said to ella, "oh ella, i know what we could plant in that space we cleaned up yesterday!" she then looked at me, sorta grimaced and said, "mom, but, ugh, i just don't have time to plant things all day long!"...okay then.

bedtime story

2011-03-31T09:03:00.001-07:00

the other night i was nursing bohdan in his room while ted put the girls down for bed. we have a routine of a bedtime story, prayer and a song. ella asked daddy to tell them a "story from [his]head". ted asked "what kind of story" and ella replied, "a princess story!" then ted suggested a princess story with spaceships. and both girls agreed. so ted began the story of princess elayna. i couldn't catch all the details, but basically she is a princess from another planet with 3 arms and 3 legs...this is what happens when your sci-fi loving techy engineer daddy tells you a story "from his head"!

ella's "tangled" 4th birthday party!!

2011-03-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

ella has been looking forward to her birthday since before christmas. she kept track by whose birthday was next. finally her day came...

this year she asked to have a rapunzel party. i used a lot of ideas i got from this blog: http://www.supermommoments.com/2011/01/tangled-birthday-party-games/. ella really had such a good time.

one of the activities was to paint pictures. then we taped them on the walls. some of the kids did a pretty impressive job!

next the kids played "pin the pan on flynn". i copied the flynn rider wanted poster from the "tangled" movie and the kids took turns trying to hit him with their own paper frying pans.

i thought i got a picture of the kids decorating their sunburst cookies, but i didn't. for dinner we had fix it yourself sandwiches with homemade artisan bread, grapes, veggies and dip, jello "shots" (just kidding). actually, i borrowed an idea from the above blog, to make floating boats like the movie using blue jello in individual little cups with an orange slice and a purple sail attached by a toothpick. the kids liked them, but it occured to me as i was pouring the jello that it looked like i was serving jello shots to a bunch of kids! i have to say i wish i had taken a picture of the food table. ted was the one who assembled the trays of food and they were beautiful. who knew the man could make veggies look so good!!

ella had so much fun opening her presents from her friends.

she got over the fear of being sung to and enjoyed everyone singing "happy birthday" to her. she was really excited about her rapunzel cake.

i thought and researched for a do-able cake idea for the longest time. in the end i ordered one from safeway and saved myself the stress!

here's the party scene. of course, i didn't think to take a picture till the party was over.

the last activity of the day was lighting a lantern and "sending it off" (which we didn't really do as it was tied a piece of twine to it so as to avoid setting someone's roof on fire). it did float up for a little before catching fire. the kids enjoyed it, though, and it was a good ending to a great day!! i love you my little button. i can't believe you're a big 4 year old now!!

ella's 4th birthday

2011-03-20T23:26:00.000-07:00

ella asked for a "REpunzel" doll for her birthday...

love you

2011-03-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

yesterday i was rolling out dough to make cookies for ella's birthday party. she came into the kitchen and we were talking about something. and then we had this conversation:

me: i love you, ella.

ella: i love you, too, mommy.

me: i love you as far as i can reach.

ella: i love you as far as the earth.

me: i love you as far as mars.

ella: i love you as far as mars, too!

me: i love you all the way to pluto!

ella: i love you to minnie and daisy!!

where do you go from there?!

you know you have an overachiever when...

2011-03-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

last night was cubbies for ella. she absolutely LOVES cubbies club! she started the year late (right before thanksgiving) and is 2 verses away from catching up. she's a bubble of sunshine before and after. ted and i are so thankful that she has so much fun there and is learning of Jesus' love for her. well, last night she woke up around midnight crying. at first we thought she had to go to the bathroom, but was fighting it (being half asleep). she kept crying and arching her back. ted tried asking her what was wrong, but she just kept crying. finally i knelt beside her and asked if she wanted my help. i thought, "for sure this is going to be a long ordeal." but after a few minutes she mournfully declared, "i lost my cubby book." "you didn't lose your cubby book, ella, it's downstairs", i reassured her. she wouldn't believe it until ted went to retrieve it for her as proof that she was just having a bad dream. once she saw the book she quieted down, smiled and lay back down in bed. not a peep after that.

kids!

