one of our constant goals is to be less of a "tv family" and more of an "active family."
this may not be difficult for some people, but it can be difficult for us. it's especially hard when we're all exhausted because nobody is sleeping and we just can't muster up the energy to do anything and the only way everyone is at least content is to turn something on the TV and relax. which is fine to do sometimes. it is not fine to live around a tv schedule and whatever shows there are to watch.
but i'm not here to talk about a struggle with television addiction (which is a real thing).
i'm here to prove to myself and all of you that we DO STUFF.
so here it is! my adorable kids doing things in the outdoors. "the outdoors" here in georgia have been mercurial lately: temperatures up in the 70s/playing in the park with no jackets, then freezing rain, then days without any sun but warm enough for thunderstorms and tornado watches. we have been taking advantage of good weather whenever we can.
(daddy even went hunting for the first time and got us a whole bunch of deer meat.)
we have plenty more adventures planned, especially since these girls need to be thoroughly worn out on a daily basis.
forgive me if i repeat anything i've already told you about her, i can't remember what i've posted/ told people and i feel like we haven't had a poppy party in a long, long time!
(she put this ensemble together herself. so proud.)
she's saying more things:
"apo" for applesauce
"nighnigh" for night-night
"dudge" for judge
"dahdah" for doggie
"chu chu" when she plays trains
"tka tka" for tickles
"maw!' for kisses
you know, the usuals: banana, baby, milk, etc.
her voice is pretty low and she usually speaks softly, so sometimes it takes me a while to realize she is saying something. for example, it took a long time for me to notice her train noises because they are so quiet.
she still loves waving and saying "hi" to everyone, whether she just entered the room or we're out running errands. she also loves shoes ("shhus") and going outside or anywhere - she loves going "bye-bye!" and, again, waving and waving.
she also picked up a not-so-nice phrase from her sister: "no, my!" which means, "no, mine!" which she says while she's grabbing something away (naturally).
she'll say "no no!" when she doesn't want me to do something (like put her in bed) and when she's really mad she'll grunt "uh-uh!" and throw something or smack at me. she scrunches up her nose (also picked up from ellie), huffs and puffs and looks down at the ground with a scowl. it's pretty funny except when she actually hurts me.
oh, and she sings along with the birthday song. happy birthday "haaaaa boooo!" i died when i heard it.
poppy wants to do everything ellie does, which is good and bad. ellie isn't always in the mood to share. when they do play together it is probably the best thing ever and so funny. poppy just tries to join in whatever ellie has going. she loves her babies and kisses them, hugs them, and rocks them in their bed.
she's adventurous like her sister and loves to explore. it's fantastic. if only they didn't like to explore in opposite directions...
she is not a good sleeper. we're pretty sleep-deprived in this house - three hours at a time is about "normal" for everyone in the house and it is taking a toll. it's a fight to get the girls to sleep at night. if i see you and i'm zoning out or if i seem like a flake, this might be why! also, if my kids throw tantrums, that might be why! we're usually in a daze around here.
we do have fun with her. she has a happy face most of the time. even when she cries at night, when she sees me come in she jumps up and down in bed with joy. and she's hilarious!! she makes me laugh constantly. she loves long bear hugs. she will come with her arms open and say "up!" and then throw her arms around my neck and hug tight for minutes. she gives lots of sloppy kisses, too, even to the dog. when she wants to cuddle at night she will pat the couch with her hand for you to sit with her and climb up to wait for her snuggles. she gets so excited when daddy comes home and dances around saying "hi dada! hi dada!" until her snuggles her.
she's also a dancing machine (sorry about the glitchy video, it's the old phone):
we love our precious girl and are so excited to see all the new things she's doing every day.
just a post about the little things ellie did and said over the holidays.
it's more for me to remember than anything else.
(p.s. - in the banana peel picture she is showing that she made a "T")
talking about cookie: "poppy, cookie appeared in the sky!"
"let's eat all the raisin blan before daddy does!"
me: "let's see if this bread is dead." (i thought it had a bad case of freezer burn.)
ellie: "it's not dead! it's just quiet and peaceful."
we have watched a lot of man vs. wild lately, per ellie's request. she sometimes chooses it over cartoons. she loves "the climbing man" and wants to have an adventure, too. the other day we were outside and she made us a bed of leaves and said, "come on, mom, we have to find mosquitoes and frogs to eat!"
