ella's new 'do

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!

nature tots

over the last few months things have not been very "fun" or exciting. so, i decided to sign ella up for something called nature tots through santa rosa parks and rec. today was our first day. our group meets at howarth park and the teacher had an "instruction" part where she passed around empty wasps nests and remaining skins and such of different insects for the kids to look at. she talked about different kinds of bugs and we read a book and sang a song. then she handed out little magnifying glasses for the kids to use on our bug hunt. ella loved this because she felt like a super sleuth! she got to see all kinds of rollie pollie bugs, spiders ants and of course, ducks! then we went back to the picnic area and the kids made spider webs out of pasta noodles. the girls had so much fun! on the way home ella recounted to me all the bugs and things she had seen with her "magazine" glass.

playing dress-up

so with all the rain and mommy not feeling so energetic these days the girls have been good sports. they've found other ways to entertain themselves besides picnics at the park. dancing and singing to music, playing in the "party room", and playing dress-up. i love you belle and aurora!...and of course tigger, too!

ella's party

of course nobody is wearing them, but each little boy got a pirate hat and the girls got tierras. the kids played "pin the clock on the croc", diving for tattoos and each tried their shot at breaking open the pinata. nobody was successful with the last and ted ended up ripping it open.

here are some pics of the kids stuffing their faces with pirates booty.

ella was really shy when it came time for the cake. she really doesn't like the "happy birthday" song so everyone just said "happy birthday, ella!" in the end ted blew out the candles for her.

it was a great day and ella is still talking about how much fun she had!

never land

this saturday was ella's 3rd birthday. she was so excited for the day because she knew she was having a peter pan party. ted and i decorated the office like never land and ella wore her tinker bell outfit.

here are some pictures of the decorations. the kids were able to run and play and make a mess in this room as we are going to be ripping out everything soon anyway. here's captain hook's ship and crocodile creek.

you can see mermaid lagoon in the corner. the kids loved playing in all the balloons!

more pictures to come...

mermaids

so, with the coming of a new baby we've got to repurpose some of the rooms in the house. our office downstairs will also be a guestroom and the guestroom upstairs will become ella and corinne's room. i'm so excited to start on the girl's room! this is the fabric/motif for the room. ella loves mermaids and corinne loves fish-and they both love...pink (you guessed it!). i plan on painting little mermaids and fish on the walls, too (that's my favorite part). they're excited about a new room and i think corinne will love having her own little bed instead of a crib. of course, that aspect will be a bit of a challenge for mommy and daddy.

belated valentine report

valentine's day at our house is extra special because it is ted's birthday as well!! i was really glad the day fell on sunday so we had more time to make ted feel loved and appreciated. a few days before the big day ella and i made cards for everyone. it was really cute to see what she came up with. we started off our morning with a birthday/v-day breakfast. i put out everyone's valentine's gifts at their seats and we enjoyed my mother-in-law's delectable recipe of kropsu (it's this egg/ souffle concoction that you top off with fruit, maple syrup and whipped cream).


later, after church, we had a special valentine's themed lunch and red velvet birthday cake for dessert.

i couldn't resist buying this dress for corinne that i found at a sidewalk sale (while on our way to pick up ted's cake).

valentine's day fell on sunday remember? however, i could not get ella to wear a dress. in the end this is what she chose. i can't believe we're going through wardrobe disputes already!!

that evening the amazing riley burke came over and watched our girls while ted and i went out for a romantic dinner at applewood inn. i would have a picture inserted here, but the only one we got is on ted's phone-which is currently with him at work. maybe i can retrieve it and post it later. it was a good day and i think ted enjoyed relaxing and eating cake!