2011-02-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

so the past few days the kids have been really whiny. ella was making a fuss over something a few days ago and i said, "oh my goodness, ella, i'm gonna lose my mind!" to which she replied, "you're gonna lose your mind? you'll have to get another one."

sewing projects

2011-02-15T10:50:00.000-08:00

so in my attempt to learn how to sew i decided to start with something simple...aprons. i found a pattern for the girls and one for myself (which i haven't started yet). i cut ella's wrong, but corinne's turned out just right. ella's has little cupcakes and cherries and corinne's has kitty cats that say "your purrrrfect". they wore them for a little bit and then they shed them on the floor. it's a good thing i didn't stay up late hours working on them-ahem! but i did learn a lot and they'll come in handy when we bake together.

make believe

2011-02-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

so corinne is way more into pretending than ella ever was and still is. she does little voices for her toys and carries on conversations between them. lately, she has been pretending even more. today we had a picnic in the backyard. i laid out a sheet on a little mound and we ate mac and cheese and apples. our backyard has a large redwood in it and i'm sure to corinne it is massive! she kept asking "where are we?" and at first i responded, "we're in our backyard". then i realized she wanted to make believe. so, i said, "we're in pixie hollow!" "yeah!", she said enthusiastically. i guess from her perspective we were.

little wonders

2011-02-03T22:37:00.000-08:00

so, today we must've blown a fuse in the breaker box? all i know is that the lights in the kids' rooms don't work. so tonight when we went into the girls' room ella tried to turn on the light. i tried to explain to her that the light wasn't working, but she said, "oh no, we need some new batteries!"

little man of the house

2011-01-30T22:27:00.000-08:00

today was day one of two weeks without ted. he left early this morning for europe (yes, for business, of course!) so, the kids and i have to get along without him. days are fine, but evenings really take their toll on all of us. things were going great. we had dinner, got pj's on, brushed teeth, story time, a little goofing off...but then ella wanted to go potty and it all went downhill from there. i was seconds away from pulling my hair out, corinne was running wild, and ella was pleading, whimpering, whining and generally throwing a fit in the bathroom. when all was done i finally made it into bohdan's room to feed him and put him down for the night. this is what i found. he had pooped all over himself and was blissfully sleeping while sucking his thumb. he is amazing. i love you, little bohdan bear!!

just like mommy

2011-01-24T23:35:00.000-08:00

this afternoon while we were skyping my mom ella decided to feed tigger. she sat there for several minutes until he was finished.

lovey

2011-01-24T23:18:00.000-08:00

corinne's favorite lovey is plucky, a little pink duck. she got him from my aunt and uncle a year and a half ago. there used to be a quacker inside, but it broke. then she got yogurt all over her one morning so i had to put her in the washer. of course, that meant i had to take out the broken pieces of the quacker then stitch her back up again.

but corinne loves her. we call her plucky duck and while my mom was here she sang a special song all for plucky: "feeling lucky, lucky plucky, oh what a lucky plucky day".

today we got plucky all cozy. a housecoat and some slippers go a long way.

the walker

2011-01-24T22:45:00.000-08:00

ted and i have been cleaning out the garage and side storage unit the past few weekends. we took out the walker and found some baby toys. bohdan has been enjoying the walker. when he gets a chance to PLAY with it and not just observe his sisters.

he really likes this little duck and tries depserately to eat the little lifesaver.

saturday morning breakfast

2011-01-24T22:39:00.000-08:00

typically saturday mornings are lazy around our house. we get up late, eat a big breakfast and just lounge about for a bit. it's such a great feeling to have all of us together.

toast with nutella, eggs (better known as eggies), applewood smoked bacon, coffee, milk...

and a little extra.

my favorite people in the whole world!

tea par-tay!

2011-01-24T22:34:00.000-08:00

ella got a little easy bake set. instead of the cookies and cakes baking in the easy bake oven they bake in the microwave. it's really cute and she loves it! the girls have "hosted" several tea parties in their little house since. the get the biggest kick out of eating off their little princess plates and having someone over.

these are just a few pictures of the first one they did with grandma. i hope one day they will remember some of this. every time my mother-in-law comes she has a tea with them in their little house.

you can see the little cookies ella has made (with help from grandma). pink cookies with sugar frosting and sprinkles. what more could a princess want?