(we are planning some visits to caves and waterfalls soon.)
she loves holiday music.
some of her favorites:
jingle bells ("jingle all da way!!" sung at the top of her lungs in several public places)
jingle bell rock
santa claus is coming to town (heard jackson five singing it, said "that girl is singing about santa, too!")
away in a manger
winter wonderland (knows most of the words, "gone away is the bluebirddddd!")
sleigh ride (again, knows most of the words, "there's a birthday party at the home of farmer gray")
the twelve days of christmas (but wants to sing "five gooooooooold rings" again and again)
angels we have heard on high ("glooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooria!")
here's a taste with this video (she sings all by herself when the car is going and poppy sings along, too, but when the car stops they both clam up):
during the christmas program at church she saw the husband's aunt going up to play the piano and yelled "hi aunt megan!"
(lately she's been saying hi to everyone, but sometimes she forgets to sound friendly. i have to remind her, because she will yell "hey!" at strangers in a scratchy, scary voice to greet them. not so polite.)
christmas morning:
me: "merry christmas, ellie!"
ellie: "merry christmas TO YOU, mommy!"
"mommy, get dressed! your mommy milks are sneaking out!" (they weren't, but thanks ellie)
"somebody put candy in my stocking! i think it was santa."
she loved playing with our tiny nativity set (and broke two wise men, which is exactly why i don't have a nicer one). she honestly spent hours moving the pieces around while talking about baby Jesus, his mother and how he was born in a stable and they put him in the manger, where the animals eat. she just absorbs and absorbs and absorbs.
she is a sweets MONSTER and it literally gets her into trouble (sees stitches story below).
she tried to eat a whole box of the abuelita mexican hot chocolate under her bed. i thought i got it all, but she had one more under her bed and ate a brick of pure sugar chocolate. ugh.
another night she snuck out of her bed, army crawled into the kitchen while daddy and i watched a movie, and polished off the remaining half a plate of christmas cookies leaving no trace. not a crumb. i didn't know she did it until i woke up and realized the cookies were gone.
me: "ellie, did you know that tonight is the last night of the year?"
ellie: "yeah! and tomorrow is the first... the first day until another halloween comes!"
she's always thinking about the next score.
and finally, the big story of christmas week: stitches.
i got a pound size reeces for christmas. two half-pound cups. yes. i know.
i was making a nice, big breakfast on thursday after christmas when i realized that it was too quiet in the house. i walked into the front room to find ellie with her hand in the reeces package. she knew she had been spotted, so she grabbed one of the cups and took off at full speed to hide with it. unfortunately she forgot to watch where she was going and she ran smack into the corner where two walls meet.
she flew backward onto the floor and the chocolate went flying, too. (don't worry, poppy snatched it right up and ran off with it as fast as she could... these girls!)
luckily she was right next to the bathroom, so i pulled her in and laid her on the floor to clean up the blood. it didn't bleed for long, so we were able to wait for daddy to come with us to have it fixed.
ellie was so brave and even allowed the doctor to papoose her so that she couldn't wiggle. six stitches later and this girl (and her mommy and daddy) were completely worn out.
hopefully it's a long, long time before we have to do anything like that again.
oh, and she had her second dance class on monday. she loves dancing! she doesn't love waiting for instructions... she just wants to go in the room and move. i'm sure we'll have more on that later.
we love our ellie bean. she's full of life and passion and imagination. she's growing up so quickly! eleanor, we love you!
you know, i haven't had any trouble remembering to write 2013 on checks and i haven't forgotten that it is january.
i have, however, gotten a new phone that does almost everything i would normally do on a computer except blog*. i can even read blogs, i just can't easily comment on them. i've just been observing so far this year, i guess.
anyway, that's the story of why my old desktop is getting dusty and why i'm not keeping up very well. (there's also the fact that the minute i even sit near the computer someone comes and smashes the keyboard and/or pulls a permanent marker out of nowhere and runs in the other room.)
happy new year!
how did my first post end up halfway into the month already? ha.
i have so many things to say that are seeming kind of unimportant now and so many pictures that are getting irrelevant (like the ones in this post**)!
i have a post about each girl ready to go and scheduled for later this week, so let's celebrate that.
*i have a blogger app but it reeeeaaaaalllllyyyyy stinks. or i stink at using it.
**but hey, they're cute, even if they are from christmas eve and christmas eve eve!