fishy lips

2011-01-22T22:48:00.000-08:00

today as i was feeding bohdan (ok, let me clarify. i was technically nursing bohdan in his room, but as he was pretty much out cold, i was hiding out). next thing i know i hear ted talking to corinne asking her what she got into. can you guess what that was?? my lipstick bag in my purse. at least she was much neater than ella was when she did the same thing (you'd think i'd learn my lesson by now!).

so, i said goodbye to my hide-out session and went into her room to check things out. she offered me a fishy kiss.

my little cubby

2011-01-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

recently ella started attending awana. as you can see, she has really been enjoying it. 2 weeks ago she earned her vest. i cannot describe to you the joy on her little face as she tried on her vest and received her book. her teacher came over to give her a hug and congratulate her and she was on cloud 9!! i love that she gets excited every week to go to cubbies club and learn about Jesus. she has continued to work hard memorizing her weekly bible verses and the ones from before that we missed. i love that her little heart is so open to hearing about Jesus and stories from the Bible. for the past week she has requested a Bible story- not a book just before bed.

app fun!

2010-12-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

so, several months ago i lucked out and got ted's old iphone. i don't use my cellphone that much and, in fact, i don't have a data plan for my iphone. ted put the sim card in my iphone and it is a go phone. recently i've noticed that a friend of mine on facebook has been posting some really cool pictures of his kids using instagram. turns out instagram is a free app! so, this has become a new quick hobby of mine. you take the photo, choose an editing tool and upload the photo-easy.

christmas crafts

2010-12-29T21:05:00.001-08:00

this year i decided i wanted to start a few traditions. this included a few advent activities. the first was a jesse tree. i copied a friend of mine and made the ornaments out of clay. once i got the hang of it i had fun creating and assembling the little pieces.

here they are, all 25! i inserted sterling silver jewelry hooks in each ornament and baked them. the clay really held it color and consistency quite well. then i painted each of them with a satin finish glaze.

i was thinking i would find a branch-like tree that we would keep year after year, but i finally just broke down and bought this live one from trader joe's. we didn't do such a great job of keeping up with it because of all the traveling, but i know the kids will enjoy it each christmas season!

i saw an advent calendar like this one in a pottery barn catalog and decided to make one myself. it's made out of felt and i actually got to use some new stitches on my sewing machine!! most of the work was done by hand. you can't tell from this photo, but i hand-stitched numbers 1-25 under each pocket and our last name at the bottom. it took me a while and i now have to doctor up santa on pocket 25 because corinne absconded with his beard, hair, hands and cuffs!

tangled

2010-12-29T21:01:00.000-08:00

another adventure we had in florida was the kids' first movie experience in the theater. my mom really wanted to take the girls to see "tangled". so, while my dad and ted went to see some action flick my mom and i braved the almost-empty theater with all 3 kids. they did really well. ella was so into the movie. she sat with her chocolates in hand and 3d glasses in place. it really was such a cute movie. i have to admit that i enjoyed it, too!

mommy time

2010-12-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

so, while in florida i was able to have some time to myself. my mom treated my aunt and me to pedicures and manicures. i've never had such a good pedicure before. the place was so nice inside and it was fun to go with someone else. i asked for a christmas design on my toes and this is what the gal came up with. she took great pains to get the snowmen just right. since then i've been really careful to always wear socks with my shoes so that i don't "scratch the paint".

i also got out and spent some time with some old friends. marni, alecia and i have been buds for over 15 years. we had a good time chatting and catching up. i miss those gals!

first friday

2010-12-29T16:21:00.000-08:00

the town of eustis, where my parents live, has a street "fair" the first friday of every month. for christmas they had a boat parade (it is lake county) and all the boats decorated with christmas lights. i couldn't resist taking a picture of my handsome husband!

ella and i got our faces painted. we all had dinner and ate while listening to a cover band playing in the street.

it was a good night, but very chilly!

pony rides

2010-12-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

we took the girls to a christmastree place where they had hayrides, a petting zoo, a campfire to roast hotdogs and marshmallows and pony rides. ella was so excited to ride the horse. she tried to climb on, but in the end i had to pick her up and put her on the saddle. she enjoyed every minute of the ride! i couldn't believe that she wasn't afraid at all.

grandma's birthday

2010-12-29T16:11:00.000-08:00

we surprised ted's mom for her birthday. she had a big birthday party planned and ted promised to be there friday after thanksgiving, but we all came! bohdan got to meet grandma for the first time.

the kids really enjoyed playing at their cousins house. they have chickens, goats, cats and a dog!

unfortunately, corinne got bit by the one mean chicken. even now when reminded of the event she says, "mean chicken bite me". however, she's still an animal-lover.

for my mother-in-law's birthday we all went to silver springs park. it's a really pretty park with natural springs and boat rides. we all enjoyed the day:)

firsts

2010-12-29T16:02:00.000-08:00

so, our trip to florida in november was bohdan's first airplane/transcontinental trip! he was so good. i was really happy with how all three kids did. the girls were excited to find all the goodies i had packed in their backpacks. of course, our ipods and iphone came in handy for them to watch movies on!

we finally got into orlando airport and the girls got to see nona and poppop. bohdan met poppop for the first time!

needless to say, they were all tuckered out!

a little florida sunshine

2010-12-23T14:21:00.000-08:00

this thanksgiving we travelled to florida for 2 weeks. it was great getting to see both sides of the family and spend good quality time with my mom, dad, aunt and uncle. we discovered a really cool park near my parents house. complete with a castle fort and tractor slides!

what florida trip would be complete without a trip to disney world??!! well, this was one of the firsts i could remember going to the magic kingdom in jackets. it was a perfect day!!

ella talk

2010-12-11T22:02:00.000-08:00

so we've been in central florida since thanksgiving visiting family. one day corinne was taking a nap. ella and i were sitting in the sunroom together and my mom asked how long corinne had been asleep. ella responded, "for 20 years" very matter-of-factly. we just busted out laughing.

i've got joy

2010-11-27T21:09:00.000-08:00

ella on the way home," i've got drink like a river in my whole". instead of, "i've got peace like a river in my soul".

child-like wonder

2010-11-27T21:01:00.000-08:00

so, this thanksgiving we traveled to florida to surprise my mother-in-law for her birthday party. as we were taking off from san francisco ella asked, "oh, but how are they going to put dust on the tail?" "dust?", i asked, "you mean pixie dust?" ella and corinne thought tinkerbell was making the plane fly. then as we were ascending corinne started chanting, "go tinkerbell, go tinkerbell!" i just love them.

abin5

2010-11-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

so this is my latest obsession, baking artisan bread. our family got addicted to having bread with dinner when all our lovely friends were bringing us yummy meals with french loaves to boot! so after that i was buying loaves of artisan bread from the store. i started looking for some good recipes to save some money AND so we could have it on hand. last week we tried the whole wheat recipe and this week i'm on the white bread. it's awesome, you combine all the ingredients for a week of bread and make a wet dough that stays in the refrigerator. you just pull out what you want each day and bake it. so good!! it's even better with fresh ground honey roasted peanut butter from whole foods...ahem, not a low calorie snack. i got the recipe from: www.artisanbreadinfive.com. it's so easy and delicious!

coloring contest

2010-10-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

tonight we took the kids out to mary's pizza shack for dinner. they are currently doing a coloring contest for halloween. so while we were waiting to be seated ella and i were admiring the entries posted on the wall and window. i commented on how nicely the kids had colored their pictures and ella was quick to agree.

so we were seated a few minutes later and the hostess (who is actually a gal from our church) gave ella and corinne crayons and coloring sheets. ted and i got to work getting jackets off, moving things out of corinne's reach, seating bohdan safely, and deciding what to order.

i looked over at ella and she had begun coloring her pumpkin. for the first time she drew a face and mostly colored in the lines. ted and i were so surprised!! usually she colors "swatches" of color all over the page.

you can't see the eyes here because she colored over them. i guess she was really inspired by the other pictures.

corinne also colored more than normal, but she was more interested in taking the crayons in and out of the cup.

this is corinne's finished product. they both entered their pictures in the coloring contest. ella was quite pleased with having an entry as i filled in her name on the back she said, "that's right mommy, i begin with 'e'".

medtronic trick-or-treat

2010-10-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

every year for halloween ted's office puts together a little fesivity. family members can bring in their kids to trick-or-treat through the different departments. so, the kids got to try out their halloween costumes early.

corinne got her minnie costume for her birthday. she actually stood still while i fixed her hair!!

ella surprised me on monday when she told dr. brewer she was going to be a ladybug. it was the first i'd heard of it! so, there was some late night shopping at target to put this thing together.

she was pretty excited about it!!

here's little minnie looking very tiny in a big office. so, this year the office had a haunted house as well. we didn't take the kids through, but there was a section right at the beginning where you could take your kids and get glow sticks and candy. unfortunately, you could hear "boo's" and screams in there. ella was so scared she dropped her glow stick as she headed for the door. luckily only one small part was the haunted house and the girls enjoyed well-lit, scream free trick-or-treating out of the rain. we even got to eat lunch with ted (which i think was their favorite part).

the excitement was too much for corinne and once again she fell asleep on the way home.

here's ella concentrating very hard on how she's going to open her candy.

goodbye

2010-10-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

on september 10th my grandma passed away. she was mother to 14 children, grandma to 24 grandchildren and great grandma to 25 great grandchildren. as an adult i didn't get to spend much time with her, unfortunately. but i do have memories of her from when i was a kid. she was kind and so giving! when ted and i took the girls to see her last summer she gave ella the beads she was wearing- stuff like that. when my brother was born, my grandma came to help my mom and, in my 5 year old mind, grandma made THE BEST eggs! there are times when i am with my mom i see my grandma in her: the sweet way she fixes her coffee and drinks it happily, the way she stands in the kitchen and gives me a little smile. i love those moments. this picture of my grandma was taken years ago in my parents old house in south florida (my childhood home.) i think this is how i'll always remember her. goodbye grandma. thanks for being so kind, selfless and humble. for having so many kids- especially my mom!, for putting up with so much racket in your house: like kids running, dogs barking, family laughing, siblings bickering, brothers and sisters remeniscing about younger days, for making the best eggs, for having enough love to go around to all of us. i love you! i'll see you again on streets of gold...

a little treat

2010-10-08T23:32:00.001-07:00

another outing we took as the 5 of us was to target (big surprise!) we all stopped in at the starbucks inside and got a treat. the girls were thrilled when ted ordered each of them a hot chocolate.

i'm not sure what they enjoyed more, the fact that they got cups like me and ted or that those cups had hot chocolate. but they were excited.

in true form, my little charmer, corinne, was making friends with the other patrons.

pick a seat, any seat

2010-10-08T23:24:00.000-07:00

in between my mom's visit and my aunt's ted and the kids and i had a week alone. ted took the week off and we just took it easy. one evening we decided to go out to "el patio" on fourth street. while we were inside ordering corinne climbed into bohdan's stroller and sat in the basket. i guess she was too tired to walk?

this is livin'

2010-10-08T23:19:00.000-07:00

this is how corinne wanted to ride home from san francisco after dropping my mom off at the airport. she cracks me up!

sweet boy

2010-10-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

this little guy has been such a good baby. he eats like a champ, and sleeps like an angel. he pretty much only cries when he wants something. i guess he's making up for all the miserable months of morning sickness.

he really likes sleeping in the sling. i love this because i can go out with him and he'll just sleep soundly- i get my hands free and still get to hold him! bohdan is 6 months today! i can't believe it's been 6 weeks. this is my first week by myself with all three kids. so far no trips to the er, calls to poison control, or temper tantrums (by me or the girls).

bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon

2010-10-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

for corinne's birthday she got a red wagon from my parents. so, ted and i took them for a walk on sunday. they were all excited to be off, tucked in with blankets and their juice boxes (they had to have something to put in their cup holders). as we headed out, corinne was singing "bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon" over and over again.

our little man

2010-09-16T13:44:00.001-07:00

it's been 3 weeks since bohdan was born and i'm finally getting around to blogging about it. i have to admit of all 3 kids, besides the pregnancy, bohdan has given us the least amount of drama. i was admitted into the hospital at 10 am on wednesday, august 25. we started off in the larger of the 2 "closets". they started me on pitocin and shortly after i was given a regular labor and delivery room. things went pretty smoothly and bohdan was born at 9:38 pm.

this was after i got the epidural. feeling much better at this point.

i was so glad rami could watch the girls for us so my mom could be present for the birth. the next day my mom brought ella and corinne in to meet their new brother.

he's a pretty sweet little boy. he puts up with all kinds of yelling, screaming, kisses, love "pats"...

we can't help but love him.

after bohdan was born and the nurse brought me some dinner, ted was holding bohdan for the first time. they were "discussing" all kinds of things. it was really cute to see ted with his little boy for the first time.

jillian, jillian, jillian jiggs...

2010-08-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

...maker of wonderful, marvelous pigs. every christmas ted's great aunt sends the girls books. it's a tradition she has kept going for quite a while as i understand she used to send them to ted and his siblings as well. the girls absolutely love the books! this year, one of the books she sent was "the wonderful pigs of jillian jiggs".

it's about a little girl and her younger sister who make "millions and zillions" of pigs to sell. of course, she adores the pigs and finds that she can't part with them in the end. for the past few weeks this has been the bedtime story of choice. the girls became really excited at the prospect of nona making piggies for them! (there are directions for making a pig in the back of the book). so, today my mom, the girls and i headed out to the craft store to buy materials for pigs.

we decided to make the girls' pigs resemble them.

they were pretty excited about the pigs...

however, we won't be making millions and zillions of them!

still my baby

2010-08-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

so lately, i've been going back and forth as to whether ella has officially outgrown her naps. often when i put the girls down together for their nap they keep each other up and play. this is unfortunate because corinne really needs the sleep. well, yesterday my mom and i let ella stay up and have some quiet time while corinne took a nap. i was sitting at the kitchen counter chopping strawberries while my mom did prep work for dinner. after a while i turned around to check on ella and this is what i found. apparently she still needs the sleep, too! even though we're about to have a newborn, she's still my precious baby!

oh fun!

2010-08-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

promptly following ella's cold, we discovered that corinne had picked up head lice somewhere (still not sure where!). this is definitely NOT what i wanted to be dealing with at any point in time least of all being 9 months pregnant and expecting another tiny head!

thankfully we were able to eradicate the little pest quickly! we did a 2 pronged approach using the over-the-counter shampoo and the smothering technique with this deep conditioning treatment. i told the girls that we were doing princess hair and they were totally into it! one plus is that their hair is so shiny.

get well soon

2010-08-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

several weeks ago ella came down with a cold. i had ted pick up a few things from the store on his way home from work one day that week and he came home with "get well flowers" for ella. she was so tickled that daddy bought HER flowers. she wanted to see them all the time! i love my sweet husband!!!

sweet

2010-08-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

so, i'm sitting in my kitchen on the computer. the girls are playing in their little "house" under the stairs and i hear ella, "sit down, corinne!" corinne sits down quietly and i hear ella say, "dear lord jesus, thank you for this day, thank you for loving us and daddy going to work, amen". what a sweet little moment.

sonoma county fair

2010-08-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

once again our church band played at the sonoma county fair. originally i didn't think i'd be able to sing. but as it turns out with the help of a stool i was able to hold up for 3- 45 minute sets. it was a lot of fun to see all the kids dancing on the dancefloor.

i have to admit, however, that by the end of the night i was so exhausted!!

vbs

2010-08-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

this was ella's first time at vbs. actually, it was the first time i've ever left her anywhere like this. at first i wasn't sure how she would do. i was prepared for some crying at first and as it was three hours each day i thought even maybe a phone call. but she did so well. she didn't even seem to mind when corinne and i left her the first time with her group, the "clippers".

i have to say how impressed i was with the program our church staff and MANY volunteers put on! ella learned so much in just one week.

it was really cute to see the kids singing praises and doing the motions with the worship team. ella still enjoys listening to her vbs music and doing the motions.

the is a picture of ella on her last day. she took tigger with her every day.

every morning ella was excited to go to church. one morning she gleefully told me, "mommy, i love vbs!!"

corinne got some really good independant playtime with any toys she wanted. i think she really missed ella, though.

the theme was "high seas adventure". here's the pirate ship in the lobby. our children's pastor was capt. cruel, the pirate. ella said her favorite part was the pirate.

here's a look at the stage set up.

my baby looking so grown up! i can't believe how big she is getting. this week she grew up even more! she really impressed me by her independence and enthusiasm this week. i loved listening to her rendition of the bible story at lunch every day. she even got corinne interested in learning one of her bible verses: open my eyes so i can see the wonderful truths in your instructions!

10...9...8...

2010-08-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

with just a few weeks away from the baby's arrival, i decided it was high time i blogged about his finished room! we decided on a "rocket" themed room. it's not perfect, but it's complete. i don't think he'll mind that the rocket it slightly uneven. the girls got a big kick out of the room. for about a week after it was completed the girls loved running around the room singing the theme song to "little eintsteins".

ted got involved in this room. before he left for a business trip (the night before i started painting) he drew jupiter and saturn so i had an idea on how they should look. he was pretty specific about the red mark on jupiter. i thought this was really cute. maybe he's hoping this accuracy will encourage his son to become a fellow sci-fi lover!

new countertops

2010-07-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

ted surprised me with new countertops for my birthday. i was pretty shocked because we haven't really talked about redoing anything in the kitchen for quite a long time (i mean we've been pretty pre-occupied, right?) anyway, we found a really good deal through a local company and they turned out beautiful. here's the before, during and after shots:

nice faux green marble laminate

the demolition!

the finished product

company picnic

2010-07-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

ted's company picnic was today. it was held at six flags this year. about 6 years ago they held the "picnic" at the same place. ted and i were reflecting on how different the experience was then versus now.

the girls had so much fun! especially in the little water things. corinne played until she was shivering and i finally took her out. they were running around like crazy.

ella got to pet "liz" the elephant and feed her a cookie. i was really surprised she was up for all this, she's definitely getting to be a big girl:(

after getting slushies we headed over to this playground in the shade. it was such a hot day and the girls enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the stroller and run around.

corinne really wanted to meet sylvester the cat or "kitty cat" as she kept calling him. you would have thought it was pooh bear or tinkerbell the way she cried when ted had to finally pull her away.

here's the gang at the first animal show we saw today: the bird show. we got to see dolphins, elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers, pumas...a lot! it was a great day out and about with the girls. now we're all baked and exhausted. the girls were so giddy on the car ride home. they were tickling each other, having fun ripping up the map, and singing songs. ella even made up a song about all the animals she saw. unfortunately i couldn't catch it on camera!

pee-pee tee-pees

2010-07-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

my friend jenean leant us a whole bunch of baby boy clothes, blankies, etc. in one of the boxes there were some pee-pee tee-pees. ella was looking through the socks and found them. she thought they were socks and brought them over to me.

"are these socks, mommy?"

"um, no, ella."

then i told her what they were called and what you use them for. she looked really puzzled and put them back in the box. a few minutes later corinne comes up to me with one, puts it on her head and says, "hat mommy". we're all in for a few surprises...

i did it!

2010-06-29T00:23:00.000-07:00

it all started with this mermaid fabric that i found. i wanted to decorate a pink mermaid room for the girls. i was really excited to paint all the sea creatures on the wall.

but the real challenge came to the fabric. i have been wanting to learn to sew for years. so ted bought me a sewing machine for christmas. after purchasing the mermaid fabric off of itsy i searched around for ideas and asked for advice from my friend angie on how to make duvet covers. and so, (drumroll please) here they are, the finished product...

duvet covers made on my brand new sewing machine! i did it!

it only took me 6 months, right!?

11 years

2010-06-29T00:16:00.000-07:00

on june 26th ted and i celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the farmhouse inn just outside of town. it was a lovely evening. we got to sit in a corner of the restaurant overlooking the gardens out back. most of our time we spent brainstorming over names for baby #3. no decision was made...

but we did finish up with some awesome desserts! i love you, ted.

bathroom habits

2010-06-29T00:10:00.000-07:00

we haven't actually begun potty training corinne. she's just getting used to the idea. i thought this was really cute. ted brought down the potty from the upstairs bathroom for corinne to join ella. as soon as corinne sat down ella handed corinne a book and said, "here you go, you wanna read a book?" she's been initiated, i guess.

sugar

2010-06-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

last week the girls and i made sugar cookies. this was the first batch corinne helped with. she was very excited about being included. mostly the girls ate flour and cookie dough, but all in all they had fun. the best part, of course, was eating the cookies. i love this picture! there is a picture that my mom has of some of her sisters and my aunt margie has the same exact expresssion on her face as ella has on hers.

too big

2010-06-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

yesterday the girls and i went to the grocery store. it was the first time i attempted taking both girls grocery shopping in MANY months. they were both great and ella even helped me here and there, i was really proud of her. we finished our shopping and went out to the car to load up. i put corinne in her seat and had ella climb into hers while i loaded the groceries into the trunk. ella was standing in her seat watching me. she spotted a little rubber duck underneath the stroller (also now underneath a lot of groceries). "mommy, i see a duck. can you get that duck for me?", asked ella. "no, ella, i can't reach it, i'm sorry", i said. i finished putting the bags in the car and went over to buckle ella in. she asked me to get the duck for her again. this time i said, "ella, i can't. just look at me!" (and i pointed to my big, preggo belly). she looked at me and said, "mommy, you too big?". "yes, ella, i am". then she comes out with, "corinne's little".

big girl bed

2010-06-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

this weekend ted put corinne's bed together for her. we knew she'd love it, but that it would be a transition for all of us. we decided to go ahead and make the transition while she's still in her old room- one new thing at a time.

as expected she loves it. this means, however, that ella and corinne have been staying up much later at night (jumping on their beds and playing) and not taking their naps. this is actually how we found her the first night. i couldn't believe she was tucked in her bed!

this is how we found them the second night. i wonder how this came to be...

baby boy!

2010-06-08T22:16:00.000-07:00

i have been wanting and meaning to post a picture of our newest little one for months! i just kept forgetting to scan in the sonogram pictures. recently i pulled a bunch of photos off ted's iphone. one of them was this photo of a photo. in a few more months i'll be able to post more pictures of him:)

the letter "b"

2010-05-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

moving right along through the alphabet, ella learned about the letter "b" this week. she learned that "b" is for butterflies and bubbles. she and corinne popped bubbles in the bathtub and took a bubble bath, she decorated a foam butterfly with pieces of tissue paper (not the best craft! she quickly got bored with it), and we made bubbles with saran wrap, construction paper and glitter (or pixie dust as ella described it to ted).

our bible lesson was about buns. we talked about the empty tomb and made buns with marshmallows inside. the marshmallows melted leaving hollow buns covered in cinnamon and sugar. ella loved making these, although i think her favorite part was sneaking spoonfuls of cinnamon and sugar.

sleepy head

2010-05-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

the other day we had a late start so i decided to let the girls stay up a little later before naptime. apparently that wasn't a good idea to corinne. she climbed into her chair and pulled the blanket over her head. she peeked out from the covers when i went to get the camera.

hold me closer, tiny dancer

2010-05-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

there has been an new interest in ballerinas lately at our house. the girls love putting on their tutus and dancing around or watching ballerinas dance on you tube.

just thought i'd post a few twirls.

ella's preschool: week one

2010-05-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

finally ella and i started her little "preschool" lessons. we started this week with the letter "A". she started off the week coloring an upper and lower-case "a" worksheet. and we talked about things that start with the letter a, including apples and airplanes.

we had a bible lesson one day where ella learned about noah's ark. we built an ark out of a brown paper bag and popsicle sticks. she filled the inside with animal stickers. i think this was her favorite lesson.

for "math" we learned about the number one and ella had more fun with glue. she loves using glue. here she got to paint it onto the paper since she was glueing many pieces of construction paper on.

here's my big 3 year-old proudly showing off her schoolwork. we both had fun doing this!

new game

2010-04-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

so today i came downstairs and ted and ella were throwing imaginary pancakes back and forth to one another-with much gusto! this game continued for quite a while and is very popular with ella. she started up another game after dinner. just another reason why my girls love their daddy so much-pure silliness!

ella's new 'do

2010-04-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

this thursday i scheduled to have ella's haircut for the first time! she was so excited to get a "princess cut". we made and evening of it and ella and i went out to applebee's for dinner together. she was so cute and we both enjoyed our mommy-daughter time. we talked about our day and how much she loves daddy and corinne...and tigger.

after dinner we headed over to le chaise rouge to have kristy oakley cut ella's hair and mine. she was so good and sat on the chair very quietly watching carlos (kristy's very loved chihuahua). the chocolate cookie didn't hurt either.

i loved how small ella looked with the huge black smock over her. the look on her face was so intense when she would look in the mirror at what kristy was doing.

here's the finished product. a head full of bouncy curls that you can see!!

this is a picture of ella on the ride home from the salon. just way too cool now, apparently!